TAXI.com

Greetings - Over time I have had 25 Taxi forwards for instrumental compositions, but have not had any contact after the forward. Anyone else in a similar situation? If so, would love to hear from you. Thanks.

Ah, yep. 42 forwards since I joined in Feb 2017. No bites yet.

Something tells me this is pretty common. I think the percentage of actual deals is significantly lower than the percentage of forwards.

Picture a red solo cup at the bottom of Niagara Falls. The cup represents the actual reserve for final placements. Niagra Falls represents he number of submissions. At least that's how I picture it. I read somewhere that there are around 20,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every single day on average. That's just 600,000 new songs a month just on Spotify! That's just some context to get an idea of what kind of numbers are vying to be heard.

The good thing is that at least you're getting forwarded to someone who is soliciting. Most submissions are probably unsolicited and don't even get past the inbox.

So getting that first placement may take some time. I kind of like the challenge.

-Vic

ecurb wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 3:31 am

Ah, yep. 42 forwards since I joined in Feb 2017. No bites yet.

Thanks for your reply & keep up the good work!

Unstar wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 12:40 pm

Something tells me this is pretty common. I think the percentage of actual deals is significantly lower than the percentage of forwards.

Picture a red solo cup at the bottom of Niagara Falls. The cup represents the actual reserve for final placements. Niagra Falls represents he number of submissions. At least that's how I picture it. I read somewhere that there are around 20,000 songs uploaded to Spotify every single day on average. That's just 600,000 new songs on Spotify! That's just some context to get an idea of what kind of numbers are vying to be heard.

The good thing is that at least you're getting forwarded to someone who is soliciting. Most submissions are probably unsolicited and don't even get past the inbox.

So getting that first placement may take some time. I kind of like the challenge.

-Vic

Appreciate you taking the time to reply - thanks. Yes, I realize the numbers which is why I have submissions a whole lot of places besides Taxi, but I wanted to hear from some other people here. Good luck to you!

That is sad to hear.

How can a composer build a career in music licensing if s/he cannot even have songs placed with music licensing companies? I would not become discouraged though. I would change course and focus on doing what I could to make an impact.

I would encourage anyone in a similar position to start working directly with companies until those bites from Taxi come through. Don’t wait. Start contacting companies and researching opportunities today.

There are a myriad of reasons why forwards do not turn into deals. But those reasons are not what composers should focus on. Those reasons are outside of the control of the composer. So composers have to start building their catalog and finding a home or homes for their music. That is how it is done.

The squeaky wheel gets the oil. Start squeaking!

Hit me up if you have questions.

Hey Wendy,

I have been a Taxi member for a long time....and 25 forwards w/o a deal is not uncommon at all !!!!

I believe my longest streak of forwards without a deal is about 160.


Good luck and keep writing,
Tim

someone needs to re-title this thread "Reality Check"

160?!

jaywilliams wrote: ↑

Tue Dec 04, 2018 5:25 pm

someone needs to re-title this thread "Reality Check"

160?!

160 forwards X $5 = $800.

Not to mention the tracks that did not get forwarded and yearly membership fees.

That is not a cheap learning experience.

I have had one Forward... out of 20 submissions.... so, erm... that's 5% but I did get a reply. But the cue had inconsistencies I was told by the library, so they didn't take it further. However, I was asked for a link to my back catalogue where they liked a song (no cue) from it and offered a contract. The contract was not in my favour... not even close. You definitely have to read them closely. What I'm trying to say is that there's deals and there's deals. Don't take a deal just to have a deal.

Keep doing what you're doing, it sounds like you don't have a quality issue. It's only a matter of time.