Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded
music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
that can be
licensed
A license (or licence) is an official permission or permit to do, use, or own something (as well as the document of that permission or permit).
A license is granted by a party (licensor) to another party (licensee) as an element of an agreeme ...
to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production
music libraries
A music library contains music-related materials for patron use. Collections may also include non-print materials, such as digitized music scores or audio recordings. Use of such materials may be limited to specific patron groups, especially in p ...
.
Background
Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of the
copyright
A copyright is a type of intellectual property that gives its owner the exclusive right to copy, distribute, adapt, display, and perform a creative work, usually for a limited time. The creative work may be in a literary, artistic, education ...
in a composition, production music libraries own all of the copyrights of their music. Thus, it can be licensed without 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
A work made for hire (work for hire or WFH), in copyright law in the United States, is a work that is subject to copyright and is created by employees as part of their job or some limited types of works for which all parties agree in writing to the ...
basis. Production music is a convenient solution for media producers—they are 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 typically offer a broad range of musical styles and genres, enabling producers and editors to find diverse types of music within the same library. Music libraries vary in size from a few hundred tracks up to many thousands. The first production music library was set up by
De Wolfe Music
De Wolfe Limited (previously known as Music de Wolfe, often referred to as De Wolfe Music) is a British music production company, recognised as the originator of what has become known as library music. De Wolfe Music was established by Meyer de Wo ...
in 1927 with the advent of sound in film. The company originally scored music for use in
silent film
A silent film is a film with no synchronized recorded sound (or more generally, no audible dialogue). Though silent films convey narrative and emotion visually, various plot elements (such as a setting or era) or key lines of dialogue may, when ...
.
Production music is frequently used as theme and/or background music in radio, film and television. Well-known examples of British TV series with theme songs sourced from library catalogues include ''
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. It began in 1978, and is currently presented by Ed Leigh ...
'' ("Pop Looks Bach" by Sam Fonteyn), ''
Dave Allen At Large
David Tynan O'Mahony (6 July 193610 March 2005), known professionally as Dave Allen, was an Irish comedian, satirist, and actor. He was best known for his observational comedy. Allen regularly provoked indignation by highlighting political hypo ...
'' ("Studio 69" or sometimes known as "Blarney's Stoned" by
Alan Hawkshaw
William Alan Hawkshaw (27 March 1937 – 16 October 2021) was a British composer and performer, particularly of library music used as themes for movies and television programs. Hawkshaw worked extensively for the KPM production music company ...
), ''
Mastermind
Mastermind, Master Mind or The Mastermind may refer to:
Fictional characters
* Mastermind (Jason Wyngarde), a fictional supervillain in Marvel Comics, a title also held by his daughters:
** Martinique Jason, the first daughter and successor of th ...
'' ("Approaching Menace" by
Neil Richardson), the original theme for the BBC's ''
Grandstand
A grandstand is a normally permanent structure for seating spectators. This includes both auto racing and horse racing. The grandstand is in essence like a single section of a stadium, but differs from a stadium in that it does not wrap a ...
'' ("News Scoop" by Len Stevens), ''
Crimewatch
''Crimewatch'' (formerly ''Crimewatch UK'') is a British television programme produced by the BBC, that reconstructs major unsolved crimes in order to gain information from the public which may assist in solving the case. The programme was o ...
'' ("Rescue Helicopter" by
John Cameron) and ''
Grange Hill
''Grange Hill'' is a British Children's television series, children's television drama series, originally produced by the BBC and portraying life in a typical Comprehensive school (England and Wales), comprehensive school. The show began its ru ...
'' ("Chicken Man" by Alan Hawkshaw). The Christmas hit single based on the character
Mr Blobby
Mr Blobby is a British fictional character, created by British comedy writer Charlie Adams. His design involves mostly a costume of a bulbous pink figure with yellow spots, a permanent toothy grin, and green jiggly eyes, with performers often us ...
uses excerpts from "Mr Jellybun" by Paul Shaw and David Rogers.
