I'd like to share my full experience if I may? I speak for myself only with what I'm about to say while knowing that Herb has had good results with this company. Anyone else that has had good results, my apologies if my comments here bother you...but I really think that all forms of experience can be beneficial to those that are curious about this company. By all means try it for yourself...but for what it's worth, here is my experience in full that I have shared on various forums past and present. It may be a bit of a long read, but hey...that's me. :)
Taxi has does nothing for anyone in my neck of the woods (including myself) who has used them. We ALL feel Michael Laskow and his team of "fomerly's" are the biggest scam in the music industry. There is no label that expects you to be perfect while shopping material to them other than indy labels that want you to do the work for them. Don't even thnk for a second that you need to have "record deal ready" material to actually get a deal. Though this is excellent practice for people as you should always deliver the best product possible, it's not something that will or will not get you a deal. Trust me on this. You'd be surprised at how it deters people away from even submitting thinking they aren't good enough and their quality is not good enough.
Remember, A REAL label can tell talent when they hear it. You think they want to use your crappy little recordings to release world wide? LOL!!! I got news for ya....I got pretty GOOD crappy little recordings and they still wouldn't use mine. They lock you in with a producer, they re-record your songs to their specs using their engineers and they make you sound like a million bucks. So don't ever think for a second you need to send perfect demo's to get attention. It can help paint a better picture, but as I said, these labels can hear talent even if its on a micro-cassette recorder. Just look at some of the sub par quality Youtube vids out there. The quality is bad, but the performance and quality of the artist may be stellar. A label wouldn't walk away from a star because they aren't production savvy.
I was with Taxi for 3 years. I submitted loads of tunes with good quality monthly. One day I was invited to take part in a compilation to which I declined. I shopped my stuff to 4 labels in Europe on my own using this same material that Taxi didn't do a thing with. I signed a record deal with it and it has helped me to survive quite well and I've made an incredible living doing music full time from the connections I've made from it all. What made the material I gave to Taxi less appealing to them? Why did 4 labels in Europe square off to try and offer me the best deal with the best advance? Easy answer...Taxi pocketed my membership fee as well as my song submission fees whilst throwing my stuff in the trash can. They never even listened to it let alone shopped it. I beg someone to prove me wrong and literally show me the proof.
When you go to the Taxi seminars where they tell you all about the insdustry and how to do this and that, each member of their panel is "formerly of" some label or some position. Why are they all "formerly"? Quite simple...they were probably fired and can't work in the REAL record company world any longer. Could Laskow really offer them more money to work for him than a major label would? Hmm thinking about it now, he probably could if the other million members are being scammed the same as me and my friends. Check out his roster of fine formerly's...you'll see what I mean.
Every person on his staff is "formerly" from somewhere. Also, is there one major signed act or artist that openly mentions Taxi as his/her vehicle to stardom other than the crap taxi puts on their page mentioning people you/I've never heard of? I'd like someone to find me one major star that attributes Taxi as the reason they got their deal, and it has to be written on the artist's page BY that artist as well....not just Taxi's. Again I say...I sincerely believe this is the biggest scam in the music industry in my opinion and I say this from real experience as well as several of my peers experiencing the exact same outcome as me.
The kicker with Taxi for me was, for 3 years I was with them, submitting to just MY genre...which in my opinion, I feel I do pretty well, I never gained any interest. Yet, a little while after I decided not to re-up with Taxi, I was offered 4 record deals from Z Records, Now and Then/Frontiers, Escape and MTM music. All 4 have/had some pretty big hitters on them....so, how come Taxi and those that reviewed my material didn't feel the same way? The same songs I submitted to Taxi were submitted to the aforementioned labels. Wouldn't that make a person smell poo? That was all the proof I needed. I don't claim to be the best writer or player, but man, when "extreme guitar music for video games" or "melodic 80's rock/metal needed" or "pop rock with infectious hooks wanted" pops up, I think I have a very good chance. I still have a hard time believing that Taxi passed on close to 80 submissions from me of this nature to where only one was considered on a lame compilation CD.
I'll never believe in them unless someone with the star status of Lady Gaga admits that "without Taxi, I'd not be here today". I still hold true to my original statement....Laskow and his team of "formerly's" will never do anything for anyone but themselves. I'll gladly apologize if this one day is not the case...but until that time, 3 years was enough of a waste for me...and as I said, several of my friends have also had the same results, all of which are great writers and players. All any of us ever got was a goose egg....and that's not because we aren't good enough...it's because they took our money and our material was never reviewed...it was sent to the circular file...which is the trash can.
The feedback "I" received from Taxi was 0. Not a letter, not a call, nothing other than "sign this document because we want to use one of your songs on a compilation we'll be releasing. You won't see any money from it, but we'll put your song on there with your permission".
Maybe they have changed all this now and give you feedback, but there was a disclaimer that mentioned "upon submitting your material, you may not get a response unless there is interest. Don't take it personal if you don't hear from us" or something to that effect. I never even knew if my submissions got to the right people. Each month that went by, another stack of songs for $5 per submission wasted. It was horrible and so were their seminars where they promised the big wigs that attended would listen to your material on the spot. Not to mention these seminars were pricey as heck! I never felt so high yet so low because of a company in my life. They nearly made me want to quit due to playing with my emotions and me allowing it to happen. Try it for yourself if you feel it's worth it and listen to Herb's success story then make up your mind. Whatever you decide, good luck and if you try it, I hope it works for you and others.
-Danny
*edited for grammar and spelling*