“What are music supervisors looking for?” asked the audience member during a panel at the most recent TAXI Road Rally convention. Rookie question? Maybe. But everybody in the ballroom wanted to know the answer! Music supervisors are looking for whatever music works best with a particular scene. Music supervisors are NOT looking for music that is simply great! And that’s probably the biggest misconception among musicians. The right music is better than great music. Music that’s both right and great is what music supervisors are really looking for! Music that gets licensed for film, TV, and commercials always fills a...

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Giving Your Tracks the Right Title Can Get Your Music in More Films and TV Shows You might think that writing great songs and instrumentals is the best way to license more of your music. You could be right, but here's a really simple tip that I'll bet you never thought of -- give your songs and tracks better titles that make them easier to find. Imagine that you're a music supervisor searching for music to license for a Television Show or Movie. As you type in your database query, "uptempo, male, country, instrumental," trying to find the perfect track...

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I recently had a member of TAXI's forum ask what the difference was between a production music library and a music publisher. Great question! Here's the answer I posted: Production Music Libraries and Publishers are both publishers, and it's my observation that the best music libraries get most of their best placements by doing hand to hand combat -- meaning that they develop relationships and actively pitch. Another observation is that Film and TV music supervisors really don't like to search databases for music. They'd rather email or call a human, have them cull a few tracks they think would...

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Dear Passengers, I've been having one of those weeks where "signs" are everywhere. You know what I mean... little signs that keep pointing to things you shouldn't or can't ignore. For me, the signs have all pointed to the same thing - songwriters, artists and composers missing opportunities that are staring them in the face. The first sign was getting a call from a top Film/TV publisher telling me that 70% of the TAXI members she contacted with deal offers didn't respond. When queried, the members told me they weren't sure if the deal offer was real or legitimate, even...

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