By Michael Laskow
Don’t believe everything you see and hear on YouTube, even if the person presenting the information comes across as being very sincere and knowledgeable. There are a lot of people who’ve had some success in the sync world, and then use YouTube as their medium to ultimately sell you their “course,” so you can be “successful” just like them.
Some of them are crafty enough to smartly tailor their information to get you to buy what they’re selling. At least one of them has spent the last several years convincing people like you to believe that music library owners are champing at the bit to have hundreds—maybe even thousands of composers, songwriters, artists, and producers create full albums of un-curated production music, and then send it to them, unsolicited. That’s not true.
And when you pay for the course, you also get a templated pitch letter/email, and a list of email addresses that the music library owners wish you (and hundreds—maybe even thousands of your competitors) hadn’t received.
This is what Music Library owners tell me
How do I know the library owners wish you weren’t sending them full albums of unsolicited material that isn’t timely or ready for prime-time yet? Because the owners of the music libraries tell me that! Exactly that!
They also ask me who is giving out their email addresses. I know, and I suspect many of you may know who it is as well! It’s easy for the music library owners to spot the people who’ve plunked down their hard-earned money to get their hands on the email list and the infamous templated letter/email because they get deluged with hundreds of identical letters with only the names and genres of music being different.
The person selling the list and the template often goes on YouTube rants about why you shouldn’t use “cattle call” companies that forward as many as 5,000 pieces of music to their library clients. He calls it a “scam,” and proclaims that he wouldn’t want to be one of the 5,000 people trying to compete for a single opportunity. He deftly avoids mentioning TAXI by name, but in my humble opinion, it’s pretty obvious.
As I mentioned earlier, his business model relies on musicians believing that music library owners are eagerly waiting to have hundreds—maybe even thousands of composers, songwriters, artists, and producers create full albums of un-curated production music, and then send it to them, unsolicited. That’s just not true. If the person selling this course is the professional he claims to be, then he knows it’s not true!
As to being one of 5,000 people “competing” for the same opportunities: you can simply watch this video to hear what the real numbers are, not some unscrupulous competitor’s made-up numbers designed to scare you off and denigrate TAXI’s hard-earned reputation for always putting integrity first.
What Music Library owners really want!
During the 32 years TAXI has been working with leading music libraries every day, it’s been obvious to me and TAXI’s members that this is what library owners really want: Curated music in the genres and moods they need, when they need it. At least that’s what they’ve been telling us since 1992.
And when the music libraries hear a track or a song from a member that they think they can earn income with, they frequently give those TAXI members specific directions to create full albums of exactly what they need, when they need it.
TAXI’s members don’t waste their time creating full albums that don’t match the company’s needs, and the library owners get introduced to talented musicians they can build working relationships with. It’s a win/win for all!
How do I know that for a fact?
Because I read our Member Success Stories every month (I wish everybody did), and that’s exactly what our members tell me.
I just spent 20 minutes combing through some very recent success stories, and what follows are actual quotes from our members. I’ve obnoxiously highlighted the parts that exemplify that one or two pieces of music can often result in full albums being requested. I didn’t just pull snippets because I wanted you to see these in context.
The truth will set you free!
“One week after a TAXI forward for ‘Stomp & Clap’ cues, a strong European Library contacted me and requested a full album in that style. I am grateful to TAXI for facilitating this new relationship! The company, which appears to be a new client for TAXI, reached out to me a few days later and requested an entire album in that style. I managed to nearly complete the collection within two weeks. This is the seventh company that has approached me since I began my journey with TAXI in January 2021. Thanks to TAXI, I can primarily write directly for publishers and have my music represented in their collections. After two years in the industry, I have been able to write around 100 tracks for various libraries, and there are numerous albums in the pipeline that need to be composed.
