hey Vicki:
Here is an opinion to try on that is based on my experience.
When a listing is calling for a general cattle call of styles - sure they want anything. But every listing also has a built in "bar" that you have to leap over considering production style, and how contemporary the resulting piece is.
So "more current sensibilities" is a way of saying: the production, sounds and mix is "dated". Or not "broadcast quality" which as Michael has explained on TAXI TV is a combination of writing, production, and mix. Its not just having a nice mix.
Some things about your piece to examine that strike me as "not contemporary":
Intro - percussion is programmed sounding. No variation, quantized feeling. Like MIDI without humanization. Piano bathed in reverb sounds dated.
Entrance of bass - this is the equivalent to the open G string of the acoustic bass. Never having variation or letting the bass line get down to the lower range of the bass means it sounds a little canned. Playing repeated notes with an acoustic bass sample is really difficult because it will never have the exact same sound as a real player. The result: it sounds programmed.
Strings - a pad like this has a dated sound. Its also a "synthetic" sound. It just goes on and on with no breaks or phrasing. It sounds like a chord being held down on a keyboard. If you break your strings up into sections (i.e. VL 1, VL 2, VLa, Celli, CB) and you play each section in as a "Line" rather than a chord, you can approach something that is more of an authentic string "arrangement". I have found that good string writing can make up for a gap in sample quality, but bad writing can make even fantastic samples sound like an organ instead of strings.
Effects - 1:30 sounds like an electric piano with a Phaser - Its tough to find contemporary albums in any genre that feature the phaser. Its an effect that has gone out of style. Extreme example:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaA3YZ6QdJU that was 1977. Vs. Diana Krall's more recent version:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=d8RYUZT57XA - besides the tape hiss on BJ's version, does DK's sound a little more "contemporary"? Note they even stuck in some pads and the phased electric piano in the second verse - so they want this to be a little retro. Would it have passed the screeners ears? Good Question.
Returning to instrumental performance / programming - Note the sound of the acoustic bass in this tune too. Lots of repeated notes, yet it sounds very different groove wise. Maybe consider this as well:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pLZfhHW98Os obvious homage to the smooth bossa sounds of the 60's in my opinion. But the real performers put it over the "bar" IMO.
so to answer:
Is it a mix problem? NO. Not as the main issue.
What is my suggestion?
1) If you are going to use virtual instruments, its up to you to know how to program them so they sound as close to "real" as you can. Varying timing, velocities, not having things play for 24 bars without at LEAST a slight variation.
2) Its also up to you to be up on what is "contemporary" as far as the final production / mix for the GENRE you are writing in - how wet? how much reverb? what kind of reverb? What kind of time based effects (like chorus, phaser, flanger, etc)? Are any of these used in "contemporary" productions?
3) not mentioned before this: If you are writing film / TV "cues" - they generally have a generalized format, including a button ending and usually involve continuous development (augmenting a theme, adding different colors as doubles or replacing a sound) so that to have a static arrangement for 0:30 is fairly rare. I believe above the book "Demystifying the Cue" by Dean Krippaehne was mentioned by Paul above and it really lays this stuff out. I have learned a lot from studying that. And from making a lot of my own mistakes.
HTH.