This one took the wind out of my sails...

[ljweber70]

OK, I got the custom critique back on my Beach Boys tune.For all of you that graciously took time to listen to my track and give your opionions, here are the overall comments I promised to share with you from the custom critique: " Larry, sounds like your track falls comfortablyin that surf rock genre, so I can see why you havesome questions about this listing,Good guitar work, rhythm section and feel for the interplay between the lead vocal and the Beach Boy harmonies..have you played this at live gigs? that's always a good wayto see which songs jump out of the set...I didn't review this song, and I can't tell you whyor what some one else was thinking, but I canadd a few thoughts..At this broadcast level, the music libraries get tohear lots of material. Much of it IS airplay ready, featuring,solid vocal and instrumental performances,productions,mix, etc.A key component then is composition. How the melody andthe lyric can distinguish themselves within the given genre.Film directors could easily use this song track for a beachscene, however, the more unique,even daring and stillconsistent with surf music, the more likely the song wouldjump out..I'd take a few more chances with lyric, chord motionand melodic phrasing.. it's important to go beyondyour influences"So, the things we discussed in the thread were not mentioned: (IE: inappropriate lyrics / weak vocal performance). Apparently, his opinion as too why the song was not forwarded is perhaps it is too "cookie cutter" (I think)!? Well, maybe the original screener new something more than was posted in the listing -- like "ala Beach Boys -- from the Pet Sound Years...."Can anyone tell me how often a listing like this comes up? -- I will definately pitch it again. Thanks again,Larry

[matto]

Quote:So, the things we discussed in the thread were not mentioned: (IE: inappropriate lyrics / weak vocal performance). Hey now, don't misquote me , I never said the vocal performance was "weak", I just said it could be better, particularly at the top. And I stand by that...I can tell you from my experience whenever I've had a song where the lead vocal, particularly in the beginning of a song, was just a tad...debatable ...and I neglected to fix it...those songs usually underperform in the film/tv marketplace. Of course I can't say whether that was the reason the song wasn't forwarded, but ultimately the goal is to get those babies placed, right?Quote: Can anyone tell me how often a listing like this comes up? -- I will definately pitch it again. Impossible to say with a style like this, I wouldn't even dare to guess. Now, here's what I would do: You're obviously good at this style and seem to be able to do it fairly easily and without having to hire outside people, so I would do a couple more. That way, when a listing like this comes up again, you'd have 3 to submit and among them would almost be guaranteed a forward. What's more, if you have 3 you don't really have to wait for a Taxi listing to come up; you could instead approach music libraries directly with your 3 song surf demo. Gotta build that catalog anyway, so this would be a good way...matto

[ljweber70]

Thanks, Matto -- you're input is always appreciated! Larry

[ljweber70]

Quote:Quote:So, the things we discussed in the thread were not mentioned: (IE: inappropriate lyrics / weak vocal performance). What's more, if you have 3 you don't really have to wait for a Taxi listing to come up; you could instead approach music libraries directly with your 3 song surf demo. mattoMatto, Are there libraries out there that accept unsolicited material? It's my understanding there are few if any. I also understand that it is unethical to contact a library to which your music has been forwarded unless they contact you first. Thanks for the follow upLarry

[matto]

Quote:Matto, Are there libraries out there that accept unsolicited material? It's my understanding there are few if any. I also understand that it is unethical to contact a library to which your music has been forwarded unless they contact you first. Thanks for the follow upLarryThere are ways around the "no unsolicited" thing. If you can get to somebody through email (or even phone, though email is usually better and less threatening) and they agree to allow you to submit, bingo, you are now "solicited" .The main thing to keep in mind is that you want to be as prepared as possible and have something unique to offer. In other words...if you have 3 kick ass authentic sounding surf songs a la The Beach Boys, you are much more likely to get a response than if you say "I'm a composer hoping to write library music". As far as contacting libraries that you've been forwarded to, you are right, let them make the first move.matto

[ljweber70]

You Da Man! Larry

[davewalton]

