a service for songwriters

Thanks Anthony

For those of you who don't know about it, Taxi is a great service for musicians with music all dressed up and nowhere to go. That was nice of you Anthony to think of everyone with that link.

I've read mixed reviews of taxi, that you pay a yearly fee for membership, then pay a certain amount to submit a song for review, and you get an anonymous review back, making it at best questionable whether there are really "industry heavyweights" among the reviewers.

There's been much discussion of it on the newsgroup rec.music.makers.songwriting, and also a little on rec.audio.pro (if you don't know what newsgroups are, one way to read them is through http://groups.google.com).
I looked through a couple of threads on Taxi and someone recommended buying the book "Songwriter's Market" instead:
http://www.amazon.com/dp/1582974314/?tag=absolutewritedm-20

Ben is right on the mark. I've had a few friends who dealt with them and weren't satisfied.

The have had their successes but they're not for everyone, particularly at $295 a year plus reading fees that are NOT NEGOTIABLE.

The Songwriter's Market is a good source for informatioon all aspects of the industry, as well as essays about the business, but, if you go to that Amazon site as opposed to your local bookstore, you'll find that one of their reviews thinks the Market listings are out of touch, although my impression is that the individual was blaming the listings for the attitudes of the industry professionals. I suppose it depends on what you are looking for.

JRH

Never pay to have your writing sold, be it words or music. They're all scammers.

If you have songs, find the names of music editors and music supervisors on imdb.com, then send them cd's or mp3's. They won't charge a dime, and if your song is placed, you could make a good deal of money.

NEVER PAY A DIME TO THESE SCAMMERS!!!

Anthony,

I wasn't dissing Taxi, simply pointing out it wasn't for everybody and was quite expensive for those who didn't fit in. I was with them for only 1 year as a side benefit of winning 2d Prize Country in the 2002 Billboard Song contest but I couldn't make use of them as I'm NOT a practicing musician and had only the one professional Demo to offer.

I did however know several musicians on the old John Lennon Song Contest Forum who tried them for a while and did not find any success that merited the membership fee.

I'm aware that many have, and as I said before, any such success depends on one's particular skills and needs.

I was surprized at Ziljon's position as he has an Agent and both Agents and A&R people are essentially middle men who put artists/musicans together with opportunities, (although they may work differently).

Paying either is NOT paying to have one's song sold or talent offered, It's paying a FEE for a Service that can help one sell their song, (or performance). We're NOT talking about "Song Sharks" here. We're talking about LEGITIMATE components of the Music Industry.

As for their Seminars, such are only useful if they are offered in an individual's reasonable travel range. (For myself that would be Seattle and I have NO knowledge of any ever being held here).

As far as I'm concerned we are NOT at odds here, merely trying to inform people as fully as possible.

Jim Hoye, (JRH)