TAXI.com

#1

Y170202PB
BIG, CONTEMPORARY POP BALLADS with Male or Female Vocals are needed for several $1,500, Direct-to-Music Supervisor, NON-Exclusive placements in a new Science Fiction TV Series done by the same producers as the hit TV show, Mr. Robot. They're looking for compelling, Down-to-Mid Tempo Songs that could be heard on a playlist with artists like (but not limited to), Adele, James Bay, SIA, etc., etc., etc. Please take a listen to the following references to get yourself in the general wheelhouse of what they need: "Hello" by Adele: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YQHsXMglC9A "Let It Go" by James Bay: https://www.youtube.com/watchv=GsPq9mzFNGY "Chandelier" SIA: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2vjPBrBU-TM Give them songs with tons of feeling and emotion, memorable hooks and a big, anthemic, heartfelt chorus. Your submission can be a Stripped-Down, Acoustic-Based performance with piano/vocal or guitar/vocal, or a more fully produced track with strings, drums, pads, etc. Lyric themes can vary, but should be something that has substance, emotional pull, and the ability to capture the listener's attention. Universal lyrics will always work best, so please avoid specific names, places, dates, times, brands, and profanity. Do NOT copy or rip off the referenced artists in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a guide for tempo, texture, and tone. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine).The estimated license fee for this use is $1,500, depending on the ultimate placement. This is a Non-Exclusive, Direct-to-Music Supervisor pitch. You'll get 100% of the sync fee, and 100% of any applicable performance royalties. Plus, you'll also keep 100% of your Publishing and Master ownership. You need to own or control your Master and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity. Please submit 1-3 Songs online or per CD, include lyrics. All submissions will be screened on a Yes/No basis by a TAXI screener handpicked by the Company - No full critiques. Submissions must be received no later than 11:59PM (PST), on Thursday, February 2nd, 2017. TAXI #Y170202PB

Lyrics
This track feels too insistent to work well with these scenes.

#2

Y170131BA
CONTEMPORARY POP/AC BALLADS with Male, Female, or Duet Vocals are needed by a very successful Multi-Media Company/Producer that needs the perfect song for a big Animated Feature Film! They’re looking for compelling Down-to-Mid-Tempo Songs that could be found on a playlist with songs like (but not limited to) the references below: “Let It All Go” by BIRDY + RHODES: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6u0DGIh3wLA “Lay Me Down” by Sam Smith: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HaMq2nn5ac0 “A Thousand Years” by Cristina Perri: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rtOvBOTyX00 Quoting The Source: “The song needs to have a Pop/AC style, nothing too Soulful or R&B.” Give them emotional, heartfelt Songs that have big, unforgettable hooks, emotionally powerful melodies, and a lyric that would lend itself to a stellar vocal performance. Lyrics themes can vary, but should focus on topics about love, heartbreak, losing someone, etc. Give them something that’s fresh, original, and relatable for an audience watching a high-end animated film. Simple, elegant, and universal lyrics will work well for this. Avoid references to specific names, dates, times, and brands. Do not copy or rip off the referenced artists or songs in any way, shape, or form. Use them only as a general guide for tempo, tone, and overall vibe. Broadcast Quality is needed (great sounding home recordings are fine). NOTE: This production/multi-media company is owned by a true A-List Writer/Producer whose M.O. is that he finds songs, re-cuts/produces them, gets them sung by really big, chart-topping artists, then licenses them to A-List Feature films for $30,000 - $50,000 per sync. This pitch is more about having a great song that’s well structured with pro-level lyric craft, a super-strong melody, and a great big cinematic chorus than it is about having the best string samples in your demo. That said, even if you submit a relatively stripped-down version of your song (which you can), please make sure what you submit is strong enough that this producer finds himself saying, “I have got to cut that song!” This Company offers an EXCLUSIVE agreement with a 50/50 split. The specific terms will be determined directly between you and the Company. Because this is an Exclusive deal, please do NOT submit music for this pitch that is already signed to any other Libraries or Publishers. You must own or control your Copyright and Master recording. Please submit one to three Songs online or per CD. All submissions will be screened on a yes/no basis – no full critiques and must be received no later than 11:59PM (PST), on Tuesday, January 31, 2017. TAXI #Y170131BA

Other
Your song leans AC but hs a retro sound that doesn't appeal to our listing.