Arthur Wood's "
Barwick Green
"Barwick Green" is the theme music to the long-running BBC Radio 4 soap opera ''The Archers''. A "maypole dance" from the suite ''My Native Heath'' written in 1924 by the Yorkshire composer Arthur Wood, it is named after Barwick-in-Elmet in Yor ...
", written in 1924, still serves as the theme for long-running BBC Radio soap ''
The Archers
''The Archers'' is a BBC radio drama on BBC Radio 4, the corporation's main spoken-word channel. Broadcast since 1951, it was famously billed as "an everyday story of country folk" and is now promoted as "a contemporary drama in a rural settin ...
''. TV comedy series such as ''
The Benny Hill Show
''The Benny Hill Show'' is a British comedy television show starring Benny Hill that aired on the BBC and ITV (from 1969) between 15 January 1955 and 1 May 1989. The show consisted mainly of sketches that were full of slapstick, mime, parody ...
'' and ''
Monty Python's Flying Circus
''Monty Python's Flying Circus'' (also known as simply ''Monty Python'') is a British surreal sketch comedy series created by and starring Graham Chapman, John Cleese, Eric Idle, Terry Jones, Michael Palin and Terry Gilliam, who became known ...
'' also made extensive use of production library cues (many sourced from the De Wolfe catalogue) as background or incidental music.
American TV has also utilized production music, most notably with the themes for ''
Monday Night Football
''ESPN Monday Night Football'' (abbreviated as ''MNF'' and also known as ''ESPN Monday Night Football on ABC'' for simulcasts) is an American live television broadcast of weekly National Football League (NFL) games currently airing on ESPN, AB ...
'' ("
Heavy Action "Heavy Action" is a piece of music composed by Johnny Pearson. Composed in 1970, and featuring a strong brass fanfare opening, "Heavy Action" soon became a well established sporting theme tune, most associated in the United Kingdom as the theme for ...
" by
Johnny Pearson
John Valmore Pearson (18 June 1925 – 20 March 2011) was a British composer, orchestra leader and pianist. He led the ''Top of the Pops'' orchestra for sixteen years, wrote a catalogue of library music, and had many of his pieces used as the ...
) and ''
The People's Court
''The People's Court'' is an American arbitration-based reality court show, featuring an arbitrator handling small claims disputes in a simulated courtroom set. Within the court show genre, it is the first of all arbitration-based reality sty ...
'' ("The Big One" by
Alan Tew
Alan Tew is a British composer and arranger.
He got his start in the 1950s as the pianist and arranger for the Len Turner Band based in London.
Tew is known as a composer of library music, including the theme tunes for British television prog ...
). Other notable examples are the
Nickelodeon
Nickelodeon (often shortened to Nick) is an American pay television television channel, channel which launched on April 1, 1979, as the first cable channel for children. It is run by Paramount Global through its List of assets owned by Param ...
animated series ''
The Ren and Stimpy Show
''The Ren & Stimpy Show'' (also known as ''Ren & Stimpy'') is an American animated television series created by Canadian animator John Kricfalusi. Originally produced by Spümcø for Nickelodeon, the series aired from August 11, 1991, to Dece ...
'' and ''
SpongeBob SquarePants
''SpongeBob SquarePants'' (or simply ''SpongeBob'') is an American animated comedy television series created by marine science educator and animator Stephen Hillenburg for Nickelodeon. It chronicles the adventures of the title character a ...
'', which use well-known classical music excerpts and a wide range of pre-1960s production music cues, some of which were composed by
Emil Cadkin
Emil Milton Cadkin (August 26, 1920 – December 16, 2020) was an American TV and film composer who worked mainly as a production music composer. He worked with William Loose (1910–1991) and Harry Bluestone (1907–1992). Some of his music was ...
—including many pieces familiar from their use in earlier cartoons—which were chosen for their ironic, suspenseful, patriotic and humorous effect.
Production music composers and session performers typically work anonymously and have rarely become known outside their professional circle. In recent years some veteran composer-performers in this field such as Alan Hawkshaw, John Cameron and
Keith Mansfield
Keith Mansfield (born 1941 in London, England) is a British composer and arranger known for his creation of prominent television theme tunes, including the '' Grandstand'' theme for the BBC.
