Production music
Encyclopedia
Production music is the name given to recorded music produced and owned by production music libraries and licensed
to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.
in a composition, music production libraries own all of the copyrights of their music, meaning that it can be licensed without seeking the composer's permission, as is necessary in licensing music from normal publishers. This is because virtually all music created for music libraries is done on a work for hire
basis. Production music is therefore a convenient solution for media producers—they can be assured that they will be able to license any piece of music in the library at a reasonable rate, whereas a specially commissioned work could be prohibitively expensive; similarly, licensing a well-known piece of popular music could cost anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the prominence of the performer/s.
Production music libraries will typically offer a broad range of musical styles and genres, enabling producers and editors to find much of what they need in the same library. Music libraries vary in size from a few hundred tracks up to many thousands. The first production music library was setup by De Wolfe Music
in 1927 with the advent of sound in film, the company originally scored music for use in silent film.
Library music is frequently used as theme and/or background music in radio, film and television. Well-known examples of British TV series whose themes were sourced from library catalogues include Ski Sunday
("Pop Looks Bach" by Sam Fonteyn), Dave Allen At Large ("Studio 69" by Alan Hawkshaw
), Mastermind
("Approaching Menace" by Neil Richardson), the original theme for the BBC's Grandstand
("News Scoop" by Len Stevens), Crimewatch
("Rescue Helicopter" by John Cameron
) and Grange Hill
("Chicken Man" by Alan Hawkshaw). Arthur Wood
's "Barwick Green
", written in 1924, still serves as the theme for long-running BBC Radio soap The Archers
. TV comedy series such as The Benny Hill Show
and Monty Python's Flying Circus
also made extensive use of production library cues (many sourced from the De Wolfe catalogue) as background or incidental music.
American television has also utilized British library music, most notably with the themes for Monday Night Football
("Heavy Action" by Johnny Pearson
) and The People's Court
("The Big One" by Alan Tew
). Another notable example is the Nickelodeon
animated series The Ren and Stimpy Show
, which used both well-known classical music excerpts and a wide range of pre-1960's production music cues -- including many pieces familiar from their use in earlier cartoons -- which were chosen for their ironic and humorous effect.
Library music composers and session performers typically work anonymously and have rarely become known outside their own professional circle. However in recent years some veteran composer-performers in this field such as Alan Hawkshaw
, John Cameron
and Keith Mansfield
have achieved cult status as a result of a new interest in production music of the 1960s and 1970s, notably the 'beat' and electronica
cues recorded for KPM and other labels, which have been widely sampled by DJs and record producers. In recent years some of these British musicians have given public performances of their classic compositions under the group name KPM Allstars.
is owned by EMI
; Universal Music Publishing Group
library music has the music libraries Chappell, Bruton and Atmosphere under their own name as well as others owned by them such as FirstCom
and Killer Tracks
; Imagem Production Music (formerly Boosey & Hawkes
Production Music and including the Cavendish, Abaco and Strip Sounds labels) is owned by the Imagem Music Group; Extreme Music is owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
; and Warner/Chappell (a division of Warner Music Group
) owns Non-Stop Music. There are numerous smaller independents in the market such as Reliable Source Music
in Marylebone London, Megatrax Production Music
based in North Hollywood, CA, Altitude Music based in East London , Vibey Library of London, Musync of San Francisco, Smashtrax Music LLC based in Los Angeles, JW Media Music, DirectComposer.Com, West One Music West One Music group, which includes West One Music, The Scoring House, Refuel Music and Fired Earth Music) and Cinephonix Music. Other businesses in the market include Pump Audio, owned by Getty Images
and Startup company, Music Dealers www.musicdealers.com. There are also more specific types of production music. * Brand X Music and PostHaste Music Library
specialize in Music for Major Motion Picture Advertising Campaigns.
This allows the music composer/producer to quote lower rates because they are retaining ownership of the custom music, and will have the ability to make money with the same recording in a different production later on. It also allows the program or film producer to deliver content of very high quality, ensures that the most important scenes have the perfect music, and those less important scenes are addressed with an affordable solution.
' model. These libraries do not charge their customers for licensing the music. Instead, the customers purchase a CD of music - priced typically between 50 and 300 dollars - whose content is licensed in perpetuity for them to synchronize as often they wish. These libraries depend mainly on performance royalties for their income (with a small amount of income from sales of physical CDs or online track downloads). Assuming that the music is broadcast, royalties are paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them.
