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Hi, fellow composers. I hope you are all well and enjoying the fabulous Road Rally!

I recently joined TAXI, and recently submitted my first two pieces for instrumental cues. They were both just returned with sort of vague critiques. When I submitted, I was actually really looking forward to the feedback and honestly didn't mind if they got returned, especially because I am so new; I wanted to know how I could make them better for next time. I loved Steven Memel's Prequel, "Rejecting Rejection," and I know that it isn't personal. But DAMN. I was surprised by how much it stung. It didn't put me under or make me want to jump off a cliff, but it really sucked. It's not that I disagree with the screener (except the comment that one of them wasn't similar to the examples, or however it's worded - totally disagree with that), I just don't really understand some of the very little that the screener wrote. During the Quarantini Happy Hours when we've played "Pin the Tail on the A&R Person," (I jokingly call it), I have agreed almost 100% with the screeners, so I know it's not that the critique is incorrect - it's all about my (to me) surprising reaction to the rejection: pain. I didn't expect that at all, and I didn't attend today's Road Rally classes; I just didn't feel like it.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit bruised, and that's really disappointing to me, since I did not expect to feel this way at all. Just needed to share with others who might also understand. Thank you for indulging me.

Hi TM... we've all been there, and are there, often. Everyone here gets Rs, it's never easy.

It might help us help you if you can post a link to the song, provide the text of listing, and then the screener's comments (good to do this on two different threads, one for each song), so we can have a listen and help interpret the comments. Never give up.

If you love the craft, and wouldn't want to go do something other than music, then stick with it.
There's still a very full day left to this VRR - and there's a huge community of individuals who have experienced probably everything you're feeling;
and yet, remain supportive of the process of improving - because they don't want to do anything else but this.
You're in the pool. Keep swimming.
The Peer-To-Peer board here is a 'free' pre-submit review, that will hopefully help increase the likelihood of meeting the specs of the listings.
It's not about how great the piece is, as much as how 'right' the piece is.
HTH... from The Peanut Gallery.

TalentMatters wrote: ↑

Sat Nov 07, 2020 9:49 pm

Hi, fellow composers. I hope you are all well and enjoying the fabulous Road Rally!

I recently joined TAXI, and recently submitted my first two pieces for instrumental cues. They were both just returned with sort of vague critiques. When I submitted, I was actually really looking forward to the feedback and honestly didn't mind if they got returned, especially because I am so new; I wanted to know how I could make them better for next time. I loved Steven Memel's Prequel, "Rejecting Rejection," and I know that it isn't personal. But DAMN. I was surprised by how much it stung. It didn't put me under or make me want to jump off a cliff, but it really sucked. It's not that I disagree with the screener (except the comment that one of them wasn't similar to the examples, or however it's worded - totally disagree with that), I just don't really understand some of the very little that the screener wrote. During the Quarantini Happy Hours when we've played "Pin the Tail on the A&R Person," (I jokingly call it), I have agreed almost 100% with the screeners, so I know it's not that the critique is incorrect - it's all about my (to me) surprising reaction to the rejection: pain. I didn't expect that at all, and I didn't attend today's Road Rally classes; I just didn't feel like it.

Anyway, I'm feeling a bit bruised, and that's really disappointing to me, since I did not expect to feel this way at all. Just needed to share with others who might also understand. Thank you for indulging me.

Hi TM, i can attest with absolute certainty that throughout the lifespan of your career you will experience....

- Approvals for quick, half hearted, lazy, uninspired, shot in the dark, off-target tracks
- Rejections for labored, whole hearted, passionate, in your wheelhouse, spot on tracks

Most will be in between those two extremes, but you WILL get those now and then, here in taxi, or freelancing on your own, starting now, til forever......and there's nothing you can do about it except "dust yourself off and get back on the horse", you'll get used to it after a while, and it gets better once you slowly figure things out and get better at everything along the way

It's a constant whether it's Taxi or not.

Libraries will reject tracks at the drop of a hat with zero feedback. Or ask for changes you don't agree with. Accepted tracks that you think are perfect will never get used and stuff you were not that proud of end up out performing those labours of love.

It's all part of the process I'm afraid. Taxi is preparing you for the the real world but in a safer space.

Post up your tracks and the listing if you want feedback

Mark

Please don't miss the rest of the Rally. This is your tribe. If anyone can understand how you're feeling, it's us. Think of that impulse to miss the Rally after a rejection as something that doesn't serve you. Come join us in the youtube chat rooms and be part of the community.

