JPF Home Page Forums General Messages General Message Forum Broadjam - A Flawed Music Submition System?

Hi Folks,

Like Taxi, Broadjam will forward your song/s for a fee to those requesting songs and instrumentals in various styles for their projects.

However, once submitted, you must check out other annonymous writers submitted material and they check out yours and give it a vote of sorts.

I STRONGLY believe that this is a very dangerous and flawed system for the following reason:

Over the past 20-odd years, I have had to go after around half a dozen characters who have tried to rip off my material, from writers, singer/songwriters and even a well-established company with many world-wide hits behind them.

Not all people are blue-chip and above board and where there`s potentially big, big money to be made, some will take the chance and blatantly copy your idea if they think it is a winning one and letting other hopeful writers check out your stuff, even before it`s had time to establish itself, is a big mistake.

Even Paul McCartney tells of how he and John, when trying to write a hit, would sit in a room with copies of the latest hits surrounding them and take bits`n`pieces from various songs to help make up their own.

I`ve just written to Broadjam to suggest they give writers the option of risking their material being checked out by others or, like I want to do, simply pay my money and have it delivered directly to whoever is requesting it.

Here`s hoping they see sense.

Cheers,

Stu.

Why use Broadjam instead of TAXI in the first place? I find it disappointing that after being partnered with TAXI they decide to try and compete with them. Pretty tacky at best and frankly they are not even in TAXI's league in anyway. They had a business model.. they should have stuck with what they knew how to do instead of going after a business that kept them going with a lot of business for a long time. I've been very disappointed in what they've been doing.

Brian

mmmm! - I had no idea they did this.

I just checked out Taxi. I pay some website 300 dollars for the privilege of being turned down at arm's length by someone who claims to be a filter. Is that about right. That's ridiculous. Why not pay the 300 based on performance. If they place a song or get a hold and you get paid then they should get a cut. What they do is all digital anyway so why the fees. Oh, they claim to listen to your stuff and send it off to their clientele which represents what percentage of available buyers. At this rate if I wanted my music exposed I'd probably need a hundred Taxi's to get to one destination. No thanks.
I guess the hooker theory still prevails. Always get paid up front.

ray

Ray,

If you don't want to go through a service like Taxi, why not just pick up the phone and call those Hollywood music supervisors directly? I'm sure they will be more than happy to listen to you, because they have all the time in the world... NOT!

Maybe filters are "bad" for the fledging wannabe... maybe not...
One thing is for sure, though: they are life savers for the people on the other side of the fence! Or do you think it is easy to choose which song is best for your movie out of thousands upon thousands of possible candidates?

Filters are here to stay - deal with it.

The thing that has always ticked me off about Broadjam is, I can never get a straight answer from them regarding the delivery process after the review and ranking is finished. Do they forward only the top ranked songs? Top 5 only? Top 20 only? Do the forward all of the songs ranked 1 thru 987 accordingly? Do they forward all the songs, with the top 5 at top and the rest just randonly ranked (because if you were number 6 in this scenario, you're screwed)

After a few inquiries to BJ about this, I got the feeling they weren't even quite sure themselves what happens; it might be different every time.

On the plus side, BJ is fast and reliable when you click on a song it starts right up in a few seconds. The web hosting is pretty solid for what you pay and you get to control your own domain name. That's kind of cool.

I give them a solid B+ for web hosting and a D for delivery services (no pun intended)

Jim, I totally get your point but aren't most songs chosen by word of mouth. If I hear one of your songs (and i for one really like them) would I not tell someone else. Isn't that the point. And if we live in a world where six degrees of separation is the rule then that supercede paying someone else to reach one tenth of those who might use your music.

just sayin

ray

I hope you will, but here's the thing: chances are that your word alone is not enough to compel that person to buy some of my music. I remember reading some research that said people need to hear a song 8 times before they will even consider buying... how does your word of mouth help me with that?

Don't get me wrong, I think it is important to have good word of mouth, but you can't run on those fumes alone.

Fair enough Jim and point taken. But similar research proves that one negative statement by one person affects 200 people. That is the average sphere of influence of most people. Yours because of your situation is bound to much bigger but the average is 200. I don't know the average for a positive statement (probably not as high) but the point is that a few hundred people have a tremendous ripple effect. I guess in fairness it takes a lot longer but won't it last longer?

ray

What Paul and John did, is what all Top Pro's do ,they listen to their Peers and all influence each other.

Thats what all Great writers do, to get hung up and say everyone is copying your stuff is a bit far fetched.

The only ones stealing complete phrases and licks are amateurs,

Everyone is influenced by what has gone on before, Taxi are in another league, you dont need the two.

Taxi have made opportunities for many promising writers, the blunt truth is that most who join, TAXI have not got the talent
to rise above average, that's why so many feel riped off.

That's life it will never be any different, Pros work at it Amateurs play at it.

TAXI is (are?) at least legit. They are, I think, fighting an entrenched "club" that really does not want any outside input, and are trying to compete with them on the same high level the Big Boys operate on. Hard gig, but I think they do pretty well at it.

I used to get their tip sheet (it disappeared a few months ago, but I suppose I could get it back if I frequented their Website more). I read it very carefully. I figured (and still figure) if I run into a commercial pitch that exactly ("exactly" is important) matches something I've written, I'll pay the $300 membership fee and send it to them. Only reason I haven't done it yet is there hasn't been a good match.

To answer the other question: I think the only way one can get attention for one's material is for it to be performed. If no one else will do it, you have to do it yourself. I do that. The band played a concert this weekend and got a bunch of new fans, I think. That's smaller scale than TAXI offers, but it's easier--and it will pay off in the long run.

I have not ever used Broadjam--I'm hesitant to send money to anybody, these days--and it's nice to hear more details about what they do (and don't) do. Thanks.

Joe

Both Taxi and Broadjam sound like a ripp-off to me!!

what I have learned about broadjam, is that the musicans "vote" on songs competing in the same post. and I have learned that if you have a good song, that most of them give it a low rating because they get a better chance of gettingit pitched to the deal, I made the mistake of signing up and submitting to a few projects, now that I have learned this, I would have rather put my money elswhere, there seems to be an explosion of "middle men" to the middleman companies out there, and basically they just take your money. Very few get connected. there are other ways.

Why not try Music Dealers, http://www.musicdealers.com/deal-board

They're about as close to a tradional publisher as possile. No fees, just a 50/50 split on the placement.

cheers, niteshift

Exactly what were the pros doing when they were still amateurs?

I think Sharla's point should be more of a concern than others getting ideas from listening to your music. Those of us with some OurStage experience know that all too well. Neither TAXI or Broadjam is a ripoff. TAXI has a better track record of finding hits.

In regards to comments about online submission service company's (including my own which is Blazetrak) taking people's money, and not a lot of deals or connections being made, how come no one ever speaks about the quality of work that is actually submitted?

Just because YOU, or your family, or 3 other people think you are talented does not mean the rest of the world will think so. There are a lot of delusional people in this world who think they are musical gifts to the universe, but the reality is they are not very good at all. Then they use a LEGITIMATE service, dont get selected, then complain about it being a ripoff.

Some people need a dose of reality, and when they get it, their first instinct is to be bitter and lash out. Don't get me wrong, there are definitely several bad and unscrupulous companies out there, but not all are bad. I know Blazetrak is not and we do exactly what we say we will do. You still have to close the deal by actually having the quality of work that is desired.

Just a thought.

Ron

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