– Chris Moser
“My first submission didn't get a forward, then I decided to make something totally different for a new listing and got a forward. I was then contacted by the music library and asked to sign an eight-track album which I have just completed and signed the contract, all thanks to TAXI.” – Lee Huckfield
“TAXI is awesome! I've already connected with an established music library, and I'm now writing albums of production music for them. I wish I had joined TAXI so long ago!”
– Andrew Reilly
“zA Hollywood-based music library really liked my yacht rock lullaby arrangement, and they’ve requested quite a few more in that same genre which I’m hoping to release soon! TAXI is such an incredible service to composers like myself, because it consistently keeps me informed of so many unique and diverse opportunities that I never would have heard of or had the chance to pitch to without it. Thank you for empowering talented professionals that are so often undervalued in this industry. Thanks again for all that you guys do!” – Janalyn Gordon
“To our delight, the client reached out to me via email almost immediately after the listing deadline. They loved the track and expressed interest in having us create four more Hip-Hop tracks in a similar style for an EP release.” – Adam Blinov
“Within a couple of weeks of the track being forwarded I got an email from a music library asking if the track was still available and if I had any more. I didn't! So, I requested a bit of time and I wrote a couple more. They liked them, and asked for a few more to round out a full album. The album was just released last week, and they've asked if I'm up for doing two more albums with them, which I am!” – Dave Graham
“Since starting with TAXI in late 2020, I now have music in three really good libraries, all of which are showing results! I reached out to one of the connections, and gave him a ‘Hey, how are things?’ email with a link to my website, and he loved a bunch of tracks and asked me to make him two albums! These are ALL directly from TAXI listings!!” – Erik Anderson
“A little over three years ago I was fortunate enough to sign with a very busy, high-end production music library due to a TAXI forward. Initially it was for 2-3 songs. However, I was able to complete multiple albums for them over the last few years while expanding what genres I was able to produce music in. As a result of my TAXI membership, I’ve had over 600 placements just this past year on several networks, including Discovery+, Peacock, Amazon Prime, AMC, Reelz, CBS, FOX, NBC, NBA, NHL, ESPN, TNT, USA, and Sirius XM to name a few.” TAXI has definitely paid off for me!” – Brad Miller
“I just finished signing an agreement for 13 tracks to a music library! The library initially received five of my tracks through a TAXI listing, then asked me to compose several more. I'm super excited about this relationship, and very grateful to TAXI for this opportunity! This marks my third deal with a music library resulting from music forwarded through TAXI!”
– Brent Isom
“I recently completed my first album for a music library. It was my first time composing anything in this genre, and I wouldn't have ever thought to write in this genre had it not been for a TAXI listing. The crazy thing is that I have submitted to this company several times on my own and never received a reply. I guess that's the magic of being a TAXI member, being able to see what music libraries are currently looking for so that I can submit music that they need. I'm excited about having a new library to build a relationship with over the coming years. This is the second deal that I've signed because of a TAXI forward. I composed 10 tracks for a TAXI listing, five of which were forwarded to the music library. Within about a week, the library reached out, and asked me to complete a 10-track album for them. I was able to use the feedback, on the tracks that TAXI returned, to revise the tracks and submit them to the library. They listened and signed all 10 tracks!” - Michael Torregano Jr.
“I just saw that my music was featured three times in Showtime’s late-night talk show, Ziwe, the feature film, Christmas on Candy Cane Lane, as well as placements in 11 episodes of TMZ because of TAXI connections, so I’m even more grateful now. My most recent placements came about because of connections I’ve made with production music libraries thanks to prior forwards by TAXI. Due to those forwards, I’ve been asked to produce albums for different libraries, and continue to work for them. Without TAXI, I would not have made those connections with people in the industry who can get my music to the right ears. It’s been an amazing journey!”
– Elna Myburg
Point made, and truthfully, I could have added hundreds more of these stories about how a track or two resulted in the music library asking TAXI members to do full albums. And usually on an ongoing basis!
If you’d like to see many, many more of these Success Stories, click here!