Sharing thoughts - to stay or to go?
Posted: Mon Jan 16, 2017 5:44 am
My partner is the Taxi member but I would like to share my thoughts, (since he won't) - and hope ok on this thread..?
His 1st year's membership will expire soon but he has decided not to renew, due to zero success with submissions made so far. I feel the decision is premature but I also understand his frustration and disillusionment.
He says the industry has changed entirely, that there is no longer a place for him. While living in LA for a long time, he enjoyed a lot of success, earning a very good income solely from making music. He worked with boutique production houses, where demos were submitted and paid for, where he scored to picture, and that if a piece of music wasn't quite right, you'd have the opportunity to resubmit after working on it. Success rates were very high. Obviously this is not possible with Taxi, where generally it has become a numbers game - with hopefully one being 100% suitable.
We now live abroad, and after taking a break, Taxi seemed like a good way to continue working in the industry, while still producing albums for others as well as producing a few of his own albums. He also has not had the benefit of attending the rally etc. Meeting people in the industry face to face is definitely beneficial, as he has experienced.
While the Taxi fees are not excessive in US terms, each 5USD is a meal for two in our currency, add to this the membership fee, and the incentive to keep submitting starts diminishing when there is no return even to cover basic costs. Added to this are the countless hours that he has spent working on these listings - this is disheartening for me too Everyone needs some acknowledgement, and it gets harder and harder to keep going when that isn't forthcoming. Right now he's disillusioned and uninspired, and decided its better to watch movies rather than make music!
Up until 3 weeks ago he had a 35% forward rate but not one forward has gone further, not even to a library. Recently he has been resubmitting to listings with the same criteria, with the overall success rate down to 25% - what is interesting is that depending on who is screening, there will be different responses for the same piece of music with the same criteria for the listing - I think this is frustrating him - maybe if 3 people listened to every submission, members would be less inclined to feel that responses are subjective. This is not in any way meant to undermine the screeners, I think its natural that we will all be stimulated differently but it means the process is inherently flawed. We also understand it is not financially viable for Taxi to have 3 screeners listening to each submission. It can also be frustrating when told the submission is great, among other things but not suitable for the scene when you're a diverse composer/musician, yet there is so little to go on and you're not scoring to picture.
The bottom line, is it worth continuing when chances are, nothing will change in a year's time? I know that Michael, and Taxi work hard for members - but is it realistic to be hopeful of any success when far from the action? Is it now an industry for the young and hungry? Is it only possible to be successful if you attend rallies and meet industry professionals etc.?
Thank you - just hoping to understand a little more maybe..
His 1st year's membership will expire soon but he has decided not to renew, due to zero success with submissions made so far. I feel the decision is premature but I also understand his frustration and disillusionment.
He says the industry has changed entirely, that there is no longer a place for him. While living in LA for a long time, he enjoyed a lot of success, earning a very good income solely from making music. He worked with boutique production houses, where demos were submitted and paid for, where he scored to picture, and that if a piece of music wasn't quite right, you'd have the opportunity to resubmit after working on it. Success rates were very high. Obviously this is not possible with Taxi, where generally it has become a numbers game - with hopefully one being 100% suitable.
We now live abroad, and after taking a break, Taxi seemed like a good way to continue working in the industry, while still producing albums for others as well as producing a few of his own albums. He also has not had the benefit of attending the rally etc. Meeting people in the industry face to face is definitely beneficial, as he has experienced.
While the Taxi fees are not excessive in US terms, each 5USD is a meal for two in our currency, add to this the membership fee, and the incentive to keep submitting starts diminishing when there is no return even to cover basic costs. Added to this are the countless hours that he has spent working on these listings - this is disheartening for me too Everyone needs some acknowledgement, and it gets harder and harder to keep going when that isn't forthcoming. Right now he's disillusioned and uninspired, and decided its better to watch movies rather than make music!
Up until 3 weeks ago he had a 35% forward rate but not one forward has gone further, not even to a library. Recently he has been resubmitting to listings with the same criteria, with the overall success rate down to 25% - what is interesting is that depending on who is screening, there will be different responses for the same piece of music with the same criteria for the listing - I think this is frustrating him - maybe if 3 people listened to every submission, members would be less inclined to feel that responses are subjective. This is not in any way meant to undermine the screeners, I think its natural that we will all be stimulated differently but it means the process is inherently flawed. We also understand it is not financially viable for Taxi to have 3 screeners listening to each submission. It can also be frustrating when told the submission is great, among other things but not suitable for the scene when you're a diverse composer/musician, yet there is so little to go on and you're not scoring to picture.
The bottom line, is it worth continuing when chances are, nothing will change in a year's time? I know that Michael, and Taxi work hard for members - but is it realistic to be hopeful of any success when far from the action? Is it now an industry for the young and hungry? Is it only possible to be successful if you attend rallies and meet industry professionals etc.?
Thank you - just hoping to understand a little more maybe..