Recording - January 2016 - 51

JANUARY 2016

TAXI: Magic or Myth?
I was preparing for our convention a few months ago
and trying to find a particular quote from one of our
members in a Passenger Profile. I wanted to base an
entire panel around the quote, so I searched obsessively to find it.
During my hunt, certain sections of other members'
profiles kept popping up that made me think, "I wonder how many people actually read this stuff... it's
pure gold!" I've assembled and condensed some of my
favorites for you. Enjoy!
-Michael

Erich Gruber:

What would your advice be to musicians who've been
"watching TAXI" for years and years, but have never
joined because they think they need to have a ton of
music that's totally ready to go before they jump in?
There's some value in caching up material before
you join, but I wouldn't over play that card. For me,
having the listings with specifications for cues that
real customers need is powerful motivation.
In the six or so years that I've been writing production music (part-time) I have around 250 tracks
published, and about seven publishing deals -I'm
actively pitching to three of them right now- I
make just around five digits annually all in with my
music. I get quarterly statements from BMI that
typically have over 100 placements on them. Individual payouts per placement are anywhere from 1
cent (seriously), to as much as $800 for single
placement.
I really sense that my business is starting to take off.
I have a ton of stuff to learn (that's one of the
things that drives me!). There are some good indicators. My publish to sync ratio with new cues is
better than ever. I recently struck up a deal with a
publisher I met through a mutual relationship with

a fellow TAXI member. Since uploading my initial
batch of about 25 tracks with this entity about six
months ago, I've seen about 20 new cue sheets
show up on my BMI catalog. The publisher tells me
there are quite a few more, which is consistent with
BMI's tracking (they usually only record a fraction
of what shows up in the quarterlies).
You mentioned in your letter that you'd recently met
with a financial planner about your eventual retirement. Do you mind if I ask how old you are, and what
you learned from the financial planner?
I've reached and passed the half-century mark; I'm
53. As such, retirement is on the forefront of my
financial planning. I'll be honest; I didn't do a very
good job of preparing for retirement in my early
wage earning years. We are in pretty good shape
now, but not where I'd like to be. My wife and I met
with a planner a few months back. When he saw
the numbers for my music business today, and we
talked about the fact that I plan to continue doing
this after I retire my day job, and in fact I plan to up
my game and increase my revenue, he was ecstatic!
Having a revenue stream that obviates or at least
mitigates the need to draw down the principal in a
nest egg can turn an okay retirement fund into a
great one.
I've been preaching the whole "retire from your
music" thing for years, but I worry that people think
I'm just hyping TAXI. You're exactly the kind of musician
I've been trying to convince that they should start
now, in their 40s or 50s-if not earlier-so they can
get the learning curve out of the way in the first few
years. And by the time they're ready to retire, the
income is already flowing in. Most people don't
believe me, and they start too late or give up too soon.
Do you ever see that among fellow musicians who
aren't TAXI members?
This business is like anything else. It takes time to
build it. Just like my retirement funds, I'm not
where I want to be with my track count, and my
revenue stream. I wish I had started earlier, and at
the same time, I'm extremely grateful that I started
when I did. I feel as if I'm on the cusp of something
really special, fun, and financially rewarding.
There's a great book titled, It's Not Too Late,
Unless You Don't Start Now - pretty good saying I
think.

Fett:

So many people think that they shouldn't join TAXI
until their songs are totally ready and fully produced.
I've always contended that they should use TAXI to get
their songs ready by using the feedback they get from
our A&R team, TAXI TV, the Forums, and the Road Rally
before they go to a pro studio and record them. Am I
crazy, or is that good advice?
I totally agree with you! In fact, I can honestly say
that, even after writing and producing my own and
hundreds of clients' material over several decades, I
still learned a lot about songwriting after I became a
TAXI member myself! In fact, being involved with
TAXI has taught me to look at songs and songwriting from a completely fresh perspective, especially
when compared to the traditional "Nashville Way."
I'm not knocking Nashville at all; in fact, I've had an
invaluable education in all things songwriting and
music industry after living in Music City for more
than 20 years now. But there are plenty of other,
non-Nashville perspectives out there to learn from.
Just to give you an example, the "Gospel of Songwriting According to Nashville" tells you that "valid
songs" must be a certain length, must get to the
hook within a certain number of seconds, must
have a story line or progression, must use very specific, visually descriptive language in the lyric, etc.
These are the hard-and-fast R.U.L.E.S. of Nashville
songwriting. And they're all incredibly valuable,
especially for anyone who is learning the process of
commercial, artist-based songwriting and needs a
proven frame of reference to work from.
But then along comes TAXI and the world of film
and TV licensing. Suddenly, a lot of those Nashville
Songwriting R.U.L.E.S. not only don't apply, they're
dead wrong! For example, not only is very descriptive language and a story line in the lyric
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Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - January 2016