TAXI.com

Listing TAXI # S210815CR states explicitly: "DO NOT SUBMIT FOR FRIENDS"

I asked about this on the chat during a recent Taxi TV episode and Michael gave a very surprising and informative answer. In short, he said that in the past Taxi has had members charging people rather exorbitant sums of money to submit. Which I think we can all agree is a pretty cruddy thing to do. However, Michael didn't understand my followup question, so I wanted to ask about it here.

As I see it there are multiple roles we might play in a submission:
Sole Composer - All lyrics , music and production for the work are created by the Taxi member
Collaborator - The Taxi member is working with other non-Taxi-member artists to create the work and has contributed some element of the lyrics, music, production.
Agent - The Taxi member has a legal contract with the creator of the work with explicit permission to submit the work and negotiate terms for licensing should the work be selected.
Friend - The Taxi member had no involvement creating the work, but has submitted the work as it likely fits the listing and the creator would otherwise not have submitted the work through any other service.

Can someone offer some clarification as to these roles and how I can best position myself when working as a collaborator or agent? If I sign a legal contract with a friend to act as their agent, is this acceptable? How should i structure collaborations such that everyone gets a fair share of the proceeds from a successful submission? Is a contract always necessary?

My thought in joining Taxi was to create a cadre of musicians I can call upon to help me create a work. If I need guitar, I bring in one of several guitarists I know. If I need a bassoon, I go to the local college and find someone willing to record the part I need and I can work out appropriate payment with them.

I won't take any response as legal advice, just looking for some guidance.

Thanks

Michael

In a collaboration, if one of the collaborators is a TAXI member that person can submit.

I do not believe agents can submit but that you would have to ask TAXI.

How should i structure collaborations such that everyone gets a fair share of the proceeds from a successful submission? Is a contract always necessary? - you should have a written agreement with your collaborators and all collaborators will be required to sign the agreement with the listing party should you receive an offer. In this case it is wise to ensure they all understand how such deals work. The shares you indicate in that agreement will be registered with the pros, etc.

"My thought in joining Taxi was to create a cadre of musicians I can call upon to help me create a work. If I need guitar, I bring in one of several guitarists I know. If I need a bassoon, I go to the local college and find someone willing to record the part I need and I can work out appropriate payment with them." - they either can be collaborators and get a share of the revenue should the track be placed, or, if you pay them, they need to sign work for hires stating they do not have any rights in the music or the master recording.

I am not a lawyer, just my thoughts on this.

Thanks, I'm hoping someone on Taxi's staff will chime in.

According to this page on the Taxi web site.....
https://www.taxi.com/songwriting3/

"Can I sign up as a publishing, management, or production company, and send in material for several people under my membership?"
"Thanks to a few unscrupulous people who were re-selling access to TAXI for a profit, we had to go to single memberships only.

TAXI memberships are individual and writer-based. That means that if you write your own songs, or you are the primary writer in your band, you can join TAXI. The rule of thumb is you can send in any music you've written or co-written, but can't submit for friends.

You can sign up in the artist's name, in care of yourself (if you're a manager or publisher), and administer the membership for them. Please call us for details."

In addition to the wise sages above I would add that as soon as you start acting on behalf of others it opens up a whole can of worms.

In a nutshell , people who make music outside of Sync Licensing generally don't have a clue about how this part of the business works. As soon as you put a legit Sync Licensing Contract in front of them the chances are they're going to s##t themselves. Usually they think someone is trying to con them, will ask their other music friends who are also clueless and give them bad advice and quite likely not sign the deal as offered and screw up any chance you have of forming a relationship with that Publisher. That's how music people roll. They are clueless about what we do and how it works, and they're not invested like we are.

Example - Try explaining to a co-writer who you've offered a share of a track to that they need to spend money signing up to a PRO in order to get paid ..possibly..in a year or two and they will normally run a mile.

The only way to make it work is either work with people who already do this and happy to do splits, or pay the other musicians on a Work For Hire basis and make sure they sign a contract to that effect. Even if they are a friend. It will save you a lot of potential trouble down the line.

Or do everything yourself. Good Luck !

Mark