However, in some cases, the customer is the broadcaster, and in some countries (such as the United Kingdom
) PRS licenses are required and royalties become payable for almost all non-domestic use of the music. Online music licenses must be obtained to use the music on websites, in podcast
s, streaming video and downloads. Non-domestic use/public performance licenses are required for businesses to play music to their employees or use the music in presentations. Broadcast/public performance licenses are required to use the music with telephone on-hold systems.
There are however companies that offer completely truly royalty-free music which is not registered with any performance rights organisation
(also known as "royalty collection agencies"). These companies license music to their customers on a non-exclusive basis where it can be used in perpetuity without any usage reporting. The music is licensed by the customers according to an accepted license agreement and they cannot of course turn around and sell it or license it to others. Because of advancing technology, it is becoming easier for independent musicians to set up their own shops through which they can license quality music. Examples of royalty-free material sources include Jamendo
, SmartSound
, Kill The Silence Media Productions, Sound Shopper, StockFuel and Sound Rangers.
Music licensing
Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the creators of musical works get paid for their work. A purchaser of recorded music owns the media on which the music is stored, not the music itself...
to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.
Introduction
Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of the copyrightCopyright
Copyright is a legal concept, enacted by most governments, giving the creator of an original work exclusive rights to it, usually for a limited time...
in a composition, music production libraries own all of the copyrights of their music, meaning that it can be licensed without seeking the composer's permission, as is necessary in licensing music from normal publishers. This is because virtually all music created for music libraries is done on a work for hire
Work for hire
A work made for hire is an exception to the general rule that the person who actually creates a work is the legally recognized author of that work...
basis. Production music is therefore a convenient solution for media producers—they can be assured that they will be able to license any piece of music in the library at a reasonable rate, whereas a specially commissioned work could be prohibitively expensive; similarly, licensing a well-known piece of popular music could cost anywhere from tens to hundreds of thousands of dollars, depending on the prominence of the performer/s.
Production music libraries will typically offer a broad range of musical styles and genres, enabling producers and editors to find much of what they need in the same library. Music libraries vary in size from a few hundred tracks up to many thousands. The first production music library was setup by De Wolfe Music
De Wolfe Music
De Wolfe Music is the originator of what has become known as production music as it was established in 1909 and began its recorded library in 1927 with the advent of 'Talkies'. The library consists of over 80,000 tracks, all pre-cleared for licensing and synchronisation...
in 1927 with the advent of sound in film, the company originally scored music for use in silent film.
Library music is frequently used as theme and/or background music in radio, film and television. Well-known examples of British TV series whose themes were sourced from library catalogues include Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday
Ski Sunday is the BBC Sports weekly magazine-style television show covering winter sports, broadcast in the United Kingdom on Sundays in a late afternoon or an early evening time-slot...
("Pop Looks Bach" by Sam Fonteyn), Dave Allen At Large ("Studio 69" by Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw is a British composer and performer, particularly of themes for movies and television programmes...
), Mastermind
Mastermind (TV series)
Mastermind is a British quiz show, well known for its challenging questions, intimidating setting and air of seriousness.Devised by Bill Wright, the basic format of Mastermind has never changed — four and in later contests five contestants face two rounds, one on a specialised subject of the...
("Approaching Menace" by Neil Richardson), the original theme for the BBC's Grandstand
Grandstand (BBC)
Grandstand was a British television sport programme. Broadcast between 1958 and 2007, it was one of the BBC's longest running sports shows, alongside BBC Sports Personality of the Year.Its first presenter was Peter Dimmock...
("News Scoop" by Len Stevens), Crimewatch
Crimewatch
Crimewatch is a long-running and high-profile British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes with a view to gaining information from the members of the public. The programme is usually broadcast once a month on BBC One...
("Rescue Helicopter" by John Cameron
John Cameron (musician)
John Cameron is a British composer, arranger, conductor and musician. He is well-known for his many film, TV and stage credits, and for his contributions to 'pop' recordings, notably those by Donovan, Cilla Black and the group Hot Chocolate...
) and Grange Hill
Grange Hill
Grange Hill is a British television drama series originally made by the BBC. The show began in 1978 on BBC1 and was one of the longest running programmes on British television...
