During my 33 years as the CEO of TAXI, the Holy Grail I’ve been relentlessly searching for has been that “thing” that makes some composers, producers, songwriters, and artists successful, while others never achieve their goals. What is the “secret sauce?” Why some and not others?

I recently ran into long-time TAXI member, Chuck Schlacter, in the hotel lobby during our annual conference—the TAXI Road Rally. We started to discuss the mindset and habits of people who are successful in the music licensing world versus those who aren’t.

What he had to say made perfect sense, so I’ve invited him to join me on TAXI TV.

My two favorite things I hear from members at our annual conference are: 1) “I went to school at Berklee, but I’ve learned more in a single weekend at the Road Rally than I learned in four years of college,” and 2) “I was certain that I was going to be let down after all your hype about the Rally, but it’s actually way better than you said it would be.”

I hear those same things every single year. It makes me scratch my head and wonder why every single TAXI member doesn’t come. Those of you who were there know exactly what I mean.

The vibe, the camaraderie, the access to industry people you just won’t find anywhere else, the networking, and the real-world education are apparently somewhat indescribable. How do I know? Because I can’t seem to find the words to convince all of our members to come.

Yet, we have members who came from Finland, Germany, France, New Zealand, Australia, the U.K., Argentina, Israel, Japan, and other faraway destinations that are a full day’s worth of travel away, and at least $1,500 for the plane ticket, and they were thrilled they made the effort.

On the other hand, we have members who live in Los Angeles and could drive to the Rally in 30 minutes or less, and they didn’t come. I just don’t get it!

Today’s TAXI TV episode is going to be dedicated to the people who came and loved the Rally. We’re going to see photos, we’re going to watch some videos, and we’re going to hear from the members who were there.

I got really excited when I recently listened to a TAXI compilation with emotionally upbeat songs for advertising on it. Why?

I heard a great example of a particular style of music that gets used all the time in TV commercials. I liked it so much that I planned on playing that particular song in the grand ballroom at our annual conference, the Road Rally, later this week.

After listening to more songs by the artist who created the track that I loved, I decided to do a TAXI TV episode during which I’ll play several songs created by this talented TAXI member.

Everything I’m going to play will have you saying, “Oh, now I get it!”

I want to surprise you with who the TAXI member is, so you’ll have to watch to find out. You’ll also get to ask her questions about how she learned to write and produce this advertising-friendly style.

That was a hint! Yes, the member is a talented young lady, and she’ll be at the Road Rally so you can meet her there. And, when you go to that page, you can grab your Road Rally Program Book for your mobile device, as well as a version you can print on your home printer.

This is going to be a very powerful episode, so don’t miss it if you’d like to make great pitches for TV commercials.

Monday’s episode of TAXI TV should be amazing! Robin Frederick is going to join us, and she’s going to tell us what her Top 10 Songwriting Hacks are.

Robin’s book, Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting, is a best-seller, and we’ve never heard anything but raves, so even I’m excited to hear what her “hacks” are. If you’re new to our email list or TAXI TV, you really don’t miss this episode.

You’ll find out why the ballroom at our conference—the Road Rally, starting November 6th—is always standing room only when Robin does one of her deep dives on songwriting each year.

I’m going to give away a copy of Robin’s amazing book during the episode on Monday, but you’ve got to watch the live broadcast on YouTube at 4 pm Pacific time to have a shot at getting a complimentary copy of this seminal book on songwriting!

Robin Frederick's Book: Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting:

https://amzn.to/48G91bA

We always love having Ronan on TAXI TV, so we’re excited to have him join us on today’s show (4 pm Pacific time) to teach us some tricks of the trade about production and mixing variables that can make your tracks more “synch-able.” We’ll discuss how to approach reverbs, panning, EQ, arrangement, mastering, etc., to make sure your track fits the style/genre, era, and overall sound the music supervisor or music library is asking for.

Ronan is a TAXI member favorite because of his practical, no B.S. approach to all things audio. While he’s a highly experienced engineer/mixer/producer, his approach to teaching is to explain things in a way that people can easily understand, no matter what their level of expertise is!

Win a One-Hour consult with Ronan!