Quote:Are there libraries out there that accept unsolicited material? It's my understanding there are few if any. I also understand that it is unethical to contact a library to which your music has been forwarded unless they contact you first. Actually there's really quite a few quality libraries that accept unsolicited material, more than you might imagine. They're not always easy to find, Google-wise. "Music Library" usually only brings up some cheapo "royalty free" libraries and real libraries like a book library at Yale or something. Generally you have to do some creative Googling and follow lots of links. You don't have to go this far out search-wise but for example, I ran into a list of music libraries when I found a company that writes the core software that many libraries use for putting their music online. They had them listed under "Our Clients". And no, after I spent 3000 hours of searching I'm not going to post the little list. I'll let you guys do the 3000 hours of searching and you'll better appreciate the results of your labor. As far as contacting the libraries you're forwarded to, contacting them to pester them about the music Taxi forwarded is obviously a bad idea. However, add that name to your list and without saying anything about any previous submissions, ask about submitting music just like you might if you had found them through Google or whatever. Once you know what their submission policy is, submit music to them periodically. Just because they didn't find your previous nine submissions to be useful for them at that time, doesn't really mean anything. Submission #10 could contain a track or tracks that they're looking for at that moment. Plus you'll probably be submitting to them through Taxi again anyway. They don't keep track of who sent music. They just listen to hundreds of tracks each day because more than anything, they want good, useful music. Inside or outside of Taxi, it's a lot of continuous activity submitting music and a little bit of luck that usually does the trick.Last, I'll just say that generally speaking, tracks that are unable to get forwarded through Taxi probably won't have any better success in the "outside" world. I should say that I mean tracks that are returned for reasons other than "not on target". If you're getting returns because your production, song structure, etc, needs work then by all means take the time to make those improvements before committing to submitting on your own.

[matto]

Quote:They don't keep track of who sent music. You might be surprised there...some definitely do keep track. Not of everything of course, but of the very good...and the very bad. And the annoying pesterers too. Ideally you'd want to be in that first group, or then in NO group at all This is why I recommend being prepared. If you're gonna be doing all this work (3000 hours of googling , sending out emails, submitting tracks etc), you might as well first make sure your product is up to par and attractive. This way you can also be sure you won't be placed on the "crappy" or "pest" lists.

[dogsincars]

Quote:Quote:They don't keep track of who sent music. You might be surprised there...some definitely do keep track. Not of everything of course, but of the very good...and the very bad. And the annoying pesterers too. Ideally you'd want to be in that first group, or then in NO group at all This is why I recommend being prepared. If you're gonna be doing all this work (3000 hours of googling , sending out emails, submitting tracks etc), you might as well first make sure your product is up to par and attractive. This way you can also be sure you won't be placed on the "crappy" or "pest" lists.First off, blacklisting and profiling is wrong. So any such naughty and/or nice lists should be revealed to the taxi customers immediately. Secondly... taking a persons money knowing that they haven't a chance in hell (as long as they're unfavorably and secretly listed) is somewhat illegal as well. Refund the naughties, forward the nice and keep your taxi clean.This is my first post under a new name... Yippie!!!!

[sgs4u]

Who wouldn't wanna remember the jerks, so they could stay away from them. Surely you can't be calling THAT blacklisting ... Is there anyone in the world willing to keep giving difficult artist/creators a 3rd shot at creating problems? Myself, I'd rather avoid, than repeat my own stupid mistake, 3 times. How about you? It's extremely easy for people who don't know a lot about Taxi, to find out, BEFORE they join, if their music is gonna be something Taxi is looking for. I happened to join before I knew this, but to me, it was the slap I needed to begin the shift towards creating music that clients are SEARCHING for, instead of only using my muse to guide me. I'm quite willing to talk about this stuff more, on the forum or with PM's. Cause you likely know stuff I don't!welcome back Randy, I'll go get you some purple kool-aidQuote:First off, blacklisting and profiling is wrong. So any such naughty and/or nice lists should be revealed to the taxi customers immediately. Secondly... taking a persons money knowing that they haven't a chance in hell (as long as they're unfavorably and secretly listed) is somewhat illegal as well. Refund the naughties, forward the nice and keep your taxi clean.This is my first post under a new name... Yippie!!!!