Five years ago, I was sitting on the steps of the US Capitol in Washington DC, waiting to see Congressmen about putting teeth in the laws against illegal downloading, and raising the statutory rate from 8 cents to 9.1 cents. We did.

I was sitting with Micheal Laskow, the owner of TAXI. I asked him. "What do I tell people when they ask me if you are worth the money?" He said, "It is totally incumbent on the quality of songs and demos. Too many people want us to put square pegs in round holes and we can't do that. We are located on the West Coast so we have more success in film and TV and Nashville is so cliquish. But is all about the songs and demos."

That is the same with every film and TV library and I am sure Blazetrack, Broadjam, and any other service. And there is an added caveat. That in this day and age the very people you need in your business of pitching and promoting songs, publishers, producers,artists, record companies, are your competition. You are having to outwrite, out record and out network them. And when you have worked your way to a certain level, you are not going to take outside material over your own.

That is self preservation and why the "mail in services" regardless of their intentions have a very hard row to hoe.

The business has never been open. It is a vastly inside business and really always has been. It is about egos, money and vested interests and constantly becoming part of someone else's vested interest. It gets tighter with each illegal download, each piracy issue and each new law passed making it easier to do just that. Can't collect on free.

So any service you deal with you should weigh all the options. If it is a service that encourages you to reach out, meet people, put skin in the game, research what is out there and studying the source, it can be a good thing. The people I have known to get the biggest benefit of TAXI are the ones who had things happen indirectly from TAXI. Meeting people, being forced to write competitively and often and forcing them to be realistic about their goals and chances.

If it forces you to be more discrening about what you do, that is a good thing. That is what you have to weigh when approaching your money.

Good luck.

MAB