PICKING UP THE PIECES
Music and lyrics by Linda Starr

I knew he liked to play around
He even told me so
But like a fool I fell in love
And now I can’t let go

Why can’t it last forever
It’s how it ought to be
Why does it always end
In total misery

Picking up the pieces
Is very hard to do
When someone you love
Makes a fool of you

It’s so hard to love a man
Love is hard to understand

Why do I always want so much
What am I waiting for?
Why can’t I want a little less
And maybe get much more

But that’s the game we play
The magic of charades
It seems to last forever
But suddenly it fades

Picking up the pieces
Is very hard to do
When someone you love
Makes a fool of you

It’s so hard to love a man
Love is hard to understand.

(guitar solo)

Why can’t it last forever
That’s how it ought to be
Why does it always end
In total misery

Picking up the pieces
Is very hard to do
When someone you love
Makes a fool of you

It’s so hard to love a man
Love is hard to understand

Picking up the pieces
Is very hard to do
When someone you love
Makes a fool of you

It’s so hard to love a man
Love is hard to understand

Ooh ooh ooh
Ooh ooh ooh ooh ooh

Ooh ooh ooh

https://soundcloud.com/userlgstarr/pick ... the-pieces

I know they want "big" in many pop listings. There is opera/theater big, voices with great projection, then there's pop big, voices with quiet whisper creaking with lots of compression.
There's probably only a few who can crossover. Those are probably very expensive,lol!

You've submitted a theater voice for a pop voice listing. That's probably the bottom line. I'm not sure that it couldn't have worked for the second listing, however it says yes/no, and the "producer finds himself saying, “I have got to cut that song!", so that in itself seems highly subjective.

Your style kinda reminds me of Diana Ross (ballad) or Whitney Houston, I get what the screener is saying about A/C retro. "Contemporary" is a big thing in listings. When you see it, they want everything that is 'now'.

For listing number one - have you got work for hires or paperwork that would allow you to place this song in film/tv ('You need to own or control your Master and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity'). Fade outs are generally a no-no in film/tv

For me this song has good lyrics for film/tv, the production is retro compared to the samples. I like the start of the song very much. When the chorus comes in there should be background vocals imo that would lift it a bit more. However whether it is mixed appropriately for film/tv is the question. If you own all the rights to the song, the master and the performances on it, then I suggest looking for film/tv listings which ask for older style singer/songwriter or retro style pop or even Lloyd Webberish stuff.

Avoid listings that ask for 'contemporary' 'current' etc.

Len911 wrote:I know they want "big" in many pop listings. There is opera/theater big, voices with great projection, then there's pop big, voices with quiet whisper creaking with lots of compression.
There's probably only a few who can crossover. Those are probably very expensive,lol!

I like your distinction between the two types of "big"!

Len911 wrote: You've submitted a theater voice for a pop voice listing. That's probably the bottom line. I'm not sure that it couldn't have worked for the second listing, however it says yes/no, and the "producer finds himself saying, “I have got to cut that song!", so that in itself seems highly subjective.

Funny, Shirlee Cavalarro (my demo singer) was never into theater--she worked around Los Angeles as a pop/jazz singer all the time.

hummingbird wrote:Your style kinda reminds me of Diana Ross (ballad) or Whitney Houston, I get what the screener is saying about A/C retro. "Contemporary" is a big thing in listings. When you see it, they want everything that is 'now'.

