TAXI

[Mark L]

Based on something Mike Rivers mentioned in my other I-write-songs-because-I-need-to-but-It'd-be-nice-to-make-some-money-out-of-them-as-well thread, has anyone here had experience with this company?

Would it suit someone like me who tends to write songs in various styles?

Is it worth $300 to join and then pay $5 for each submission??

Michael Laskow seems like a nice guy

 

[blue2blue]

They're legit, in the sense that they don't make outrageous promises. People do occasionally sell things through them. They are NOT oriented or set up for niche music and their 'reviewers' are oriented to pop music with an eye toward licensing placement (TV, cable, etc).

Most of the folks I've conversed with who've been on them have been on for a year or two at most. None of them had bad things to say about TAXI, but the overarching consensus seemed to be that they might be OK for the right, mainstream, pop-oriented folks. Mostly, the folks I've talked to have got tickles but nothing picked up.

 

[monstermaker]

I tried them for a couple of years and had one tune make it thru their screening process but nothing came out of it. It was exciting to think something might happen like you feel with a lottery ticket in your wallet and you hear nobody's come forward to claim the pot. They seemed legitimate but I think you get better exposure thru You Tube. Sell yourself. 

[MrKnobs]

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MarkydeSad wrote:

Based on something Mike Rivers mentioned in my other I-write-songs-because-I-need-to-but-It'd-be-nice-to-make-some-money-out-of-them-as-well thread, has anyone here had experience with this company?

Would it suit someone like me who tends to write songs in various styles?

Is it worth $300 to join and then pay $5 for each submission??

Michael Laskow seems like a nice guy

---

Watch some of Michael Laskow's streamed videos then tell me what you think of him.  I guess you can't do that (yet?) as you're not a member. 

What puts me off about his vids is that he'll have some "industry expert" as a guest saying she'll review random songs from members and give us her insight.  What happens instead (every time!) is that the guest will comment on maybe 3 songs and Michael will spend 45 min of the hour show telling stories about the early days of TAXI or his golf game or his new house or his daughters or other personal things or (worst) whining about how he should raise the price on TAXI and how hard he works.  VERY disingenous, at least to me.  I get the idea that he's really sick of hearing amateur tunes (can't say I blame him) bu that makes for a waste of time to watch these, usually, IMO.

I was a TAXI member for two years.  I got a lot of submissions passed through (and to be sure many rejected as well) but ONLY once heard back from the actual market buyer.   Now, granted, it could well be that our work sucks (this is my conclusion, actually, based also on Jango) or, to be kind, is just not what they're looking for.   Saul, your work does NOT suck but is most likely not what they're looking for either.  I'll tell you why I think that.

Here's how TAXI works.  You have two choices when you submit a song:

(1) Ask for a critique specifying specific questions about one of your songs ($20), or

(2) Respond to a listing specifying EXACTLY what a particular producer, TV ad guy, or film music director is looking for. 

#1, IMO, is sort of interesting as it's always pretty interesting to hear what strikes some stranger about your song, good or bad.  However, ideally you'd like that stranger to be an expert at song placement and give an opinion that's a lot more useful than just an average listener.  Not that the opinion of the average user isn't important, especially in the aggregate, but you wouldn't pay $20,000 ($20 per person, 1,000 people) for that and I don't think the screeners at TAXI are much of a step above the average listener, to be honest and you only get the opinion of ONE of them.  What you CAN'T ask them (they're not allowed to say) is what specific offerings they think you'd have a shot at, which would be really useful.

#2 is exciting (at first) as these are actual music directors and they tend to ask for a VERY specific thing which they need RIGHT NOW.  It's exciting because they're offering money and you're allowed to know how much, at least in a range.  If you get too excited and submit one of your songs that doesn't EXACTLY fit the description (usually needs to sound like a specific artist(s), YouTube links given, must be a specific length, must have a specific mood, must have certain words in it, specified gender of vocalist, must not have certain words, place names, etc etc etc) then you've just wasted your $5 submission fee.  It might be the most amazing song ever written but if it's not spot on target it won't be forwarded and the music director who made the request will never hear it.

So, if you elect to join TAXI I'm guessing in the short run it will be fun and exciting but expensive.   Most likely you'll never receive a penny but you will receive a lot of rejection and comments that will make you scratch your head.  Here are some examples (not actual quotes, too lazy to look the exact wording up).

"Great song, but you mention the word Rome and the movie might be in a different city."  (song has the lyric 'Rome has fallen' about letting yourself down profoundly which is what they asked for)

"Song would be great with actual strings, get some better samples"  (samples were not used, it was an actual, acclaimed string quartet  playing an arrangement written by an award winning composer of movie scores)

I could go on and on, but what I come away with is that TAXI is not for today's Terry who is trying to be an artist, but perhaps for Terry in 1985 who for a time made a good living writing crap to suit ad directors, i.e. just wrote for them exactly what they wanted immediately.  Additionally, I'm sure that Mike Laskow and the semi-famous folk he occasionally has on his "TV" show probably know a lot more about writing for ad companies than I do, but I'm not at all convinced that his army of screeners do.  More importantly, I'm not really interested in writing songs "to spec" anymore, and I suspect you aren't either.

So, might as well buy a lottery ticket rather than join TAXI and hope that one of your many songs happens to fit the openings.  Even if it does and gets forwarded, the odds are very low it will be chosen (and you will not hear back from them or why) because the competition for paid songwriting is EXTREMELY high.

Still, it was quite educational for me even at the cost.

Since you are trying to be an artist, not a factory songwriter, you might try something like RadioAirplay.com (artist entry point to Jango.com).  This service plays your tunes for a lot of ordinary people and tells you (over time) what nationality, age and gender of people tend to like your songs, and what other artists the people who like you, like.  You pay them a small amount of money (can be as low as $10/month) and you get detailed feedback whenever you want it.  If your songs are popular, and you narrow down the targeting to the demographic that seems to like your stuff you can actually get enough free spins each month where you don't have to pay at all.     You also collect email addresses of  your fans that you can possibly turn into product sales.

Just my 75 cents or so.

Terry D.

 

[daklander]

I think Terry is spot on in many ways. Take into consideration someone looking for a song ala (place someone with a hit here). What they are looking for is an exact clone of that particular artist because they don't want to pay the rate for the actual artist with the hit.

While TAXI is legit it's a game you have to play and it's expensive. You might be better off playing against the house in a casino somewhere.