Taxi Tv

For the entire 31 years we’ve been in business, people have conjectured about how much competition there is when they submit their music to TAXI. I’m going to pull back the curtain and give you actual submission numbers on this week’s show! But wait! The submission numbers actually mean NOTHING because there IS no competition! And I’m going to tell you exactly why that is on this week’s episode. Let’s Bust Some Other Myths! There are other myths about the music licensing industry that I’ve seen dispensed as gospel on some sync-oriented YouTube channels. Just because the person giving out that information has a super sincere, silver-tongued delivery doesn’t mean the information is actually accurate! I’ve been biting my tongue for a few years, watching a couple of these “experts” give out information that, in my opinion, is either false or 180 degrees out of whack with reality. Funny thing is… I’ve recently seen one of these guys flip-flop and completely change his tune. I was happy to see that. But then

Nailing the creative side of the music industry is a given, right? And the business side of the industry has become more important than ever. But, how often do you think about things like these: - Saving and investing money - Understanding investment apps - Increasing your credit score - Limiting your tax liability - Protecting yourself from identity theft - Getting out of debt - And protecting your assets The older you get, the more you think about these things. But, sometimes that's too late! I'm excited to cover this topic with TAXI TV and Road Rally favorite - Bobby Borg - and Britt Hastey, the co-authors of the new book, Personal Finance for Musicians. We're going to hit as many of these topics as possible during this week's (LIVE) episode of TAXI TV. Developing good financial habits becomes more important as you grow older, wiser, and start thinking about having a secure retirement. Secure retirement?! Well, yeah, but it seems like this critical topic takes a backseat to the more immediate-feeling

I’m very excited to have Ronan Chris Murphy join me on our first live episode in several weeks! Ronan is a huge fan favorite, both on TAXI TV and at our annual music convention, the TAXI Road Rally! Here’s his bio, if you’re not already familiar! https://ronanchrismurphy.com/bio/ Side note: Ronan is an incredibly smart, well-informed, studio rat who loves teaching what he knows about all things audio/studio/production to anybody who will listen. Those who do listen are well-rewarded! Ronan and I are going to talk about: - Creating a great studio space in your home - Studio monitor placement and brand recommendations - Mixing on headphones or not – best practices or fool’s errand? - Backing up your files in case of disaster – miss this at your own risk! - What type of insurance you should have for your gear – Yes, you need it! - And how a giant tree made Ronan a world-class expert on the last two bullet points! Ronan will also answer some questions, so don’t miss this live episode! Want to Win a FREE Boo

Michael is out of the office this week, but he recently recorded this interview with veteran music attorney, Ben McLane, looking at potential legal issues with music created by Artificial Intelligence. Is your music going to train a computer to create new music? Who will get paid? How will they get paid? It's the Wild West out there, and once again, tech could outpace legislation. Don't miss this discussion! Music Business In 10 Easy Lessons: The Deal by Ben McLane: https://amzn.to/3MmQuVX *As an Amazon Associate, we earn from qualifying purchases from the link above.*

During the 31 years I've been running TAXI, I've noticed something that's critical to becoming and staying successful in the music industry! Is it great music? Yes, that's certainly a big part of the equation, but building, maintaining, and nurturing relationships could very well be equally as important in regard to becoming successful. And I'm sorry to say that I've seen many talented musicians ruin some (or many) of their relationships, new and old! My goal in this week's episode of TAXI TV is to highlight many of the relationship-building and/or killing things I've witnessed over the last three decades. Sadly, most of the time, the people who've committed relationship suicide don't even realize what they've done, and the impact it's had. Special Guests... I consider Tracey and Vance Marino world-class experts at building and maintaining music industry relationships. I've watched them work their magic at conferences and online. As a matter of fact, they dedicated an entire chapter to that subject in the

It's been a while since we've done an "Ask Michael Anything" on TAXI TV, so that's exactly what we're going to do on this show! Ask me anything about TAXI, engineering & production (from the mics and wires aspect), or the music licensing business, and I'll do my best to give straight ahead, helpful answers. Want to know what production music libraries are looking for? I can tell you! Want to know why Hollywood studios won't use you to score their blockbuster films? I know the answer! Want to know why your mixes don't sound like hit records? I'll let you in on a little secret ;-) Want to know where the "sweet spot" is to place a mic on an acoustic guitar? You're going to find out! Want to know how to mic an electric guitar amp for the best sound? I'll fill you in! Want to know a sure-fire way to avoid popping "P's" when recording vocals? I'm going to show you. Want to know how to make publishers reach out to you time and time again? It's common sense, but many people don't do it! Want to know how to a

