Dear TAXI,

I've been lurking on TAXI's forum lately, and have read some of the posts that you've made. When you're answering questions about the music business, the answers you give are often the most intelligent and articulate answers I've ever seen on some of these tricky subjects. I was reading the thread where somebody asked what the difference was between a publisher and a production music library. I thought your answer was great, but if I hadn't been lurking on the forum, I would have never seen it. How come you don't put some of those answers in the newsletter?

Curious in NJ

PS. I saw that one of the forum people asked when you are going to write a book. I'd buy one if you ever write it!

Dear Curious,

I'm really glad that you've been spending time on our forum. The thing I love most about it is the way people help each other there. It's not nearly as negative as many other forums and there is a real spirit of community that's always lived there.

I went back and found my answer to the publisher/music library question, and I must say, I was pretty lucid when I wrote it :-) I'll print it here in a second, but want to answer the guy on that thread that asked when I was going to write "the book."

I've turned down offers from all the major publishers in our space. Instead, we launched the TAXI Music Books division last November.

I wanted to maintain control over the product and publish only the very best books. The first one to come out of the chute is Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting by Robin Frederick, and I'm happy to say that it has become a best seller in its category. If all the authors I find are as exceptional as Robin, I may never need to write my own book!

Here's my answer to the question asking about the difference between publishers and production music libraries:

SP,
They're both publishers, and it's my observation that the best libraries get most of their best placements by doing hand-to-hand combat -- meaning that they develop relationships and actively pitch. Another observation is that music supervisors really don't like to search databases for music. They'd rather email or call a human, have them cull a few tracks they think would work and pitch them, whether by email or in some cases, in person. The world's biggest and best libraries have sales forces all over the world.

A straight up music publisher like Warner Chappel or Universal Music Pub might have as many as 250,000 (or more) titles in their catalog (spanning decades) and a staff of creative people who act kind of like TAXI, in that they tell their writers which songs are best, give their writers some creative advice and hand-holding, sometimes in the form of pairing up co-writes, as well as pitching their songs to artists, and yes, even film and TV opportunities.

A couple of major differences are that pubs like Universal typically don't sign single songs. Instead, they sign songwriters, give them an advance against future income, and the songwriters need to turn in a song or two per month (that meet the pub's standards), depending on the number of co-writers they will be splitting the income with.

To get a staff songwriter deal, it typically takes having a song that's already been cut to get the publishers interested. Once they know there's an income stream, they're much more interested. They often want a piece of the existing cut. Another way to get a pub deal is to get a record deal and be the songwriter in the band, or for yourself if you're a solo artist. Once you've inked the record deal, a publisher will often offer you a pub deal because there is some probability that the record will generate mechanicals, and with tons of good fortune, performance income as well through airplay, etc.

A big difference with libraries is that they typically don't give advances (unless you're creating custom projects/CDs they commission you to create to order), and many of them offer non-exclusive contracts on single songs. I think it will be quite some time before the majors do non-exclusives, as they're interested in building equity. Exclusive rights build equity, much like equity in stocks or real estate. Eventually, they cash in their chips and sell off the entire catalog for what is called a multiple, similar to selling a business for X times net profit.

Gotta stop now before I write a book. Hope this helps,
ML

Dear TAXI,

I read the hype you put out every year about your convention. Not that I don't believe you, but I tend to believe what I hear from other musicians more. I hope that you don't take that too personal.

The people who go to your shindig seem to really like it, so I'm finally thinking about coming because plane tickets are so cheap at the moment. The question I have is, will my wife be bored to tears if she comes with me? I know that the only way she'll let me go is if I bring her along and make a mini vacation from it. Do you think she'll feel comfortable if she's not a musician?

Tom Reynolds

Dear Tom,

I can tell you that virtually every spouse (husbands and wives) I've ever spoken with who has attended the Rally seems to genuinely love the experience. It's an exceedingly friendly group of people, and the one thing I hear from most spouses is that they finally understand why their husbands and wives are so passionate about writing, recording and pitching their music. If you want your wife to get behind what you're doing, the Rally might be just what the doctor ordered. I have zero doubt that she'll have a blast. I'll bet she wants to come back nest year too!

See you there,
Michael