Return on Listing S240228GM
Posted: Sat Mar 09, 2024 12:25 pm
Hello Taxi Family
I have been away from Taxi for a little over 6 years. In the interim I moved to Nashville and have been working hard on my singer-songwriter artist career. Ive grown my following to a modest amount (7000+ on IG, 5000+ on FB, 3000 to 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, depending on the month.) Artist name is Tim Wolf (TheTim Wolf on socials).
Thought I would give Taxi a try again. While back in 2016=2017 time frame I was writing and producing everything myself, now I have evolved to co-writing and using a veteran producer and on occasion pro musicians for my releases.
This listing is for a Nashville publisher who is looking for 90's country songs for one of their young artists.
While I am not really a country artist (more in the Alternative or Americana vibe), some of my songs I do consider they would work as at least Alt Country. I mean, Tracy Chapman wrote a song in the 90s that went to number one as a country song, so genre barriers definitely have come down.
I submitted 3 songs for this listing. All three were written with pro long time Nashvile writers, and had pro musicians play on them and were produced and mixed by my 30 year veteran pro producer I have been using. These three songs (and others we wrote) were written with the express intent to get cuts from Nashville artists, but of all ones we wrote I liked these three enough to record and put them out myself.
The return that really puzzles is the one for "Red Dirt". https://timwolf.ffm.to/reddirt
I get it if the vibe is not what they are looking for, perhaps its not 90s country enough. Not original enough, not fresh enough, all comments I could understand.
-----
But Screener 368 had this to say:
I think you could improve your song by:
Part of selling yourself, and your material is putting your best foot forward. That means the music melody, writing, production, and performance all need to be top-notch and professional.
I returned or forwarded this song because
This song is not moving forward because it does not have the polish and professionalism necessary to place it at this time.
------
First of all, this listing was for songs, not finished song recordings. The listing even said stripped down demos were ok.
Lets talk about the writing. I co-wrote this song with Brian White, who has had 16 #1's. he's won 2 Dove Awards for Song of The Year, SESAC Country Song
of The Year, Billboard's Most Played Song of The Year, as well as ACM and CMA nominations. With
over 400 cuts to his credit, his songs have been recorded by such artists as Danny Gokey, Kutless,
Mandisa, Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins, and Jason Aldean (to name a few).
Brian wrote the melody and a good portion of the song. I was along for the ride and just honored to be writing with a guy like that.
Yes i know pro-writers can write clunkers, like all of us, but I honestly dont know what actions someone like me could ever try to have a more professional song than write with a seasoned pro like that.
Production: my veteran producer produced the song and it had pro musicians play on it.
I completely get returning song for not the right vibe, not '90's enough, not original enough (they did say they wanted subject matter that had never been said before, and Red Dirt has some tried and true country phrases like "John Deere green" etc.). All could be valid.
But to say this is not a professional submission.... what more could a person in my shoes do? shaking my head.
I knew it would be like this when I came back to give Taxi a try, lots of rejection and disappointment. I promised myself I would not stop until i had at least 20 returns. I;m well on my way, 6 so far. When I reach 20 I will re-evaluate.
I am grounded in the quality of my music. I get messages every day from fans gushing about the music I have put out and how it reaches them, etc. Including this song, and this recording. I dont need validation from screener 368. And I know music is subjective. i get that.
One interesting part of the listing is that the publisher him or herself may screen some of the songs. It would be interesting is Screener 368 is the one who critiqued my song! If so, its probably good he/she didnt like it cuz we probably wouldnt get along.
My biggest thought: why go thru the effort if this is how its going to be, that my submissions are not polished and professional enough? this is what i am pondering.
Regarding the other two listings: 1 other one was returned (Road To Nowhere) cuz it was too rock. I get that. I took the country iphone memo from the writing session and made it more my style. But the "road to nowhere" song was written for a country artist. I had hoped that maybe it was possible to see thru the more rock oriented production of my release to see how the song might work for a country artist, but no worries i can understand the return. The other song hasn't been returned yet. we'll see.
So perhaps Taxi is not the right fit for me. I'll wait until I get the 20 returns before deciding. But not off to a great start.
