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Hello, we're TAXI newbies who write country songs and intend to submit exclusively to country markets. We understand TAXI is in the business of collecting five dollarses, and we understand that you folks know stuff That said:

Should we bother re-submitting w/out re-working a country track that has been returned?

Are there a bunch of country screeners, so that one screener may forward a track another screener has already returned?

Or is it a "there's-only-one-screener-and-he-didn't-like-it-the-first-time-so-why-bother" type of situation?

Thank you in advance!
Johnny & Faith

Remember that it's not just about the song. It's about the song as it relates to the listing. A Lamborghini is an awesome car but if a buyer is looking to haul lumber then all of a sudden that great car becomes an awful choice.

So... a song that gets rejected for a listing may (and most times does) get rejected because it's not a good match to what the listing party is looking for. Particularly with Country... a song that's horrible for one Country artist can be the perfect choice for another. I don't do Country but I'm guessing that Brooks and Dunn sing about different things than does Reba (and in a different style).

Targeting the listing is an art in and of itself and something that is usually responsible for probably most of the returns. Having said all that... if the song is getting returned with comments about lame lyrics, production issues, etc, problems with the song itself then yes, it wouldn't make sense to keep submitting until those issues are cleared up in one way or another.

HTH,

Dave

Ah, that makes sense. I ask because the next batch of listings just came out and I wonder if I should go ahead and submit to appropriate listings right away or wait until I hear the results from our last submissions. I guess we'll wait, as the critique provided may show us how to make the songs better.
Thank you, Dave!

Some years ago, I ran across someone who was looking for musicians for a band. He said "I want someone/something that sounds like David Bowie".

I replied, "which one? "

If someone said they wanted music for a female country artist, you would have to say, "Loretta, Dolly, Reba, or maybe LeAnn ".

Some songs can work for different parties in different ways. Some artist may even perform the song in two or three different ways (small group or orchestral).

I've pitched several of individual my songs several times. The reactions were different on each one.

Have to use your intuition on this one.

If the critique gives you something general to work with that you know will improve the song no matter the target, get that done ASAP.

But I can give a really specific example: I have a country-pop song that has been forwarded, but in one specific case was returned because it turned out that the target artist was in direct competition with Michelle Branch, who had recently put out a song by the same name. Drat!

I've certainly had returns and forwards of the identical song/production, just depending on the listing. I've even had a male-targeted song, sung by me (female) for expediency's sake, returned for that reason but also forwarded, with the screener saying it was an example of the song being strong enough that he could ignore the gender issue as well as the simple guitar/piano/vocal production.

So I say make the song as great as you can but definitely, definitely heed the listings.

grandsoul & ckbarlow - Thank you kindly for your insight. We appreciate it

We are all busy people right? You can spend so much time waiting.... I know from experience life is way to short. If you take the time to put yourself out there.... the right situation will find you as long as you do your part.

I have been writing for many years and believe me, the only person ultimately waits for your song(s) is you. This is from my own experience. As for your music, remember, everyone hears a song differently. Everyone, singers, musicians, arrangers or a producer will each go an entirely different route with just one song to serve their creativity. An opinion only means it's "their opinion", not the whole world music community. If you can believe in yourself.....then spread your wings and fly. Give yourself permission to "go for the gold"!!