TAXI.com

Got feeback from 4 recent submissions. I find the objections to be picune and not real. Not waiting 10 years to get a forward. Good luck guys.
Top it off my sad cello & piano cue which I paid $5 to submit didn't get reviewed and no status like it was never even recognized. Going to follow up with that.
If you think I'm over-reacting, you can go listen to my stuff. Give me a break. Good bye!

BrianSteel wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:30 pm

Got feeback from 4 recent submissions. I find the objections to be picune and not real. Not waiting 10 years to get a forward. Good luck guys.
Top it off my sad cello & piano cue which I paid $5 to submit didn't get reviewed and no status like it was never even recognized. Going to follow up with that.
If you think I'm over-reacting, you can go listen to my stuff. Give me a break. Good bye!

It's spelled picayune.

Casey H wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:56 pm

BrianSteel wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:30 pm

Got feeback from 4 recent submissions. I find the objections to be picune and not real. Not waiting 10 years to get a forward. Good luck guys.
Top it off my sad cello & piano cue which I paid $5 to submit didn't get reviewed and no status like it was never even recognized. Going to follow up with that.
If you think I'm over-reacting, you can go listen to my stuff. Give me a break. Good bye!

It's spelled picayune.

Given that's all you have to say, I think I know what's going on here. Thanks Casey. A bit picayune over picune.

BrianSteel wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:30 pm

Got feeback from 4 recent submissions. I find the objections to be picune and not real. Not waiting 10 years to get a forward. Good luck guys.
Top it off my sad cello & piano cue which I paid $5 to submit didn't get reviewed and no status like it was never even recognized. Going to follow up with that.
If you think I'm over-reacting, you can go listen to my stuff. Give me a break. Good bye!

Hi Brian

Sorry to hear that the frustration took over! I can really understand the feeling. I once submitted a bunch of IMO really well made tracks and I thought 4 of them were a definite home run. Nääääää! NONE of them got forwarded!
I felt exactly like you. The critique was kind of nitpicking but not untrue though. But at that moment I thought: Screener nr. XYZ just doesn't want my tracks to be forwarded! In the course of my journey with taxi I learned the following:
A) Screeners don't know you from a bag of beans in China! They don't care were the tracks come from, they're just trying to keep the bar extremely high.
B) A return is the opinion of ONE person, it's a valuable one but as I said only one. I experienced that more than once, that I was able to sing tracks directly to a library that got returned (some several times) by Taxi.
C) Stay humble and focus on getting better, faster and submit the heck out of this listings! I changed the tracks according to the critiques when I really felt it was resonating with me. I know the screeners are highly pros and we have to listen to them, BUT you are entitled to have your own opinion. I know it can be costly to submit a lot but at the end of the day I was able to create extremely valuable contacts with this method.
I hope this was somehow encouraging to rethink your decision.
BTW can you post a link to your profile? I'd love to hear your tracks.

Chris

Casey H wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:56 pm

It's spelled picayune.

For what it's worth - it's also a city in Mississippi...

Hey Brian, not sure if you were referring to the recent sad piano and strings listing S220511NJ the listing hasn't finished yet, some times it takes up to 30 days to get the notification from Taxi. I am still waiting to hear back on that one too, but I will say as with most of the piano and string listings, the bar is really high/you gotta give em exactly what they are looking for. If it misses the mark for seemingly small nitpicking points, then that's almost a good thing because it will almost certainly get signed elsewhere.
Talking with fellow Taxi members can help, watching the Taxi TVs can be really informative, but in the end you have to be honest with yourself whether or not you can actually do this because it does take time.. years.. for everything to build up. I hope this was encouraging and not discouraging or maybe at least just helpful.

eandersonmusic wrote: ↑

Sun May 29, 2022 4:31 am

Talking with fellow Taxi members can help, watching the Taxi TVs can be really informative, but in the end you have to be honest with yourself whether or not you can actually do this because it does take time.. years.. for everything to build up. I hope this was encouraging and not discouraging or maybe at least just helpful.

