Originally Posted by Pat Hardy
TAXi is actually an honest place to submit music. That being said, there's something about their system I do not like.

You are NEVER submitting to the people requesting, who will ultimately decide on your song. You submitting to a gate keeper.

The problem with that set up is that the gate keeper is very narrow. Anything that they percieve falls even slightly outside of what they believe the MIP ( music industry pro ) is looking for, they won't forward it.

Here's the problem I see with that. In marketing, there's a concept called 'point of purchase sale'. Someone goes into a convenience story to buy something, and when they are standing at the counter, some other stuff is sitting on the counter right in front of them, though not the actual item they were seeking, it's not too far off ( a different type of candy bar you didn't know exist, but looks good, etc ) and this often leads to a purchase they didn't realize they wanted.

Gate keepers effectively prevent the possibility of a point of purchase sale.

For example, say the MIP tells taxi they want "something that sounds like traditional country, and mention a couple of names "Johnny Cash, Merl Haggard", for example.

Say your composition is, indeed, an older style, in the general ballpark, but not a homerun, but in the above mold. Because its "not on target" ( TAXI's verbiage ) they won't forward it.

Thing is, these submissions are usually for spots in a TV show or Film, The producers/music directors/MIPs get this idea of what they want, but it's quite possible they might like something, because it is good, and it just may work in the script , a little outside their request parameters, because they can't foretell everything that might work, or they might like, until they see/hear it put right in front of them, similar to the 'point of purchase' example above.

Now, the TAXI guys do have a good rationale for doing this, and I understand it, they just want to prevent wasting their client's time, and that's understandable.

However, from my vantage point, what TAXI's needs are and mine are, as a composer, don't quite jive in this regard.

There, I'm done ranting. Just had to get that off my chest. I"m not knocking TAXI, this is one of the few honest submission places on the net.

I'm just sayin'



Pat,

Thanks for your post. This is something I know more about than anyone outside of current TAXI employees.

Your first complaint: They make you submit to Gatekeepers At TAXI who are too selective.

Yes. That is the entire point of TAXI. If they did not do this, they wouldn't need to exist. But why? Because those companies ONLY accept the unsolicited music from folks like you BECAUSE TAXI essentially makes them solicited. They "hire" TAXI to find them specific things they want. TAXI does ALL the search legwork for these folks. TAXI provides this service for them, while ALSO providing several services for you. First they give you a chance to even be CONSIDERED by these companies, most of which are A list entities. Without TAXI, you would have ZERO chance to ever be heard by them for these needs. They do not want to sift through random submissions from the entire world and waste their time. TAXI not only knows what they want in great specificity, but they ALSO get to know their own members over time and often can be proactive when an urgent need comes up, they can say, you know 2 months ago Pat Hardy sent us this song that was not right for that opportunity, but it had a hook line that would be PERFECT for this one. They do deals like that for their members constantly. Additionally, when you send something in and have missed the mark, they tell you WHY you missed it (*unless they tell you in advance they aren't offering feedback.. more on that later). That way you at least know what to change, improve or if you simply aren't doing what they are looking for. That happens. Not everyone has the talent to make it via TAXI. But if you improve in the ways they tell you, you have a far better chance.

TAXI wants nothing more than to find something to make the client happy (they can't always do that) and to make their members happy (so they can succeed as a company) so any notion they are holding you back is counter-intuitive. They are beholden to the labels/music supervisors. If they can't consistently find what they need, they will stop using TAXI. But nearly 40 years on, they do more than ever.

I think you're misinformed a bit as well. They do not simply send something that matches 100%. They send a predetermined (as set by the receiver) # of entries that come the closest. So in your example, in most cases if they didn't have say 5-10 songs that fit exactly, they would add those that came closest as well.

Where your disagreement comes in is that they simply haven't felt your material was close enough. If you have some examples of rejects, post the offering, your submission and their feedback and let's openly discuss it from the facts. It would be good for everyone.

Brian


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