TAXI.... been there, done that.

I was a member for several years back around 2009 or so.... went to the rally in LA, rubbed elbows and chatted with some hit songwriters and swapped stories with several of the "taxi stars" and met Michael, the TAXI president.

Yeah, there's a handful of folks who get some nice cuts and can parlay that into a career of sorts. Most are part time and get one or two cuts. A few get into it full time and make some decent incomes from film and TV cuts. The ones making a living from it.... I personally consider that to be $30k gross per year or more, are all full time and spend 8 hrs a day in their studio writing and recording cut after cut after cut. One guy I met there in LA had over 800 cuts in libraries that were being used on a daily basis. He made anywhere from a couple hundred bucks on a cut, with the majority being $5 or less per use. You gotta get a lot of spins at $5 a spin to make a living. Like I said, most folks are part timers as a result. His PRO statement was 3 pages long with 90% of it under $5 each.

The vast majority get nothing. Few forwards, and few responses and nothing signed.

Taxi is an expensive proposition since it requires a sign up fee, and renewal fees as well as having to pay for critiques for each song you want feedback on. Plus... there is a submittal fee per song. If you are submitting lots of songs this can add up quickly.

My experience with Taxi was mostly ok.... I submitted dozens of songs over the several years I was with them. About 15% of those got forwards ...or approval from the screeners and were sent to the end user. Most of those forwards ended in silence..... crickets.... nothing. Several were signed by a major east coast library..... then ........ nothing. There was really no way, as is the case with TAXI, NSAI, Film Music Jobwire to get any sort of feedback from the screeners as to why they reject a song. They use the catch all excuse.... not on target for the listing. What that means is the screener could simply think the song was too fast or too slow, the production was not broadcast quality, the writing/lyrics were not up to par, the music was not up to par, the singer wasn't good enough, the style of the song wasn't close enough to what the listing called for....and literally any of dozens of reasons....and they don't generally tell you which one.... they simply say... not on target.

What you do have to understand is that I believe the TAXI listings are real and the people making money there are real. However, the game is played at a very high level. If you are not writing the best of the best, and your production chops are lacking, and your singer doesn't sound like a pop star diva..... your chance of getting a cut is similar to the long time survival rate of the proverbial snow ball in the flames of hades. Most taxi members and songwriters tend to have a very hard time getting over the bar in the first place and then hitting the target to get a forward and then having their song stand out among the hundreds of other songs submitted by other sources all vying for that 10 second cut or 30 second commercial underscore.

Advice regarding TAXI: Do you think you want to join? Well, before you spend several hundred hard earned dollars on a membership.... join the forum they have. It's free to join. Read the listings and pick several that you think you would like to submit to.... Also, try writing something new for one that has a close up deadline. NOW..... go to the forum and find the one with threads for songs for current listings. Post your song and ask for people to listen and tell you if they think it's "on target" for the listing.


Another option:

NSAI... Nashville Songwriters Association International .... not a listing service and not going to help you get a cut. They are an educational service.... lots of really good videos in their library that's available only to members. However, for your membership, you also get 12 really detailed song reviews. They discuss all aspects of your song to help you grow as a writer. They do have events that you can attend as a member if you are close enough to Nashville where you can play your songs for and meet the publishers who are supplying the songs to the artists. There have been a few hits through this avenue... but not enough to call it a viable way to get your music out.

I have been, and continue to be associated with NSAI. Time will tell if I renew the next term since membership costs just went up significantly as of Jan 1. I have used their song critiquing service to really "tune in" one of my songs. My big issue with their critiquing service is that the screeners are listed by numbers....and genre/style. You have no clue who they are, and you are unable to ask questions of them concerning a review of a song. You have to resubmit the song and then you can ask the question. That eats up your submission credits. There also appears to be a fairly high turnover rate with the screeners. One that I had worked with on several songs suddenly disappeared from the list.... I had to start over building another faceless relationship.

Another Option:

If you are looking to get your songs out to the movers and shakers, there are other options. There are several listing services that are much less expensive. Film Music Jobwire is one of them. No membership fee required to submit. It costs a dollar or two more if you're not a member.

In addition, there are a number of libraries that are on the net that you can submit to directly. They have in house screeners and it's usually FREE. If you have good music and good production, they will tell you and accept your music. This is the path I have chosen, and as a result, I have met and signed with quite a few good libraries both foreign and domestic. One of these was a library that I submitted 41 cues for a TV show. It ended up being for the show Duck Dynasty. My cuts didn't make it into the show, unfortunately. But just having the cuts submitted was a blast. It was from a $6 submission of one 30 second cue to FMJ. I now get emails from several libraries on a regular basis that tell me exactly what they are needing for upcoming film & TV projects so I can decide to submit or write for them if I care to.

No matter which path you choose, you have to be writing good music. You are competing with the best of the best songwriters and composers when you are vying for cuts on TV shows and in movies. My advice is, write, study the craft, write some more, study, learn, read, write... then do it again......it's not easy to make a career in film and TV music, but the odds are slightly better than trying to get Garth or Reba to sing your country song due mainly to the large need for new music for the TV shows and commercials on the thousands of worldwide cable channels.

Anyway.... that's my 2 cents on TAXI and the other services out there.

Comments? Agree? Disagree?


Last edited by Guitarhacker; 09/08/15 04:19 AM.
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