For years, I've been preaching about "not putting all your eggs in one basket." My personal opinion is that you should hedge your bets by having your music in several, if not many music library catalogs. But not just ANY catalogs! Join me for this week's episode to learn more about the strategic way you might want to approach how many (and which) companies you want to have representing your music! I Want to Hear From You! I want this episode to be pretty interactive, with a lot of feedback from TAXI members (and viewers who have music in music libraries) as to what YOU think is an optimal number of catalogs to be in, and any strategic thinking you might have when deciding which companies you work with! If you can contribute to this discussion, I would REALLY appreciate it if you could join us for the live show. I plan to spend more time than usual taking comments and questions from the chat during the live show!

How’d you like a consummate Instrumental Cue Composer to show you what the most common Cue structures are for TV placements? Great, I’ve got the perfect guest to lay those structures out in great detail on this week’s TAXI TV! Steve Barden is a successful, longtime TAXI member, and a truly excellent composer. He’s the author of two great books on the subject. Click the covers below to see just how good those books are! Deconstructing Production Music for TV by Steve Barden: https://amzn.to/3o9UFLn Writing Production Music for TV by Steve Barden: https://amzn.to/41qUQ3i Steve’s most recent book, Deconstructing Production Music for TV, is a deep dive into some serious analysis of nine cues, which you can listen to online. For each cue, Steve breaks it down as follows: - The Structure - Chord Progression - Melody - Instrument Choices - Style and Genre - The Emotion and Intended Use - The Sound Libraries He Used - Analysis of the Bars and Sections of the Score - ...and Why the Cue Works! I’m beyond excited

When a music supervisor or TV show editor looks at a huge playlist of possibilities, they will inevitably listen to the tracks with titles that "telegraph" what the music will sound like, first! Wouldn't you like to have your music considered first? Or, maybe I should ask, wouldn't you want to give your music an "edge" when end-users are combing through hundreds of titles, looking for the perfect instrumental or song? We're going to go over how the RIGHT titles can make you more money in sync licensing! Not only will we review dozens of great titles pulled from top music library catalogs, we're also going to delve into the minds and work processes of music supervisors and video editors. That should help us understand why some titles work better than others in certain situations!

You’ve got a decision to make that will directly affect how successful you become in the world of Production Music: Are you going to be easy to work with, or require some hand-holding by the Production Music Libraries your music is forwarded to by TAXI? Assuming you’d prefer to be thought of as a buttoned-up professional, you REALLY don’t want to miss this week’s TAXI TV, and here’s why… I’ve asked several of TAXI’s successful members to share their personal Music Licensing Checklists! What are they, exactly? They’re the lists of things they do before they submit their music to the companies we connect them with. It’s the list of things that make it easy for those companies to love working with them, again, and again! The things that make them “go-to” composers and artists! The things that might even give them insider access and/or special treatment by the people at those Music Licensing Companies. Do You Want to Be a “Go-To” Composer or Artist? Don’t miss this episode of TAXI TV. I’ve already seen the

If you’re reading this, you probably own a home studio and record your own music. You also want it to sound “pro,” like your favorite artists and records, but it doesn’t! You’ve tried the latest plug-ins, outboard gear, and mixing tips from YouTube videos. You bought new monitors. You’ve added acoustic treatments to your room. And your recordings still don’t have that professional sound. Frustrating, isn’t it? While we don’t have enough time in this week’s episode to solve every problem you might be having, we do have enough time to solve some problems you have recording vocals and organic instruments. And most of those problems start with common microphone mistakes. If you think your biggest mistake was not buying a $3,500 Neumann U87, consider this: Bon Iver’s hit album, Emma, Forever Ago, was recorded using a single, $99 Shure SM57 and a beat-up, old Sears catalog acoustic guitar that sounded like it looked. I love microphones and classic outboard gear more than the average person. I learned the craf

I wish there was just ONE trick to making money with production music, but it's not that easy! However, there are several things you can do to increase the number of songs and instrumentals you get picked up by music libraries and ultimately used in TV shows, films, commercials, and other media. What are they? Don't miss this TAXI TV if you'd like to find out!

