TAXI TV TAXI Independent A&R

AI and its effect on music creation is likely the most talked about topic of the year amongst musicians. And, while I haven’t wanted to jump on the click-bait bandwagon like so many other music-related YouTube channels have, I also don’t want to stick our collective heads in the sand.

It’s early in the game but also a party to which you don’t want to be late. My personal feeling is, that histrionics are bad and balance is good.

I was catching up with my old friend, Todd Herreman this week, and he had some interesting and balanced views on the topic of AI, and I’ve asked him to join us on this week’s TAXI TV to share his thoughts and insights.

By the way, Todd was a valued member of TAXI’s A&R team for several years. He knows and understands indie musicians!

🚨 WARNING: Viewer Discretion is Advised: This video contains some "spicy" language.
Please advise near: 56:42, 1:06:51, 1:14:18, 1:22:09, 1:23:39, 1:31:23, 1:32:30.

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 today's 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 ;-)

Our viewers love it when we do the “A&R Hot Seat” episodes, and here’s why…

“Michael, I’ve learned so much from the A&R Hot Seat episodes on TAXI TV! Can you please do them more often? My music has improved quite a bit because it’s much easier to be objective when deciding what works and what doesn’t about somebody else’s music rather than my own.” —Timothy Reardon

We’ve been hearing the same thing from other viewers for years!

With that in mind, on this week’s TAXI TV, we’ll be making A&R decisions on two types of music: Light-hearted, organic Instrumental Cues and Christmas Songs.

I’m back in Los Angeles, and this will be a LIVE episode with some FREE prizes to celebrate our first live episode in several weeks. If you’d like to have a shot at winning a copy of one of these two incredible books, you’ll need to watch the live episode and be present in the Chat Room.

Bobby Borg joined me on TAXI TV a couple weeks ago and after the show ended, I realized how much more we could have covered. Specifically, I felt that we could have gone more in-depth on the subject of marketing for musicians.

He’s the perfect person to talk about it because he’s the author of, Music Marketing for The DIY Musician. But, he’s much more than the author of that book!

Do you believe that you’re either born with talent or you’re not? Do you believe that hit songwriters just pop out of their mother’s bellies imbued with the gift of writing great songs? I don’t!

All the hit songwriters I’ve met during my career have gone to great lengths to learn the craft of songwriting. And they keep working at their craft to stay current and relevant as styles and the public’s preferences change with the times.

There’s something else that hit songwriters have in common, but few will ever admit it. They ALL made a ton of mistakes in the beginning!

Many of those mistakes are common to virtually all beginning songwriters. But, if you don’t know what those common mistakes are, you keep making them over-and-over until they become career-killing habits!

“Career-killing” as in; your career as a hit songwriter never materializes. You stay stuck in “amateur-land” no matter how many years you keep writing songs.

Please don’t think of me as being rude or harsh for asking this, but, how many years have you been writing songs? And if you’re completely honest with yourself, how many hit songs have you written in all those years?

You’ll stop making those common mistakes once you know what they are…

And best-selling author of Shortcuts to Hit Songwriting, Robin Frederick is the perfect person to tell you exactly what those mistakes are, and how to avoid making them as you finally move your career forward!

That’s why I’ve asked Robin to join us on this week’s episode of TAXI TV!

You can be an extremely talented musician with songs that sound like they’re destined to fly to the top of the charts or TV instrumentals that could earn a bunch of mailbox money, but there’s another “factor” that could stop key music industry executives from wanting to work with you —lacking business skills.

More specifically, MUSIC business skills!

Which musician would you sign?
Given the choice of working with an artist, composer, songwriter, or producer who has a decent, working knowledge of how the “sausage is made” VS the musician who thinks great music is all they need, the industry executives I’ve worked with for nearly 50 years always seem to sign deals with musicians who have their business s#!t together. Why is that?

Because the musicians who understand the business side of the music business are easier to work with, and almost always make more money for all parties involved. Who would you work with?