Being a life long musician/songwriter, I had heard about TAXI music services many times. And since they have been around for a while, I figured they could be reputable. As for my writing abilities, I am both realistic and modest. I do not have an ego whatsoever, and I am not going to sit here and tell people how great I am, in fact it's just the opposite. I'm constantly putting my efforts through a fine tooth comb, very objective, stringent. That said, I also know a good song when I hear one, no matter who wrote it. And there are certain qualities that make a song undeniable. A good, memorable chorus (hook), solid playing throughout, catchy, well-thought lyrics, things that just make it "work". Now in the past I humbly say I've had limited success. I have had my music on the radio and sold some albums regionally around the world. Even today I will see it from time to time on Ebay for respectable prices. That confirms to me that some people do like my writing.
With that under my belt, I figured joining TAXI, a music review service and potential placement service, would give me the push I needed to get my music heard in other places, to really bring it out there. Now of course I fully acknowledge and recognize that my music could very well just "suck" for lack of a better term ;-) I have no issues with that fact, as I said I am down to earth and well grounded, but what TAXI's reviewers wrote about my music in their reviews was not just their opinion, which even if negative or insulting I would accept, but it went way out into left field. It left no doubt in my mind that not only is this company bogus, but their reviewers are obviously incompetant, or apparently are unfamiliar with today's popular music. I will give you specific examples. One song I wrote called "FALLING BACK AGAIN" has some lyrics which the reviewer called "Predictable", when it is anything but. Here I will get even more specific.
Let's say you heard a song and the lyrics went something like, "You know that you love me, and I love..." What do you think the next word should be? Of course we all know it's, "you". But this song went nothing like that.in fact here are the very lyrics they reviewed. Please tell me WHERE these lyrics are predictable. "Whatever happened to that look in your eye, when you said fight to survive for...?" Now honestly what do YOU think would come next? No clue. Okay, it's, "a piece of the pie". Now the next line, "good times came callin' don't know where you were then, now I'm stuck in the middle and I'm...?" Any idea what the next lyrics are? Okay, it's, "F*cked up again". I'm sorry but NO ONE would ever guess that no matter what! No way, no how. And that's what he called predictable? This is blatent proof that the reviewers aren't really reviewing your music, they're just throwing down random garbage.
But they're sure to collect your $295 a year fee (which could be higher by the time you read this), and the $5.00 per song submitted for review. I didn't think this was very much, but since they send out a list of contacts every week or so, many requiring 2 to 3 songs, you can see how this quickly becomes generally $50.00 - $150.00 or more each and every week! And what do you get for all this? Nothing much, just some so-called review of your music. Ready for the kicker, please do me and yourself a favor, I'm begging you - Do a search for any popular music act today and look and see if THEIR lyrics are not "predictable" or well thought out. For the most part, they're not. You know this. Example, Ashley Simpson, (and I'm embarrassed to even write this here), "you make me want to LaLa on the floor". Oh, so maybe that's how we're supposed to write after all!
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