Our viewers have always loved our "A&R Hot Seat" episodes! Here's why: by judging music to see if their opinions line up with TAXI's A&R staff, our members get to fine-tune their "industry ears." They LOVE how it helps them listen to their own music more critically! Members have also told me that these episodes build confidence in TAXI's A&R team when they see that the screeners' decisions are very much on-target! Here's the Listing we're going to be listening for... CONTEMPORARY FOLK-POP SONGS with Male or Female Vocals are needed by a prestigious International Music Publishing and Licensing Company that's doing a major expansion of their catalogue! NOTE: This Library is FAIRLY NEW to requesting music from TAXI, so this is a great opportunity to create a new relationship for your music with a very highly-regarded company! Trust us, this is a catalog you want to be in! This Company is looking for Mid-to-Up-Tempo Songs that could be found on a playlist with the following references: "Stick Season" by No

I'm very excited to have one of our clients — an awesome Music Library CEO — join us for what promises to be a great episode this week! You can ask him anything, and I'm sure he'll give you some insightful answers. I planned on doing an A&R Hot Seat/Forward-Return episode this week, but when I found out this gentleman was going to be in LA on Monday, I decided to postpone that episode until next week so we could get this industry pro to join me live, and in the studio this week!

11 CAREER-KILLING Habits Musicians SHOULD AVOID! Before you work on developing good habits that can drive your success, there are some nasty old bad habits you need to part company with because they're holding you back. Actually, they can kill the career in the music business you've always wanted. When you hear what they are, I think you'll be nodding your head in agreement with the majority of them. Not as Hard as You Might Think... The good news is I think it will be much easier for you to break the bad habits than learning and habituating new ones! But you won't know unless you tune in to this week's TAXI TV to hear what those career-killing, bad habits are!

It's been quite a while since we've done a Top 10 episode on TAXI TV, so please join me and the enthusiastic viewers who always gather to hear some really good music coming from TAXI's members! Join us in this episode to hear a range of really cool music that our A&R team has uncovered recently.

Late one evening in 2019, I spent a couple of hours trading studio war stories in the control room (pictured below) with Trevor Fletcher, the Vice President of the legendary Criteria Studios in Miami. Trevor's mom (Margie Curry) was my awesome boss when I worked at Criteria nearly 50 years ago. She remains a cherished friend of mine to this day. When Trevor was a kid, he'd come to the studio after school, allegedly, to do his homework. Instead of reading, writing, and arithmetic, he learned what made Criteria one of the top recording studios in the world. Today, he's the Vice President and General Manager of Criteria, and it could not be in better hands. They have had clients like The Bee Gees, The Eagles, Eric Clapton, Fleetwood Mac, The Beach Boys, James Brown, Rod Stewart, Bob Marley, Bob Dylan, Crosby, Stills, Nash & Young, Jaco Pastorius, Billy Joel, Drake, The Allman Brothers, Shakira, Gloria Estefan, Jay-Z, Justin Bieber, Aerosmith, and dozens (likely hundreds) of others, one can imagine what might

Do You Really Need A MIDDLE MAN in Today's MUSIC Industry??

If you get contacted by one of TAXI’s clients offering you a deal and you’d like to know the technical aspects of delivering your music to that company, this week’s TAXI TV is for you! TAXI’s Head Screener (Craig Pilo) has put together a video showing you how to properly export your masters and stems! Craig will be joining me in the studio, and he’ll be answering your questions after we play the video. All TAXI members should watch this, especially if you’re a new member who is not yet experienced in making sure you deliver your music in the most professional manner possible! Please join Craig and me for what promises to be a very educational episode!

If you think having great music gets you a “pass” from getting the business aspects of sync 100% right, you’re 100% wrong! Here’s proof in the form of an email TAXI recently got from a new client when we reached out to ask if they needed us to run any new searches for them… Date: Thu, Jan 5, 2023 at 12:40 PM Subject: Re: Happy New Year! To: Tom @TAXI Happy New Year to you too, Tom. I'll let you know [about running new listings with TAXI]! I took a lot of [TAXI] people on for the [XXXXX] tracks. The problem with taking new people on is the ones who aren't regular library composers deliver frequently incorrectly. For example, the wrong levels, versions not correct, or technical errors. If it's one person, it's not the end of the world, but I spent a huge amount of time holding the hands of most of the composers to get things to the point of delivery. The creative quality was unquestionable, but it's frustrating having to send things back so many times when things are set out clearly in my delivery