TAXI.com

Taxi kills me (in a great way). There will be times when I go a month or so without having a listing come across my desk that I feel well-suited to tackle. Then out of the blue, there will be 3 or 4 listings all at once that all get me going! Then I have to drop everything and start cranking out music.

So, what I've started doing is this. When I'm in a downtime, I go back through the last 5 or 6 forwards I've had. I start writing short cues that I think would work for those previous listings. That way, I have a little 'library' of my own to pull from when similar listings pop up.

So far, it has worked fairly well...but even still, I can't keep up! This week I had to choose between the big Beer ad, even though Fun and Energetic are not really my thing, and a handful of REALLY awesome cue listings. In the end, I went where my passion led me...to the cues. Rather than wasting time on something I wasn't passionate about, I decided to tackle 3 other listings instead. Hopefully the reward will justify my decision

Taxi - You are simply THE BEST service out there.

Hi Randon.

I run across the same problem often. And I usually play to my strengths and the ones I think I can deliver on time.

What I will do is go through the listings and copy-paste the text of the ones I think I can hit into Microsoft Word, then print a single page hard copy of each listing (yeah I know, old-school pieces of paper in this digital age)
Then I highlight the dates and put the pages in order.

then I start from the one that is due first... if I don't think I can do it in time, I go to the next one... and so on. It's nice when a listing comes up that needs stuff I've already got in my back pocket... that means I can submit to those right away and move on to the next one on my list.

Russell

Russell Landwehr wrote:Hi Randon.

What I will do is go through the listings and copy-paste the text of the ones I think I can hit into Microsoft Word, then print a single page hard copy of each listing (yeah I know, old-school pieces of paper in this digital age)
Then I highlight the dates and put the pages in order.

Russell

=) Same tactic here though I use excel where can be 10-20 listings. Then I add some own columns with my own remarks + of course deadlines as dates. Then finally adding filters so that I can play around it easily and finally putting traffic lights (Yellow = on progress, Green = done, Red = failed to submit) But to be honest, even this method has nice way to get fast status check it as much just brings the illusion of being in control ;D

Just wanted to add that when I see a listing asking for something that comes up fairly often, if I can't make the deadline I will still keep it for those down times when there isn't much to write for, I'll pick one of them and write a couple cues, knowing that style will be asked for again.

All great ideas, thanks!

Generally speaking, my time is limited to about 1 track per week, so I have to be picky to some degree.

I really like the idea of keeping around old, popular listings as a reference for building a small library of tracks, ready to submit.

Same here... I feel like a kid in a candy store sometimes, I enjoy writing so much. (just need to remember to keep scheduling wifey time to maintain the domestic peace).

Whenever I see a listing I want to go for it gets copy/pasted into a word doc where I highlight the key listing words (style, exclusive or non, due date, edit points or not, any tips hints or quotes from the client, etc. If I submit, I change all the text to green, if I decide not to, I change it to red. If I want to but run out of time, it goes gray.

I also maintain a folder in my web browser of reference tracks. When I hear a good a la, it goes into that folder with the genre at the front of the name. I start a new file every month.

I also have a separate file I call the Taxi Calendar, where I list all of the listings I am considering to submit for. Here is my July list. This is my target list, the N or Y at the beginning is whether or not I actually submitted something. E is for exclusive. I'm also thinking about putting a white board calendar on my studio wall so my wife can see what my deadlines are. This way she knows when I will be busiest. (30+ years together, communication is key). July is busy... this week will be nuts.

N - EDM @128BPM - July 1
Y - HIP-HOP INSTRUMENTAL CUES - July 2
Y - ORIGINAL, BOSSA NOVA JAZZ INSTRUMENTALS - July 3
N - LATIN POP INSTRUMENTALS - July 4
N - EPIC, ORCHESTRAL FILM TRAILER INSTRUMENTALS - July 6
N - TV COMMERCIAL-STYLE, CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTALS - July 7
N - HIP HOP INSTRUMENTALS - July 7
N - EMOTIONALLY UPBEAT R&B INSTRUMENTAL CUES - July 7
N - CONTEMPORARY HIP-HOP INSTRUMENTALS - July 8
Y - 1980’s Inspired NEW WAVE INSTRUMENTALS - July 8 (E)
Y - CIRCUS STYLE INSTRUMENTALS - July 11
Y - ELECTRONIC DANCE INSTRUMENTALS (EDM) - July 18
Y - PIANO-BASED, SOFT ROCK INSTRUMENTALS - July 20 (E)
N - FUN ENERGETIC CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTALS - July 23 (Buyout)
Y - CALMING MEDITATION-STYLE INSTRUMENTALS - July 24 (E)
Y - FUTURISTIC HYBRID UNDERSCORE INSTRUMENTAL CUES - July 27 (E)
Y - CONTEMPORARY INSTRUMENTALS (WORLD) - July 28
Y - ATMOSPHERIC SOUNDSCAPE-STYLE INSTRUMENTAL CUES - July 29 (E)
Y - 1950’s-STYLE KITSCHY INSTRUMENTAL CUES - July 31 (E)
Y - DARK INSTRUMENTAL SOUNDSCAPE CUES - July 31

Funny. I do the exact same thing as you, Russell. Copy and paste into word, order by date, and I highlight and mark down notes and ideas... I've always been a fan of the hard copy/paper and pencil. I just feel more in control that way.
I haven't been doing this nearly as long as many of you guys and gals have, but I always end up playing to my strengths, and attacking the listings that are most in my comfort zone. If there's a drought of listings in genres I feel are in my wheelhouse, I might try writing something outside the comfort zone and expand my compositional palette. But going back and writing similar cues/songs for old listings is an interesting idea. As long and we don't stop writing!

Great thread! Thanks for the hints, guys. That changes my approach quite a bit.

@Paulie, a lot of those calls weren't in the regular website list. Were they Dispatch calls?

Regarding reminders, Gmail has a Tasks function, and while it's a bit fiddly it does have the ability to list things by a delivery due date (as specified by you). If you use gmail and check your mail daily, it sits in the bottom right corner, reminding you to get offline and get making music.