("Chicken Man" by Alan Hawkshaw). Arthur Wood
Arthur Wood (composer)
Arthur Wood was an English composer and conductor, particularly famous for "Barwick Green", the signature theme for the BBC Radio 4 series The Archers.-Life:...
's "Barwick Green
Barwick Green
"Barwick Green" is the theme music to the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera The Archers. It is a "maypole dance" from the suite My Native Heath, written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood, and named after Barwick-in-Elmet....
", written in 1924, still serves as the theme for long-running BBC Radio soap The Archers
The Archers
The Archers is a long-running British soap opera broadcast on the BBC's main spoken-word channel, Radio 4. It was originally billed as "an everyday story of country folk", but is now described on its Radio 4 web site as "contemporary drama in a rural setting"...
. TV comedy series such as The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show
The Benny Hill Show is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill.There were various incarnations of the show between 1951 and 1991, and it aired in over 140 countries. The show is generally sketch-based with heavy use of slapstick, mime, parody and double-entendre...
and Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python's Flying Circus
Monty Python’s Flying Circus is a BBC TV sketch comedy series. The shows were composed of surreality, risqué or innuendo-laden humour, sight gags and observational sketches without punchlines...
also made extensive use of production library cues (many sourced from the De Wolfe catalogue) as background or incidental music.
American television has also utilized British library music, most notably with the themes for Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football
Monday Night Football is a live broadcast of the National Football League on ESPN. From to it aired on ABC. Monday Night Football was, along with Hallmark Hall of Fame, and the Walt Disney anthology television series, one of the longest running prime time commercial network television series...
("Heavy Action" by Johnny Pearson
Johnny Pearson
John Valmore Pearson known as Johnny Pearson, was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist...
) and The People's Court
The People's Court
The People's Court is a US television court show in which small claims court cases are heard, though what is shown is actually a binding arbitration....
("The Big One" by Alan Tew
Alan Tew
Alan Tew is a British composer and arranger.He got his start as the pianist/arranger for the Len Turner Band based in London, in the 1950s.He is known as composer of library music, including the theme songs for British TV programmes, Doctor in the House called Bond Street Parade, theme from Mother...
). Another notable example is the Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (TV channel)
Nickelodeon, often simply called Nick and originally named Pinwheel, is an American children's channel owned by MTV Networks, a subsidiary of Viacom International. The channel is primarily aimed at children ages 7–17, with the exception of their weekday morning program block aimed at preschoolers...
animated series The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren and Stimpy Show
The Ren & Stimpy Show, often simply referred to as Ren & Stimpy, is an American animated television series, created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi for Nickelodeon. The series focuses on the titular characters: Ren Höek, a psychotic chihuahua, and Stimpson J. Cat, a good-natured, dimwitted cat...
, which used both well-known classical music excerpts and a wide range of pre-1960's production music cues -- including many pieces familiar from their use in earlier cartoons -- which were chosen for their ironic and humorous effect.
Library music composers and session performers typically work anonymously and have rarely become known outside their own professional circle. However in recent years some veteran composer-performers in this field such as Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw
Alan Hawkshaw is a British composer and performer, particularly of themes for movies and television programmes...
, John Cameron
John Cameron (musician)
John Cameron is a British composer, arranger, conductor and musician. He is well-known for his many film, TV and stage credits, and for his contributions to 'pop' recordings, notably those by Donovan, Cilla Black and the group Hot Chocolate...
and Keith Mansfield
Keith Mansfield
Keith Mansfield is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the Grandstand theme for the BBC...
have achieved cult status as a result of a new interest in production music of the 1960s and 1970s, notably the 'beat' and electronica
Electronica
Electronica includes a wide range of contemporary electronic music designed for a wide range of uses, including foreground listening, some forms of dancing, and background music for other activities; however, unlike electronic dance music, it is not specifically made for dancing...
cues recorded for KPM and other labels, which have been widely sampled by DJs and record producers. In recent years some of these British musicians have given public performances of their classic compositions under the group name KPM Allstars.
