TAXI.com

Hi Taxi composer colleagues we've had a really disappointing email from one of our forwards.

Hopes were up for a minute, thought it was a decent new library contact - but alas it was from a RF Library called A********x . A place where we are already members because anyone can join directly via their website.

We spent ages composing and recording a cue for the Taxi brief, mixed, produced and mastered it, added the usual meta data and Taxi admin and then paid our submission fee and it was forwarded.

A very disappointing waste of our time and money to receive a reply from a library that anyone can just sign up to directly for free and upload non screened

Anyone else got thoughts on this?


Y171228AR
CURRENT SOUNDING ALT-ROCK INSTRUMENTALS are needed by a large NON-Exclusive Music Library with a very long list of TV, Film, and Commercial placements. NOTE: We recently ran this request as a Dispatch Listing (TAXI # D171121CA), but the company didn’t get enough material and asked us to run this request to our full membership to see if we could find them more great material. If you submitted to TAXI #D171121CA, please submit different material this time around! They’re searching for full-length, Mid-to-Up-Tempo Indie Rock Instrumentals that could be found a playlist with artists like (but not limited to) Imagine Dragons, Rag’n’Bone Man, X-Ambassadors, Welshly Arms, etc., etc. Please listen to the following references to get an idea of what can work for this pitch: “Believer” by Imagine Dragons https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7wtfhZwyrcc “Jungle” by X-Ambassadors https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aqXW57WM9TA “Legendary” by Welshly Arms: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z2CZn966cUg Although the references have vocals, this request is for Instrumentals only. Please send them well-crafted Alt-Rock Instrumentals that have an edgy sound and vibe, with solid musicianship, hard-hitting beats, and catchy melodic lines. Your pieces should use current-sounding instrumentation that’s fresh and creative, and sounds like something you would hear on a hip radio station. Please avoid sending in anything that sounds stiff, synthetic, or obviously MIDI-driven. All submissions should be between 2:00 to 4:00 minutes long, give or take. Non-Faded endings will work best. Do not copy the references in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as general guide for overall feel, texture and tone. Broadcast quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine). This Company offers a NON-Exclusive 50/50 deal. You’ll get 50% of any applicable sync fees and 100% of the Writer’s share. The Publisher will get 50% of any sync fees and 100% of the Publisher’s share. You must own or control your Master and Composition to submit to this pitch. You’ll maintain full ownership of the original Copyright and Master Recording. Please submit as many Instrumentals as you’d like online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a Yes/No basis - No full critiques. Submissions must be received no later than

It happens. Nothing wrong on your part.

Hi Mark,

Thanks for posting this. Being a relative newbie here still I wasn't quite sure how to take it when I got an email from these guys, it did seem a bit... underwhelming when I looked into it.

I take it this isn't quite the norm for TAXI contacts then, in your experience?

Bruce.

At least its Non Exclusive and who knows the tracks may go into a higher priority folder because they are screened?

Comes down to choice. Not for me!

I think it's ok for you to call TAXI and politely express your concerns so that they have a chance to explain why this opportunity is available to TAXI members. I think the prevailing philosophy is that they don't want to arbitrarily decide for members what opps should be listed or not. You might know of this library, others may not. Etc.

ecurb wrote: I take it this isn't quite the norm for TAXI contacts then, in your experience?

Well no, this is the fourth Library contact in two years.

Library One - Super happy to be involved with..would never even know they existed without Taxi ( no public website etc )

Library Two - Owned by a bit of a "character" shall we say who asked to sign tracks and never followed up..much discussed here and put down to experience..not Taxi's fault but disappointing all the same.

Library Three - A great Non-Ex company obviously very active and regularly sending briefs for shows they are working with - I doubt we would have got a foot in the door if it wasn't for Taxi

LIbrary Four - A RF Library that anyone can sign up to easily ( and I was already a member of )

So yes, I was hoping that all of the opportunities would be for Libraries that were not open to the general public. They have added on average around 80,000 tracks per year to their Library since 2012 as they now stand at 837k track count. I just don't feel that this is the sort of 'opportunity' I signed up for.

The $5 submission fee adds up to more than 2yrs worth of streaming income from them !

Mark

lesmac wrote:At least its Non Exclusive and who knows the tracks may go into a higher priority folder because they are screened?

The signup link on the email is the exact same one as if you sign up normally via their site. So I doubt it.

hummingbird wrote: I think the prevailing philosophy is that they don't want to arbitrarily decide for members what opps should be listed or not. You might know of this library, others may not. Etc.

I don't pretend to know how it works and who pays what to whom to run a listing but this place has added 80,000 tracks a year on average for the last six years to it's Library so you end up a tiny minnow in a very large pond. YMMV as to whether you think that's worthwhile or not but they aren't a difficult place to find with some basic research and there's little or no barrier to entry. So paying membership and submission fees to access a place like this seems wrong to me.

I have calculated each Library contact has cost in the region of $250 all told so it's very disappointing

Mark

cosmicdolphin wrote: I don't pretend to know how it works and who pays what to whom to run a listing but this place has added 80,000 tracks a year on average for the last six years to it's Library so you end up a tiny minnow in a very large pond. YMMV as to whether you think that's worthwhile or not but they aren't a difficult place to find with some basic research and there's little or no barrier to entry. So paying membership and submission fees to access a place like this seems wrong to me.

I have calculated each Library contact has cost in the region of $250 all told so it's very disappointing

Mark

I don’t understand why that music library is running listings with Taxi. They are large and already get a lot of music added. I know of other composers out there who regularly send music their way.

It definitely is a waste of members’ time to go through the process of submitting to listings to a library that anyone on the internet can audition for. The company isn’t offering anything special to Taxi members. They simply pile on music and are growing through sheer volume of music made available.

The sad part is that this same company bars composers from working with some other music libraries. This company had a list of other RF libraries that a composer was not allowed to work with. Remind you that only your music would be signed to the company, not you as an individual composer. How would a non-exclusive RF library have the authority or power to limit a composer from working with other non-exclusive music libraries? Simple, they do not!

Also, this company demands a perpetual license for music. So even if a composer signs music on a non-exclusive basis, he/she can never remove the music from this library’s catalog. That itself is a very dangerous practice and effectively renders a composer’s music unusable for any chances of being signed exclusively in the future.

I definitely hope Taxi reconsider runnning listings with this company. They are a huge behemoth who does not hold the composers’ interest at heart. At least a disclaimer of the limitations of the deal should be posted in every listing so Taxi members can know what they are getting into before they sign. No member should be taken advantage of.

Tks.