Recording - April 2018 - 65

Continued from page 62
been on.
Interesting, though. Who was it that said, "When
everybody else zigs, you need to zag"? It's so true,
because you're getting gigs in production-music
libraries because you can sing in Chinese, you can
write in Chinese. That's not the only reason, but you
bring something to the table that other people can't.
So that's a really cool thing, because that market is
obviously going to explode.
A: Yes, it has been very interesting. Coming back
here to Los Angeles, honestly, I never imagined that
Chinese would be something that would be useful
to me. I wasn't thinking that I would start over
from scratch, but because there is so much money
coming in from the Chinese market to Hollywood,
that was why at that point a lot of movies needed-
and still need-songs in Chinese. But that was kind
of like my first gig, coming in here writing all those
songs. And from then people are like, "Oh, well,
you can do that, but what about in English?" So
that's how I started getting work in English also,
and progressively moving to again to less of a niche
market.

looking for people now who have an audience on
their own audience, and great songs. So just
because you have a big audience, but you don't have
a great song or... What the record labels are looking
for are songs that they can play on the radio, songs
that can cross over into different playlists on Spotify
and Google Play and that kind of stuff. If you don't
have one of those songs, you can always work with
producers who can produce that, who will work
with you if you do have a big enough following. If
you have toured, if you have over ten thousand or
more subscribers on YouTube, you have the song, a
great video and have a great visual, and you have a
body of work.
I heard a story recently about an artist that they
picked up on. YouTube only had one song, got
signed to Warner Bros. for a one-song deal, and

that's all they got. After that song kind of fizzled
out, so did their deal. So they didn't make a lot of
money. As a matter of fact, they would have been
better off on their own. Warner Bros. got all the
money for the song, and they don't have anything
else. I'm not going to mention the name of the
artist, but they're brand is based on that single
song, which was kind of quirky and nothing like
any of their other songs.
So to get a record deal today I think you've got to
have great songs, just like you did a long time ago-
hit songs, if you can pull that off-have a great
look, and you also want to have some type of a
fan base.
Read Part Two in next month's TAXI Insider!

Matt Hirt, who is definitely one of our top five most
successful TAXI members, and he has probably been
our most long-term successful member. Matt's
brilliance is that he went after things like Italian songs
or Chinese songs. And he would find himself-and
still finds himself-Chinese singers, singers that can
actually help write the lyric and sing the song. So if
you have not met him yet, I need to introduce you to
him.
Aventurina: Thank you, TAXI. [laughter]
Matt are you in here? Stand up and meet
Aventurina.
A: Hello, I can speak Chinese. I speak Italian, just so
you know. [laughter]
All right. Sydney, so many people turn their noses up
at major record label deals. It's like, "Ew, record labels.
I wouldn't sign with a major record label." But I don't
think I've ever truly met an artist who, if they had a
major label contract shoved in front of them, wouldn't
sign it. It used to be as simple as do they have three
songs? Do they have a front person who really stands
out? And do they have a great live show? If they have
those things, I'm interested in signing them. Is it still
like that, or is it now much more based on social
media, YouTube, that sort of thing?
Sydney: Well, it depends on a lot of different
things. I think that if you're 16 years old and you
have a hit song, you don't need a million followers
on Instagram or YouTube. But that's a very small
portion of people who are good enough to actually
get a record deal. For everybody else, you have to
work hard. You have to build an audience. They are
65


http://www.kiqproductions.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of Recording - April 2018

Contents
Recording - April 2018 - Intro
Recording - April 2018 - Cover1
Recording - April 2018 - Cover2
Recording - April 2018 - 1
Recording - April 2018 - 2
Recording - April 2018 - 3
Recording - April 2018 - 4
Recording - April 2018 - 5
Recording - April 2018 - Contents
Recording - April 2018 - 7
Recording - April 2018 - 8
Recording - April 2018 - 9
Recording - April 2018 - 10
Recording - April 2018 - 11
Recording - April 2018 - 12
Recording - April 2018 - 13
Recording - April 2018 - 14
Recording - April 2018 - 15
Recording - April 2018 - 16
Recording - April 2018 - 17
Recording - April 2018 - 18
Recording - April 2018 - 19
Recording - April 2018 - 20
Recording - April 2018 - 21
Recording - April 2018 - 22
Recording - April 2018 - 23
Recording - April 2018 - 24
Recording - April 2018 - 25
Recording - April 2018 - 26
Recording - April 2018 - 27
Recording - April 2018 - 28
Recording - April 2018 - 29
Recording - April 2018 - 30
Recording - April 2018 - 31
Recording - April 2018 - 32
Recording - April 2018 - 33
Recording - April 2018 - 34
Recording - April 2018 - 35
Recording - April 2018 - 36
Recording - April 2018 - 37
Recording - April 2018 - 38
Recording - April 2018 - 39
Recording - April 2018 - 40
Recording - April 2018 - 41
Recording - April 2018 - 42
Recording - April 2018 - 43
Recording - April 2018 - 44
Recording - April 2018 - 45
Recording - April 2018 - 46
Recording - April 2018 - 47
Recording - April 2018 - 48
Recording - April 2018 - 49
Recording - April 2018 - 50
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Recording - April 2018 - 53
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Recording - April 2018 - 55
Recording - April 2018 - 56
Recording - April 2018 - 57
Recording - April 2018 - 58
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Recording - April 2018 - Cover3
Recording - April 2018 - Cover4
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_202404
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https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201905
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201904
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201903
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201902
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201901
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201812
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201811
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201810
https://www.nxtbook.com/musicmaker/musicmaker/recording_201809
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201808
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201807
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201806
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201805
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201804
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201803
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201802
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201801
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201712
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201711
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201709
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201708
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201707
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201706
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201705
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201704
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201703
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201702
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201701
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201612
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201611
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201609
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201607
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201604
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201601
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201512
https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201511
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https://www.nxtbook.com/nxtbooks/musicmaker/recording_201509
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