Business model
The business model of production music libraries is based on two income streams:- License or synchronization fees: These are the fees paid upfront to the library for permission to synchronize its music to a piece of film, video or audio. These fees can range from a few dollars for an internet usage, to thousands for a network commercial usage. Some libraries, especially in the UK and Europe, split these fees with the composer of the music. In the US, it is more common for a composer to be paid a work-for-hire fee upfront by the library for composing the music, thus waiving his/her share of any future license fees. In the United Kingdom, license fees for production music are nationally standardized and set by the MCPSMechanical-Copyright Protection SocietyThe Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society is an organisation that pay royalties to composers, songwriters and music publishers when a composition is manufactured into any format. This includes copies of the music alone such as CDs and downloads, and also products that use the music as a part of...
. In the US and elsewhere, libraries are free to determine their own license fees.
- Performance income (or performance royalties): Performances income is generated when music is publicly performed - for example, on television or radio. The producer of the show or film that has licensed the music does not pay these fees. Instead, large fees are paid annually by broadcasters (such as television networks and radio stations) to performing rights organizations such as ASCAP, BMIBroadcast Music IncorporatedBroadcast Music, Inc. is one of three United States performing rights organizations, along with ASCAP and SESAC. It collects license fees on behalf of songwriters, composers, and music publishers and distributes them as royalties to those members whose works have been performed...
, TMB and SESACSESACSESAC, originally the Society of European Stage Authors & Composers, is the smallest of the three performance rights organizations in the United States. SESAC was founded in 1930, making it the second-oldest performing rights organization in the U.S. SESAC is also the fastest-growing PRO in the...
in the US and the PRS in the UK, who then distribute income among their members. To ensure it is distributed fairly and accurately, most broadcasters are required to keep note of what music they have broadcast and for how long. This information is then used by the performance societies to allocate income to their members. Typically, a library will receive 50 percent of the performance income (this is known as the publisher's share), with the composer receiving the remaining 50 percent. Like license fees, performance income is highly variable and dependent on the nature of the usage; a local radio usage will yield a very modest income - perhaps a few dollars each time it is played, whereas repeated use in a primetime network television show can generate many thousands of dollars.
Market
The production music market is dominated by libraries affiliated with the large record and publishing companies: KPMKPM Musichouse
KPM Musichouse is a company which provides library music, formed by the merger of KPM and Musichouse .-History:KPM music has been used in many films and television programmes worldwide...
is owned by EMI
EMI
The EMI Group, also known as EMI Music or simply EMI, is a multinational music company headquartered in London, United Kingdom. It is the fourth-largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry and one of the "big four" record companies. EMI Group also has a major...
; Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group is a music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group.UMPG owns or administers more than 1 million copyrights. They are one of the largest music publishing businesses in the world with more than 47 offices in 41 countries...
library music has the music libraries Chappell, Bruton and Atmosphere under their own name as well as others owned by them such as FirstCom
FirstCom
FirstCom Music began in 1980 as a broadcast service company. Headquartered in Dallas, Texas, the company offered several services utilized by radio stations throughout the United States...
and Killer Tracks
Killer Tracks
Killer Tracks is a company that provides production music for use in film, television, radio, advertising and interactive media. The company was founded in Hollywood, California in 1989 with an original catalog of 30 CDs. Today, Killer Tracks' catalog contains over 2,000 CDs of music from 21...
; Imagem Production Music (formerly Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes
Boosey & Hawkes is a British music publisher purported to be the largest specialist classical music publisher in the world. Until 2003, it was also a major manufacturer of brass, string and wind musical instruments....
Production Music and including the Cavendish, Abaco and Strip Sounds labels) is owned by the Imagem Music Group; Extreme Music is owned by Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing
Sony/ATV Music Publishing is a music publishing company co-owned by The Michael Jackson Family Trust and Sony. The organisation was originally founded as Associated TeleVision in 1955 by Lew Grade. In 1957, ATV acquired Pye Records as a wholly owned subsidiary...
; and Warner/Chappell (a division of Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group
Warner Music Group is the third largest business group and family of record labels in the recording industry, making it one of the big four record companies...
