TAXI.com

HI all,

I submitted 3 tunes to:

VERY WELL CONNECTED MUSIC SUPERVISOR/PUBLISHER/MUSIC LICENSING VETERAN needs a WIDE RANGE of Contemporary INDIE SINGER/SONGWRITERS, POP ARTISTS and "COOL INDIE BANDS" for a compilation CD he will be using to represent TAXI's Members as he meets with HEAVY-WEIGHT MUSIC SUPERVISORS to get them to use TAXI as a go-to resource on MAJOR STUDIO and NETWORK projects. This gentleman has music supervised, coordinated, and licensed music on many projects, and is a family member with very active and highly regarded music supervisors. He has just joined TAXI's A&R team and wants to get familiar with as many of our great sounding members as quickly as possible so he can hit the street running and bring in some KILLER listings! While we can't promise that the supervisors he's meeting with will grab songs from his compilation, it's certainly not out of the realm of possibilities. This listing is an AWESOME opportunity to have this gentleman (and his supervisor friends) get to know your music QUICKLY, rather than hearing it over several months as he screens regular TAXI listings. The bar for this will be high, but wide, and it basically comes down to him feeling that your song(s) are appropriate and will impress his fellow supervisors. Please submit Broadcast-Quality (great home recordings are fine) full-length SONGS. The supervisor has requested that we don't give out his name. If you ARE chosen, he will contact you. HE WILL NOTIFY US OF ANY MEMBERS WHO CONTACT HIM DIRECTLY, AND YOU WILL BE DISQUALIFIED. Please submit up to (3) songs via CD or online. Submissions will be screened personally by the listing party on a YES/NO basis; there will be NO TAXI CRITQUES. Deadline for submissions is Monday, January 24, 2011 at 10am PST. TAXI #Y110124IA,

I note that the listing asks for indie singer/songwriter and pop artists. The reviewer returned all 3 tracks staying they were "stylistically off-target". The listing says the bar is high but wide. With the bar high, I would understand maybe vocals not up to par or production not up to par but how can a listing be for singer/songwriter, pop artists and find all the tracks stylistically off target? The target is extremely general. The screener recommended that I purchase Robin Frederick's Book on how to write for film and TV which is ironic since two of the songs have since been placed and one has been actively pitched to 4 major TV shows.

The tunes are:
Everything's Ok, (has since been placed in a major library shopping to film/tv)
In your own way,
You're So Cool (has since been placed in a major library shopping to film/tv)

You can find them here: http://www.reverbnation.com/#!/jonathansorensen

Honestly I would feel more comfortable if someone said I was wrong and told me why than to feel like the screener just checked whatever was convenient. Am I wrong here?


Best,
Jon

I think these ultra high bar listings are always tough calls. What we don't know when it's "N" on a Y/N listing is how close we might have been. But Y/N is how much of the real world works. It's frustrating but we have to get used to it as part of being in this biz. All you can do is request a custom review on one of the tracks, reference the listing, and even ask if the same screener can do the custom review. Put in your questions including why it is off target for that listing. It might be $20 well spent.

Good luck! Sorry about your disappointment here. I feel your pain. Got a return on this one today too for lyrics. That is probably valid-- my lyrics may have been lacking in universal-ness or cliche in spots. I wish I knew which made the screener check "lyrics" but such is life.

Best,
Casey

Casey H wrote:I think these ultra high bar listings are always tough calls. What we don't know when it's "N" on a Y/N listing is how close we might have been. But Y/N is how much of the real world works. It's frustrating but we have to get used to it as part of being in this biz. All you can do is request a custom review on one of the tracks, reference the listing, and even ask if the same screener can do the custom review. Put in your questions including why it is off target for that listing. It might be $20 well spent.

Good luck! Sorry about your disappointment here. I feel your pain. Got a return on this one today too for lyrics. That is probably valid-- my lyrics may have been lacking in universal-ness or cliche in spots. I wish I knew which made the screener check "lyrics" but such is life.

Best,
Casey

Thanks Casey. I am indeed tired and susceptible to frustration and defensiveness today. I just finished a project at 3am this morning. I'm definitely going to start using the pro feedback.
But thanks for the kind words. I probably just needed to vent more than anything.

Jon

Well Jon I listened and liked both songs, fwiw, but it looks like in this case the screener and the listing party were one in the same so it may be especially well worth it to order a custom critique from the same screener.

Actually, if the screener is the listing party I don't know if a custom review by them is possible. You'd have to ask Taxi. Some listing parties only come in to decide on what they are looking for on a Y/N basis but may not be trained as full fledged taxi reviewers.

Casey

jonathansorensen wrote: ...Thanks Casey. I am indeed tired and susceptible to frustration and defensiveness today. I just finished a project at 3am this morning. I'm definitely going to start using the pro feedback.
But thanks for the kind words. I probably just needed to vent more than anything.

I think if we're going to submit to very high bar listings, we're going to have to keep our skin very thick and expect a higher rate of returned tracks than for more mid-bar listings. It goes with the territory. And if the listing party themselves-- an experienced music sup said 'no', what more is there to say? We can't gripe about a middleman in our way. There was none.

And, as always said here on the forum, you now have some excellent tracks for other opportunities. You read all the time how folks wrote pieces specifically for certain taxi listings, the tracks got returned, and then months later got signed elsewhere.

Casey

Casey H wrote:

jonathansorensen wrote: ...Thanks Casey. I am indeed tired and susceptible to frustration and defensiveness today. I just finished a project at 3am this morning. I'm definitely going to start using the pro feedback.
But thanks for the kind words. I probably just needed to vent more than anything.

I think if we're going to submit to very high bar listings, we're going to have to keep our skin very thick and expect a higher rate of returned tracks than for more mid-bar listings. It goes with the territory. And if the listing party themselves-- an experienced music sup said 'no', what more is there to say? We can't gripe about a middleman in our way. There was none.

And, as always said here on the forum, you now have some excellent tracks for other opportunities. You read all the time how folks wrote pieces specifically for certain taxi listings, the tracks got returned, and then months later got signed elsewhere.

Casey

Actually I had forgotten that it was the super himself who screened it. That's different. I'm sure he/she isn't real concerned with giving feedback to Taxi members. So in the end, that answers the question. All's well that ends well.

Jon