Nobody should be waiting 10 years for a Forward .... or a year even IMHO. Kudos to anyone who can stick it out if it's taking them that long.

I agree that all of the above can help quite a bit, but one of the main differentiators I see between those that struggle and those that get traction early in their Taxi career, is the levels of skill they bring to the table from the get go.

I've often said that I don't think Taxi is the right vehicle ( pun intended ) for anyone who still has serious work to get themselves near the bar in the first place. It's not a school, it's a professional introduction/referal service that you pay for.

I've noticed that people who really well with Taxi relatively quickly all seem to have something in common. That is a solid music education behind them ( whether that's formal or informal ) which means they can write and produce licensable material pretty much from day one, and then it's more a case of tailoring the skills they already learned to the sync market and current trends.

I'm not aiming this at BrianSteel as I haven't listened to enough of his music, but I have seen a lot of folks having a "punt" at Taxi over the years without really having the requisite music or production chops. Not that you need to bea virtuoso , far from it ( it would probably be detrimental in this game if you were ) but I think a lot of new members underestimate where the bar is and it can come as a bit of a shock when their tracks start getting return after return and notes on sub par mixes or dated sounds.

Even when you do get to the level where you can produce licensable tracks on a consistent basis it takes a really long time build your catalogue, get placements and get paid for them. So I can understand why it's not for everyone.

Mark

I have noticed that many people that do not renew their TAXI membership most likely never get to the point where they sign their TAXI returns to libraries they establish a relationship with, either thru TAXI or in another manner.

That, for me, was a ah ha moment. I took a step back and thought to myself, “would this track have even existed if not for the TAXI listing and submission deadline”

The answer was a resounding NO.

TAXI listings are like a keyhole. Your submission is the key that has to precisely fit the key hole to turn the lock and open the room to a forward.

A production music library’s criteria is much more open. It is similar to taking the same key and throwing it into a hanger for a 747. The key is going to land in the hanger.

We have no control of getting a track forwarded by TAXI. We do have influence. The influence includes improving the necessary skills to produce at the level required to place music in media.

The only way one develops those skills is by keeping going in the face of the adversity we all encounter in this journey.

My last 4 submissions were returns too. But am I going to quit Taxi over that? Hell no. In fact, I'm up for renewal in a month, and you better believe I'll be ponying up the money to begin my 15th year as a Taxi member.

Best of luck to you.

~~Matt

melodea wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 9:41 pm

BrianSteel wrote: ↑

Sat May 28, 2022 6:30 pm

Got feeback from 4 recent submissions. I find the objections to be picune and not real. Not waiting 10 years to get a forward. Good luck guys.
Top it off my sad cello & piano cue which I paid $5 to submit didn't get reviewed and no status like it was never even recognized. Going to follow up with that.
If you think I'm over-reacting, you can go listen to my stuff. Give me a break. Good bye!

Hi Brian

Sorry to hear that the frustration took over! I can really understand the feeling. I once submitted a bunch of IMO really well made tracks and I thought 4 of them were a definite home run. Nääääää! NONE of them got forwarded!
I felt exactly like you. The critique was kind of nitpicking but not untrue though. But at that moment I thought: Screener nr. XYZ just doesn't want my tracks to be forwarded! In the course of my journey with taxi I learned the following:
A) Screeners don't know you from a bag of beans in China! They don't care were the tracks come from, they're just trying to keep the bar extremely high.
B) A return is the opinion of ONE person, it's a valuable one but as I said only one. I experienced that more than once, that I was able to sing tracks directly to a library that got returned (some several times) by Taxi.
C) Stay humble and focus on getting better, faster and submit the heck out of this listings! I changed the tracks according to the critiques when I really felt it was resonating with me. I know the screeners are highly pros and we have to listen to them, BUT you are entitled to have your own opinion. I know it can be costly to submit a lot but at the end of the day I was able to create extremely valuable contacts with this method.
I hope this was somehow encouraging to rethink your decision.
BTW can you post a link to your profile? I'd love to hear your tracks.

Chris