) owns Non-Stop Music. There are numerous smaller independents in the market such as Reliable Source Music
Reliable Source Music
Reliable Source Music is a UK music production and publishing company that specialises in providing music to media professionals. RSM create broadcast quality music for use in Advertising, TV, Video, Radio, Film, Multimedia and Corporate use, either off the shelf, or written to order. As of...
in Marylebone London, Megatrax Production Music
Megatrax Production Music
Established in 1991, Megatrax Production Music is an independently owned and operated production music and custom scoring company based in North Hollywood, CA...
based in North Hollywood, CA, Altitude Music based in East London , Vibey Library of London, Musync of San Francisco, Smashtrax Music LLC based in Los Angeles, JW Media Music, DirectComposer.Com, West One Music West One Music group, which includes West One Music, The Scoring House, Refuel Music and Fired Earth Music) and Cinephonix Music. Other businesses in the market include Pump Audio, owned by Getty Images
Getty Images
Getty Images, Inc. is a stock photo agency, based in Seattle, Washington, USA. It is a supplier of stock images for business and consumers with an archive of 80 million still images and illustrations and more than 50,000 hours of stock film footage...
and Startup company, Music Dealers www.musicdealers.com. There are also more specific types of production music. * Brand X Music and PostHaste Music Library
PostHaste Music Library
PostHaste Music Library is a film trailer music composition company based in Los Angeles, that is known for providing high-quality trailer music for motion picture advertising campaigns. Their style of orchestral music is similar to that produced by X-Ray Dog, Future World Music, Two Steps From...
specialize in Music for Major Motion Picture Advertising Campaigns.
Hybrid license method
This method of licensing combines the creation of original, custom music with a catalog of traditional "library" music under one license agreement. The goal is to suit the needs of a budget conscious production but still provide that production with a unique and original show theme or audio brand. In this scenario, show producer identifies those scenes she/he feels are most important to the success of the show, and those scenes are scored to picture by the composer. Those less important scenes will utilize the library also provided by the same publisher/composer. Upon completion, the custom music and the library tracks are licensed together under one production blanket, the ownership of the custom music remains with the publisher who produced it, and the publisher can (after a term of exclusivity negotiated between the parties) re-license the custom music as part of its library to recuperate production costs.This allows the music composer/producer to quote lower rates because they are retaining ownership of the custom music, and will have the ability to make money with the same recording in a different production later on. It also allows the program or film producer to deliver content of very high quality, ensures that the most important scenes have the perfect music, and those less important scenes are addressed with an affordable solution.
"Royalty-free" libraries
With the proliferation of music libraries in recent years and the increase in competition, some smaller libraries have evolved the somewhat misleadingly titled 'royalty free musicRoyalty free music
Royalty-free music commonly refers to stock or 'library music' licensed for a single fee, without the need to pay any subsequent royalties.- How it works :...
' model. These libraries do not charge their customers for licensing the music. Instead, the customers purchase a CD of music - priced typically between 50 and 300 dollars - whose content is licensed in perpetuity for them to synchronize as often they wish. These libraries depend mainly on performance royalties for their income (with a small amount of income from sales of physical CDs or online track downloads). Assuming that the music is broadcast, royalties are paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them.
However, in some cases, the customer is the broadcaster, and in some countries (such as the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
) PRS licenses are required and royalties become payable for almost all non-domestic use of the music. Online music licenses must be obtained to use the music on websites, in podcast
Podcast
A podcast is a series of digital media files that are released episodically and often downloaded through web syndication...
s, streaming video and downloads. Non-domestic use/public performance licenses are required for businesses to play music to their employees or use the music in presentations. Broadcast/public performance licenses are required to use the music with telephone on-hold systems.
There are however companies that offer completely truly royalty-free music which is not registered with any performance rights organisation
Performance rights organisation
Performance rights organizations provide intermediary functions, particularly royalty collection, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works publicly such as shopping and dining venues. Legal consumer purchase of works, such as buying CDs from a music store, confer...
(also known as "royalty collection agencies"). These companies license music to their customers on a non-exclusive basis where it can be used in perpetuity without any usage reporting. The music is licensed by the customers according to an accepted license agreement and they cannot of course turn around and sell it or license it to others. Because of advancing technology, it is becoming easier for independent musicians to set up their own shops through which they can license quality music. Examples of royalty-free material sources include Jamendo
Jamendo
Jamendo is a music website and a community of music authors. It bills itself as "the world's #1 platform for free and legal music downloads under Creative Commons licenses."...
, SmartSound
SmartSound
SmartSound Software Inc. is an American computer software and royalty free music company headquartered in Northridge, California, USA. The company is focused on providing production music that can be made to a custom length using their patented process....
, Kill The Silence Media Productions, Sound Shopper, StockFuel and Sound Rangers.