For listing number one - have you got work for hires or paperwork that would allow you to place this song in film/tv ('You need to own or control your Master and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity'). Fade outs are generally a no-no in film/tv

For me this song has good lyrics for film/tv, the production is retro compared to the samples. I like the start of the song very much. When the chorus comes in there should be background vocals imo that would lift it a bit more. However whether it is mixed appropriately for film/tv is the question. If you own all the rights to the song, the master and the performances on it, then I suggest looking for film/tv listings which ask for older style singer/songwriter or retro style pop or even Lloyd Webberish stuff.

Avoid listings that ask for 'contemporary' 'current' etc.

My demo singer Shirlee Cavallaro would just come over to our house/studio and do demos when we needed her. I think I paid her for everything because she was raising two kids alone so I even paid her to clean my house sometimes because she needed the money. That's all I know which leads me to believe that I own everything...unless I'm missing something??

lgstarr wrote:

hummingbird wrote:Your style kinda reminds me of Diana Ross (ballad) or Whitney Houston, I get what the screener is saying about A/C retro. "Contemporary" is a big thing in listings. When you see it, they want everything that is 'now'.

For listing number one - have you got work for hires or paperwork that would allow you to place this song in film/tv ('You need to own or control your Master and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity'). Fade outs are generally a no-no in film/tv

For me this song has good lyrics for film/tv, the production is retro compared to the samples. I like the start of the song very much. When the chorus comes in there should be background vocals imo that would lift it a bit more. However whether it is mixed appropriately for film/tv is the question. If you own all the rights to the song, the master and the performances on it, then I suggest looking for film/tv listings which ask for older style singer/songwriter or retro style pop or even Lloyd Webberish stuff.

Avoid listings that ask for 'contemporary' 'current' etc.

My demo singer Shirlee Cavallaro would just come over to our house/studio and do demos when we needed her. I think I paid her for everything because she was raising two kids alone so I even paid her to clean my house sometimes because she needed the money. That's all I know which leads me to believe that I own everything...unless I'm missing something??

You'd need the receipts or a signed work for hire in order to pitch for film/tv. I'm not a lawyer.. but you need something that shows you own all the performances in the recording. That's what they mean by 'control the master'.

hummingbird wrote:

lgstarr wrote:

hummingbird wrote:Your style kinda reminds me of Diana Ross (ballad) or Whitney Houston, I get what the screener is saying about A/C retro. "Contemporary" is a big thing in listings. When you see it, they want everything that is 'now'.

For listing number one - have you got work for hires or paperwork that would allow you to place this song in film/tv ('You need to own or control your Master and Copyright to pitch for this opportunity'). Fade outs are generally a no-no in film/tv

For me this song has good lyrics for film/tv, the production is retro compared to the samples. I like the start of the song very much. When the chorus comes in there should be background vocals imo that would lift it a bit more. However whether it is mixed appropriately for film/tv is the question. If you own all the rights to the song, the master and the performances on it, then I suggest looking for film/tv listings which ask for older style singer/songwriter or retro style pop or even Lloyd Webberish stuff.

Avoid listings that ask for 'contemporary' 'current' etc.

My demo singer Shirlee Cavallaro would just come over to our house/studio and do demos when we needed her. I think I paid her for everything because she was raising two kids alone so I even paid her to clean my house sometimes because she needed the money. That's all I know which leads me to believe that I own everything...unless I'm missing something??

You'd need the receipts or a signed work for hire in order to pitch for film/tv. I'm not a lawyer.. but you need something that shows you own all the performances in the recording. That's what they mean by 'control the master'.

One of my singers moved to Austria where she was invited to teach voice for the last 30 years; Shirlee and I had a falling out and then she got married and moved somewhere; some of the people I used as singers are dead, and Matthew Perry did a couple songs (including "False Paradise") just before he got famous on Friends. Since it's unlikely I'm going to get some paper signed by most (or any) of these people, this means there are now even FEWER opportunities that I can respond to (and those had already gotten pretty small according to our interactions here before this new wrinkle).