Let me tell you a little something about me. I've been on these forums since 2004, I think. I joined TAXI in 2005, I think. I went to my first two Rallies feeling like a fraud because I had made countless submissions and every single one had been returned. In fact, it took me three years of membership and many submissions before I got my first forward. And every single return was like a knife in my gut, especially to start. Even now they sting.

I have tv credits now, and like someone said above, those placements are usually not made with the 'masterpieces' I created, but with some little funky quirky silly thing. One of those has been used on several episodes of three different series.

There are a couple things said this weekend that still resonate with me. One is that resistance takes many forms and can even seem immensely reasonable but the aim of resistance is to make you stop. And the other is that a screener said that the screeners are very aware when the same person submits the same piece multiple times to different listings like they are unwilling to accept that the track isn't working. And I know I was one of those when I started lol.

Many things were said so far this Rally that make so much sense, Steven Memel's 'Rejecting Rejection', Steven Pressmans 'War of Art', and many more.

So you have options here. You can listen to that part of you that is terribly disappointed your work was not forwarded. Or you can say, 'ok, for some reason I didn't hit the mark and I'm going to try to figure out why, and look, I have a community that is willing to listen to my tracks and read the review and help me sort out what I need to understand.'

Our music matters. Everything I write is tremendously precious to me and it's hard for me to see how these lovely things that spring from my muse don't fit a brief. But what matters most is the fact that I write them. If they are usable by the industry that's great. But I write first because I can't imagine not writing. Even if it's crap. Especially if it's crap. Because the crap means I am devoted to the thing that lights me up inside whether or not I am able to get what is in my head out into a sonic landscape that makes sense.

H

Before I joined TAXI I was lurking for approximately seven years. Then I calculated my chances and came up with an average anticipated forward rate of no more than 6 percent of all submissions. This number was based on some data Michael mentioned on TAXI TV episodes and some other sources. So I figured, I'll need to create 16 songs or cues to get 1 of them forwarded. Of the forwarded ones only a small share will create a library or sync contract, because there I'll be competing with other forwards and non-TAXI-composers. I figured that I'll need to create at least 160 songs or cues to get one deal. After joining TAXI with all the help you find in TAXI TV episodes, now at the Road Rally, in the Forum, in the "forward blog" etc. I managed to push the forward quota to 24 % (with no guarantee it'll stay there). Some of the forwards I'd never figured were nailing the listings, yet they were forwarded, some others I thought were really good - but the screener returned them.

So what's the message? Write it, submit it, forget it, repeat. The TAXI mantra. It's exactly this. Keep going, keep producing, keep improving. It is inevitable that you'll get forwards, and out of these sooner or later a library or producer will pick your work up. Some here have reported that they did not have a single forward during their first year of membership. It's a learning process.

PDebik wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 08, 2020 9:38 am

Then I calculated my chances and came up with an average anticipated forward rate of no more than 6 percent of all submissions.

I think you may have that wrong, pretty sure he said 6% of members were successful ( whatever that criteria is ) - but many won't report success stories back to Taxi so that's only the metric of the ones that feed back.

If you were only counting on 6% Forwards per year, on my numbers it would take between 5 & 6 years to get a Library deal ! In reality it was 3 or 4 months - I think you want to be aiming as high as possible, I was expecting at least 50% Forward rate when I started , I think it was around 37% in the end which was frustrating as there were others exceeding 50% at the time that I'd seen on the forum.

PDebik wrote: ↑

Sun Nov 08, 2020 9:38 am

Of the forwarded ones only a small share will create a library or sync contract, because there I'll be competing with other forwards and non-TAXI-composers.

...and of all the ones signed into a Library only a small % will actually end up with a placement ..my ratio is 13% on a sample size of 350

Oh, the 13% is an important new number for me. Thank you for posting this.
I strongly believe that marketing and selling is a much bigger part of the business than production. The best music is useless if noone can hear it.
The 6 % was only an estimate, and it was for my personal submission ratio, not the overall by-person success rate. Good to know that you're somewhere around 37 %, so that can be a new goal.

And like others have said - dealing with rejection is the norm and it stings and everyone experiences it.

What perked my interest was the placement rate for signed tracks - which made me go take a look and do a quick count up - it doesn't take long in my case as whatever prolific means I am the opposite and have slowed even more in last 18 months.

But as another data point
I have only 35 tracks signed but 15 have been used at least once.
But 2 tracks have made > 80% of the money which is the more important number

just hadn't given that placement stat any thought till it was mentioned here so thought I would share