First... I listened to a few snippets of your music..... not bad.
Taxi can be a good place to gather info. I approached taxi after having been listening and watching from the sidelines for a few years. I joined last year.... now just over a year with them. I attended the road rally and met a bunch of the screeners and a ton of my fellow passengers. Several ( I met and spoke at length with about half a dozen or more of the TAXI stars that you see in the ads) that I met are making a full time income from music that has been forwarded by TAXI. So it is possible to make connections in TAXI.
If your song is submitted to a listing, and it fits a very narrow and targeted goal, is broadcast quality, and the song is higher than the bar...which in todays music world is very, very high, It gets sent to the company or person who is in fact looking for music. You deal directly with them, TAXI is not a partner to the deal.
they basically prescreen music to eliminate the average to good songs and only send the superior songs to the listing..... this keeps TAXI in good standing as a source for high quality music with the industry.
If your song is country, it gets screened by folk that know country music and not some guy that listens to jazz or rock....and vice versa.
If you decide to join.... give it a firm 5 year minimum commitment to stick with it. Nothing generally happens in the first few years. You have to develop and inprove your writing style. You have a lot to learn, so use the resources available and grow as a writer. I have had multiple returns from TAXI.....
Just because TAXI returns it doesn't mean someone else won't sign it.... these same songs that they returned have been signed into about a dozen other libraries. I have more submitted..... the thing is you never know what song will be the ONE, that gets forwarded, signed, and ends up in a film or on a TV show, or an artist's CD.
Also the TAXI returns generally come back with professional critiques. I find these very handy to improve my writing skills. To have someone else look at and listen to the song and tell me from a professional's point of view what is wrong with the song is priceless. It's one thing to have a song critiqued in the songs forum here by my buddies in CAKE, and another thing totally to have a professional listen to it and tell you what is wrong and what is right with it.
Look at the Taxi roster... all of the above happens, but....you have to be prepared, with the right song..... not just any song but a hit song.
It's the guys and gals that come in and think they have a natural talent and their songs are perfect and they don't need to change, the industry needs to recognize they're stars waiting to be discovered......... well, these are the ones that burn out fast when they are told their music needs improvement. They are not ready to have a full look at reality and do the work needed to get better to have their music fit into the needs of the music buyers and not the other way around. They whine about how TAXI is unfair, uneducated, and simply can not see the opportunity that is right before them..... and sadly, these people never learn and never succeed in the business of music.
Sure... you need some ego, but couple that with determination, and a willingness to learn and improve, and TAXI might be able to help your music career.
And like they like to say about the lottery, you can't win it if you ain't in it.
post edited by Guitarhacker - 2010/08/09 20:54:08