Signed 1st Deal from Taxi after….. 15 years!
Posted: Thu Aug 18, 2022 3:34 pm
TLDR: After 15 years, I’ve arrived at what Taxi is (at least for me). Taxi is a goal motivator, a critical listening partner and (as it turns out) a business match maker. It also served as an educational tool for me early on.
Long Version:
This morning I completed the contract and paperwork, and emailed the full .wav file of my track Moog Morricone (https://www.taxi.com/members/ZOzjDyKETJ ... righteous-) to the publisher. It is the first deal I’ve gotten through Taxi. There was no parade, no confetti. There was simply the joy and quiet satisfaction of perseverance.
I wanted to post a short(ish) post on my experience for those who need encouragement. I know I have over the years, and I hope that reading this helps.
I first joined Taxi around 2005ish… I think I maybe had one publisher (library) and had a handful of tracks on TV. Joined Taxi to submit to more opportunities. Many submissions, not many forwards at first (you’re heard it all before…)
Went to Road Rally in 2008 as I was living and teaching in L.A. at the time, learned a whole lot!! worked on networking, got quite a few contacts. Nothing ever came of any of it… (and I’m not saying that’s anyone’s fault - I’m just saying what happened… For whatever reasons, nothing came of my networking from this period. And there was a pretty major player in the industry who I nurtured a good relationship with… just didn’t happen).
In the meantime, kept honing my craft (or so I thought lol), and started to get a lot of forwards! Most everything I submitted got forwarded!!!! Guess what? Nothing happened. Not one call back.. (Wait - does Taxi work? Is this a hoax? This must be a scam!!! You’re heard it all before, right?)
Took a break from Taxi, came back to Taxi, took another break, and used what I’d learned (some of it from Taxi) to make better music (or more specifically, better records). Found libraries that wanted to work with me.. and in many cases sent them the tracks that had been forwarded by Taxi. I mean, I have probably hundreds of placements on TV over the years, but I’m not bragging - I’m still trying to figure this thing out and get better.
Came back to Taxi last year, and have been amazed at how I read the listings now. I have learned to hone in on the genres that I really know how to write for, and that list of genres keeps getting shorter and shorter. I’ve had many returns (mostly because I’m trying to stretch myself in new areas), but I’ve had some forwards too.
And after 15 years, I’ve arrived at what Taxi is (at least for me). Taxi is a goal motivator, a critical listening partner and (as it turns out) a business match maker. It also served as an educational tool for me early on.
It’s a goal motivator because the very-carefully-chosen-ones-that-I-apply-to listings are opportunities to test my abilities to make records in a very specific area. Taxi is a critical listening partner - I don’t always agree with the critiques that I get, but I do respect them, and I’ve learned that everyone is human and we all listen in very different ways. Just because the reviewer didn’t hear it the way I thought I presented it or heard it doesn’t mean they’re wrong or I’m wrong - it just is an opportunity for me to learn a different way of hearing and try again.
So please hang in there… Don’t give up. But also carefully evaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing. Like many of you I imagine, when I was a kid, I wanted a “record deal” and to be a “rock star.” But after really learning the business and more importantly, growing up and thinking about what’s important to me, I know that now it’s just about my love of music and wanting to contribute. That’s why there was no parade, no confetti this morning. There was simply the joy and quiet satisfaction of perseverance.
Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading.
Long Version:
This morning I completed the contract and paperwork, and emailed the full .wav file of my track Moog Morricone (https://www.taxi.com/members/ZOzjDyKETJ ... righteous-) to the publisher. It is the first deal I’ve gotten through Taxi. There was no parade, no confetti. There was simply the joy and quiet satisfaction of perseverance.
I wanted to post a short(ish) post on my experience for those who need encouragement. I know I have over the years, and I hope that reading this helps.
I first joined Taxi around 2005ish… I think I maybe had one publisher (library) and had a handful of tracks on TV. Joined Taxi to submit to more opportunities. Many submissions, not many forwards at first (you’re heard it all before…)
Went to Road Rally in 2008 as I was living and teaching in L.A. at the time, learned a whole lot!! worked on networking, got quite a few contacts. Nothing ever came of any of it… (and I’m not saying that’s anyone’s fault - I’m just saying what happened… For whatever reasons, nothing came of my networking from this period. And there was a pretty major player in the industry who I nurtured a good relationship with… just didn’t happen).
In the meantime, kept honing my craft (or so I thought lol), and started to get a lot of forwards! Most everything I submitted got forwarded!!!! Guess what? Nothing happened. Not one call back.. (Wait - does Taxi work? Is this a hoax? This must be a scam!!! You’re heard it all before, right?)
Took a break from Taxi, came back to Taxi, took another break, and used what I’d learned (some of it from Taxi) to make better music (or more specifically, better records). Found libraries that wanted to work with me.. and in many cases sent them the tracks that had been forwarded by Taxi. I mean, I have probably hundreds of placements on TV over the years, but I’m not bragging - I’m still trying to figure this thing out and get better.
Came back to Taxi last year, and have been amazed at how I read the listings now. I have learned to hone in on the genres that I really know how to write for, and that list of genres keeps getting shorter and shorter. I’ve had many returns (mostly because I’m trying to stretch myself in new areas), but I’ve had some forwards too.
And after 15 years, I’ve arrived at what Taxi is (at least for me). Taxi is a goal motivator, a critical listening partner and (as it turns out) a business match maker. It also served as an educational tool for me early on.
It’s a goal motivator because the very-carefully-chosen-ones-that-I-apply-to listings are opportunities to test my abilities to make records in a very specific area. Taxi is a critical listening partner - I don’t always agree with the critiques that I get, but I do respect them, and I’ve learned that everyone is human and we all listen in very different ways. Just because the reviewer didn’t hear it the way I thought I presented it or heard it doesn’t mean they’re wrong or I’m wrong - it just is an opportunity for me to learn a different way of hearing and try again.
So please hang in there… Don’t give up. But also carefully evaluate why you’re doing what you’re doing. Like many of you I imagine, when I was a kid, I wanted a “record deal” and to be a “rock star.” But after really learning the business and more importantly, growing up and thinking about what’s important to me, I know that now it’s just about my love of music and wanting to contribute. That’s why there was no parade, no confetti this morning. There was simply the joy and quiet satisfaction of perseverance.
Apologies for the long post and thanks for reading.