My first membership subscription cycle I struggled, more or less an observer. I wanted to do it but we really didn't, not the way you need to, didn't have a plan, didn’t write to target. I attended Road Rally - and thought it was great. I was inspired, a bit intimidated. Was I ready to make it happen? Really happen?
Nothing much happened my first time through Taxi.
My membership renewal came up and expired and I became a listing reader again, which is what I was basically anyway if truth be told.
The second membership subscription cycle I attacked it with intent and a plan. I got commitments from co-writers, and we put together a plan to write as much as we could and submit to as many listings as we needed to in order to get a foothold into music licensing, publishing, and music production opportunity. We knew nothing about it – we thought we would compete. I renewed my membership and we started writing and submitting.
It was a humbling experience.
Brutally humbling at times in fact. Return, Return, Return, Return, REJECTION!! Wow. Maybe we should quit? Never! You need to work to get to Yes. But – OUCH!!
We are an active writing team, my co-writing partners, SteveBHC, JonBHC and I. Between us - we work hard to study collective craft and submit to as many listings as we can.
Taxi was our start. It was the maiden voyage for each us as a writing team, and the experience was brutal in the beginning, but so, so, soooo valuable along the way. We listened to the feedback from the screeners, took advice, reworked tracks, better targeted the listings through trial and error and really worked to push forwards through.
Forwards started to happen. They started to happen, BECAUSE we started doing all the things that Taxi had told us to do. We wrote to our strengths, targeted the listings, reviewed forwards that got posted through the Taxi Forums so we could listen to what was making the cut, compared it to what we had sent, tried to be more on target in the future.
About a year into it, we had submitted to 112 times, gotten 94 returns, and 18 forwards. We are making progress, tasting success, and decide to expand horizons from Taxi and use what Michael commonly refers to as “copy cat” sites that act as Taxi competitors. Joined 2 new sites, paid fees, got memberships signed up and started submitting. Old stuff and new, Taxi rejected it? No matter, send it out and see what happens with the “copy cat”.
One was harder to get forwards from – but there were a ton of listings and the submit timelines were nice and long. The other was easy - getting forwards at a ratio unheard of in my Taxi experience. I started thinking “Who Needs Taxi? “ We are getting way more opportunity through these other sites. We started pushing a lot of submissions through “copy-cats” and our Taxi submissions fell off, didn’t end, just didn’t flow with the consistency they had prior to going the “copy cat” route.
Either way - contract opportunities started showing up and we started looking into deals to secure tracks with publishers and libraries.
I’m no expert, but I have seen enough to know that there are good deals, and not so good deals to be made when it comes to licensing music. Pay attention to the details.
OMG – are you still reading this? Longest post ever
You know what I found out? Taxi works. Deals that you get with Taxi are good. The best relationships in the Publisher / Library industry I have established from this process have come through Taxi. My consistent experience is that when a contact opportunity comes through as a result of a forward we get through Taxi – the company is vetted and proper, and it shows in the contract and the way the relationships play out.
Taxi sets a high bar to get a forward, but there is a method to it, and they are adamant about sharing it and teaching it to you.
There are a lot of REAL, real talented writers going for that listing against us – but it is the only forum in my experience, that provides the support of consistent feedback, screeners with valuable insight, Taxi TV, The Road Rally, Forum Posts - a real community of people actually competing with each other doing it, but open to help you do it too. That freakin Rules!
Anyway Taxi, thanks for being consistent in the earliest days when I did absolutely nothing with the advice you preached to me then. And thank you even more, for being consistent to the message the second time I came through your membership.
Consider it an evergreen renewal going forward.