One of our lucky (live show) viewers will be randomly chosen to meet privately, in a One-on-One session with Ronan at our upcoming Road Rally music conference in Los Angeles, November 6th – 9th. You can play him some music, get feedback, or ask him questions about anything audio and production-related.

If you’ve ever been frustrated that your sync career is taking off as quickly as you’d like, you really don’t want to miss today’s live episode of TAXI TV (4 pm Pacific time) on YouTube!

I’ll be joined by one of TAXI’s most successful members, Matt Vander Boegh, and I’ve asked him to distill all the things he’s done to become so successful down to the 5 most important.

Matt’s music can be heard every hour of the day all over the world, but that wasn’t always the case! He made so many mistakes in the beginning of his career that I’m certain you’ll be saying, “Holy crapola, I do that, too!” as you watch.

What did he do that took him from getting 79 (if memory serves) “rejections” in his first year to having his music in dozens of catalogs and getting placements every day of the year? You’ll find out at 4 pm (Pacific time) today when Matt shares the Top 5 things that skyrocketed his career.

Win a Private Dinner with Matt and Michael!

One lucky viewer of the live episode will win a private dinner in the Westin LAX Hotel’s Presidential Suite with Matt and yours truly during the TAXI Road Rally conference (November 6-9 in Los Angeles), and for dessert, we’ll listen to some of your music and give you feedback!

If you can’t make it to the Rally (are you crazy?!), we’ll do a private Zoom and you can order yourself a pizza to eat as we meet ;-)

Get your questions ready for TAXI’s Head Screener, Craig Pilo, because he’s going to join us on this week’s TAXI TV! He’s always a popular guest and has a great deal of knowledge to share about the sync industry in general, as well as insight relating to TAXI’s screeners, the screening process, common mistakes, and great tips for getting more of your music forwarded to the industry people who are searching for it!

It's time to hear some great music from TAXI's members — songs and instrumentals, alike! Our Top 10 episodes are viewer favorites, so please join us today at 4 pm (PDT) for the LIVE show and you'll have a shot at winning a copy of Dean Krippaehne's latest must-have book, Cue Tips!

If you want to get your music on TV, this book is indispensable! And you'll have a shot at winning a FREE copy if you're in the chat room for this episode!

Join us and you'll hear a range of really cool music that our A&R team has uncovered recently.

Are you frustrated that you haven’t “made it” yet? No forwards from TAXI? No music libraries contacting you after TAXI forwards your music? No placements resulting from the music you’ve signed with music libraries or sync companies?

We’re going to dive into some reasons why those things may not have happened for you yet on today’s episode, and what you can do about it.

This episode was inspired by dozens—maybe hundreds of comments I’ve seen online over many years that go something like this: “I have a friend who used TAXI and said he didn’t get anything out of it.”

After realizing I was only seeing this issue through the lens of TAXI’s members, I decided to make today’s episode about all songwriters, composers, producers, and artists who are frustrated they haven’t made it, whether they’re TAXI members or not!

My research kept leading me back to books by Stephen Pressfield and Simon Sinek, and I’m going to share some cherry-picked wisdom from both of them on today’s episode.

If you’re frustrated you haven’t “made it,” don’t miss today’s episode of TAXI TV! It just might change everything!

Have you ever wondered what the answers to these questions are?

"How many submissions does it take until I start getting forwards from TAXI?"

"How many forwards from TAXI does it take until I start to get deals and offers?"

"How long after TAXI forwards my music does it take until I hear from the client?"

"How long after I sign with the music library will it take for placements to happen?"

"How long will it take to get paid after my music appears in a TV show?"

You're not alone! Virtually all TAXI members (and all other musicians) have probably wanted answers to these very same questions.

I've invited successful (and very experienced) TAXI member, Greg Carrozza, to join me for this episode so we can give you some real-world answers to those questions and many more.

Here are a few more questions...

"Have you ever wondered if songs or instrumentals get more placements?"

"Have you ever wondered if songs or instrumentals generate more income, on the whole?"

"Have you ever wondered which genres get the most placements?"

"Have you ever wondered which genres generate the most income?"

If you've ever wondered about any of the above, don't miss this episode!