To renew or not to renew. That is the question.

[chrismh99]

Today is my renewal date. So, the question is should I renew?
I’ve been a member for two years. Still 3 to go for ‘the five-year plan’.
In my 2 years I have watched a lot of TAXI TV, “Thank you fake band, thank you fake audience. Why is Brea kicking me under the table? Oh, I’ve forgotten to tell you to subscribe, like us and share the programme with you grandmother.”
I have made 36 submissions and had 11 forwards, a 30% success rate and no deals, a 0% success rate.
I’ve learnt a lot particularly from the screeners feedback and developed a 10 point plan for dealing with rejection post555718.html#p555718.
Realistically, I don’t expect to get any deals in the coming year and perhaps Taxi might not be where any deals I do get will come from.
So should I send of my $199 for renewal? Is it worth the money? That’s $64,000 question. Well the $199 question.
As I said I have learnt a lot in the last couple of years and looking at online courses they run in the thousands of dollars. If I look as place to learn and not a magic route to fame and fortune, it is well worth the $199.
So, should I renew?
Actually I just did
Now to turn those forwards into deals. I guess the only way to do that is keep writing more music and get better at it.

[sagebrush2]

I think your record so far sounds great! It sounds like you are on the right track for the 5-year plan. Keep up the good work. Smart decision to renew and keep submitting

[cosmicdolphin]

I would say that's a decent ratio of fowards but a low number of tracks overall for 2 years

Whether that's not being productive enough or not having an endless supply of $5 bills to keep pumping into it I would say target yourself to make 50 tracks a year, as if you do get a deal then they will likely want a bunch of other music from you quite quickly.

Mark

[MBantle]

I would say that's a decent ratio of fowards but a low number of tracks overall for 2 years

Whether that's not being productive enough or not having an endless supply of $5 bills to keep pumping into it I would say target yourself to make 50 tracks a year, as if you do get a deal then they will likely want a bunch of other music from you quite quickly.

Mark

I totally agree with Mark's statement. Try to write more stuff! In my opinion this is by far the best way to get better at writing, producing and mixing.
Matt

[JohnnyP]

Hey Chris,
I agree w what Heather, Mark and Matt said. It sounds like you're on a good trajectory, (congrats!) but write more material to have on hand when the deal(s) come. Every single time I've gotten a deal from a taxi forward the first thing the library asks is "do you have anymore like this?" Also you can always re-work your songs to fit with whichever song triggers the deal. Best of luck. John

[chrismh99]

Thanks for all the responses, advice and encouragement. Apologies for the delay, I've been writing more cues

[mikehamm123]

I'm in a similar position... lots of submissions, a handful of forwards, no sales.

Coming up on four years.

Could be I'm in a zone that is forwardable but not sellable.

[RonKujawa]

I'm supplying music to 3 very TAXI friendly libraries. Representatives from each is regularly a prominent part of the TAXI Road Rally. I connected to each of them not through a forward, but from making contact directly. In the case of two of them, we met face-to-face at the Rally, and then later connected via email and phone. In the case of the other one, I reached out directly via email well before or after a Rally with music I believed was on point for what that library does. That third library took half a dozen email pitches of different material over the course of about 8 years before I got a "these songs area homerun!!"

Some libraries I work with are a direct result of TAXI forwards. Some are completely outside of TAXI.

It might be in your best interest to directly contact libraries. BUT, you need to have music that fits their needs for that approach to be effective. Research the library. Research the music they place, and what they say they need.

In my opinion, you need all three of these requirements to start a working relationship with a library:
- They need the kind of music you do
- You have music that fits those needs - genre, instrumentation, arrangement, quality
- You're both respectful professionals

These don't guarantee you'll have success, but if you don't have all three, I think you're pretty much dead in the water.

[TheElement]

Its worth renewing. Took me 6 months to get my first forward. Then it took much longer to hear back from the forwards. Once in the libraries it took time to get a placement. Finally years later I'm getting paid. You got to crank out the cues and get forwards and placements going.

I burnt out after 3 years, took a few years off producing but rebuilding the studio now and coming back to Taxi this year.

Hope to see everyone this year at the Rally which in its self is worth the membership cost.

All the best
Gavin

[Kolstad]

For me, the desicion marker is if I already have library contacts, and if I would get to pitch my music if I werent a Taxi member. My answers to both questions are “not enough”, so I will renew. Taxi is a highly convenient way to save time on research, emails, phone calls ect, and focus on producing more music.