Thanks for letting me rant.
Tim
I have been away from Taxi for a little over 6 years. In the interim I moved to Nashville and have been working hard on my singer-songwriter artist career. Ive grown my following to a modest amount (7000+ on IG, 5000+ on FB, 3000 to 10,000 monthly listeners on Spotify, depending on the month.) Artist name is Tim Wolf (TheTim Wolf on socials).
Thought I would give Taxi a try again. While back in 2016=2017 time frame I was writing and producing everything myself, now I have evolved to co-writing and using a veteran producer and on occasion pro musicians for my releases.
This listing is for a Nashville publisher who is looking for 90's country songs for one of their young artists.
While I am not really a country artist (more in the Alternative or Americana vibe), some of my songs I do consider they would work as at least Alt Country. I mean, Tracy Chapman wrote a song in the 90s that went to number one as a country song, so genre barriers definitely have come down.
I submitted 3 songs for this listing. All three were written with pro long time Nashvile writers, and had pro musicians play on them and were produced and mixed by my 30 year veteran pro producer I have been using. These three songs (and others we wrote) were written with the express intent to get cuts from Nashville artists, but of all ones we wrote I liked these three enough to record and put them out myself.
The return that really puzzles is the one for "Red Dirt". https://timwolf.ffm.to/reddirt
I get it if the vibe is not what they are looking for, perhaps its not 90s country enough. Not original enough, not fresh enough, all comments I could understand.
-----
But Screener 368 had this to say:
I think you could improve your song by:
Part of selling yourself, and your material is putting your best foot forward. That means the music melody, writing, production, and performance all need to be top-notch and professional.
I returned or forwarded this song because
This song is not moving forward because it does not have the polish and professionalism necessary to place it at this time.
------
First of all, this listing was for songs, not finished song recordings. The listing even said stripped down demos were ok.
Lets talk about the writing. I co-wrote this song with Brian White, who has had 16 #1's. he's won 2 Dove Awards for Song of The Year, SESAC Country Song
of The Year, Billboard's Most Played Song of The Year, as well as ACM and CMA nominations. With
over 400 cuts to his credit, his songs have been recorded by such artists as Danny Gokey, Kutless,
Mandisa, Rascal Flatts, Trace Adkins, and Jason Aldean (to name a few).
Brian wrote the melody and a good portion of the song. I was along for the ride and just honored to be writing with a guy like that.
Yes i know pro-writers can write clunkers, like all of us, but I honestly dont know what actions someone like me could ever try to have a more professional song than write with a seasoned pro like that.
Production: my veteran producer produced the song and it had pro musicians play on it.
I completely get returning song for not the right vibe, not '90's enough, not original enough (they did say they wanted subject matter that had never been said before, and Red Dirt has some tried and true country phrases like "John Deere green" etc.). All could be valid.
But to say this is not a professional submission.... what more could a person in my shoes do? shaking my head.
I knew it would be like this when I came back to give Taxi a try, lots of rejection and disappointment. I promised myself I would not stop until i had at least 20 returns. I;m well on my way, 6 so far. When I reach 20 I will re-evaluate.
I am grounded in the quality of my music. I get messages every day from fans gushing about the music I have put out and how it reaches them, etc. Including this song, and this recording. I dont need validation from screener 368. And I know music is subjective. i get that.
One interesting part of the listing is that the publisher him or herself may screen some of the songs. It would be interesting is Screener 368 is the one who critiqued my song! If so, its probably good he/she didnt like it cuz we probably wouldnt get along.
My biggest thought: why go thru the effort if this is how its going to be, that my submissions are not polished and professional enough? this is what i am pondering.
Regarding the other two listings: 1 other one was returned (Road To Nowhere) cuz it was too rock. I get that. I took the country iphone memo from the writing session and made it more my style. But the "road to nowhere" song was written for a country artist. I had hoped that maybe it was possible to see thru the more rock oriented production of my release to see how the song might work for a country artist, but no worries i can understand the return. The other song hasn't been returned yet. we'll see.
So perhaps Taxi is not the right fit for me. I'll wait until I get the 20 returns before deciding. But not off to a great start.
Thanks for letting me rant.
Tim