Career
Other works include "The Young Scene" (the ...
have achieved attention and popularity as a result of a new interest in production music of the 1960s and 1970s, notably the 'beat' and
electronica
Electronica is both a broad group of electronic-based music styles intended for listening rather than strictly for dancing and a music scene that started in the early 1990s in the United Kingdom. In the United States, the term is mostly used to r ...
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
KPM Music is a company that creates and provides library music that was originally known as KPM Musichouse. It was formed by the merger of KPM (the initials of Keith-Prowse-Maurice, which was then a division of EMI) and Musichouse (a company that ...
.
As popular music
As noted by library music historian
Jonny Trunk
Jonny Trunk, born Jonathan Benton-Hughes, is an English writer, broadcaster and DJ as well as the owner and founder of Trunk Records.
Career
Trunk Records
Jonny Trunk founded Trunk Records in 1995, a cult British label that specialises in film ...
, founder of
Trunk Records
Trunk Records is a British independent record label, which specialises mainly in lost film scores, unreleased TV music, library music, old advertising jingles, art, sexploitation and kitsch releases.
It was founded in 1995 by Jonny Trunk, and ...
, library music gained wider appeal in the 1990s when it was made public for the first time. In the 1980s, there were hundreds of library companies producing music with old records becoming redundant, especially with the advent of CDs. By the mid-1990s, these companies, many located in
Soho
Soho is an area of the City of Westminster, part of the West End of London. Originally a fashionable district for the aristocracy, it has been one of the main entertainment districts in the capital since the 19th century.
The area was develop ...
, London, were dumping their old and obsolete vinyl records on local record and charity shops. Many record collectors became interested in the genre, and it gained a cult following.
Trunk wrote the first book on the subject, ''The Music Library'', published in 2005, and in the following years many classic production music records were
reissued
In the music industry, a reissue (also re-release, repackage or re-edition) is the release of an album or single which has been released at least once before, sometimes with alterations or additions.
Reasons for reissue
New audio formats
Rec ...
.
In the 2000s, library music also began to interest
crate-digging hip hop producers. Some were interested, in part, because of the
sample
Sample or samples may refer to:
Base meaning
* Sample (statistics), a subset of a population – complete data set
* Sample (signal), a digital discrete sample of a continuous analog signal
* Sample (material), a specimen or small quantity of s ...
-clearance issues faced with commercial music releases while others, such as
Madlib
Otis Jackson Jr. (born October 24, 1973), known professionally as Madlib, is an American DJ, music producer, multi-instrumentalist, and rapper. He is widely known for his collaborations with MF DOOM (as Madvillain), J Dilla (as Jaylib), and Fr ...
, have used it for its unique musical quality. Library music has been sampled by artists including
the Avalanches
The Avalanches are an Australian electronic music group formed in Melbourne in 1997. They are known for their studio albums '' Since I Left You'' (2000), ''Wildflower'' (2016), and '' We Will Always Love You'' (2020), as well as their live and ...
,
Jay-Z
Shawn Corey Carter (born December 4, 1969), known professionally as Jay-Z, is an American rapper, record producer, entrepreneur, and founder of Manhattan-based conglomerate talent and entertainment agency Roc Nation. He is regarded as one of ...
,
Beyoncé
Beyoncé Giselle Knowles-Carter ( ; born September 4, 1981) is an American singer, songwriter, and actress. Beyoncé's boundary-pushing artistry and vocals have made her the most influential female musician of the 21st century, according to ...
,
A$AP Rocky
Rakim Athelaston Mayers (born October 3, 1988), known professionally as ASAP Rocky ( ; stylized as A$AP Rocky), is an American rapper, music producer and record executive. Born and raised in Harlem, he embarked on his musical career as a membe ...
,
Flying Lotus
Steven Ellison (born October 7, 1983), known by his stage name Flying Lotus or sometimes FlyLo, is an American record producer, Disc jockey, DJ, filmmaker and rapper from Los Angeles. He is also the founder of the record label Brainfeeder.
Flyi ...
,
RZA,
Swizz Beatz
Kasseem Daoud Dean (born September 13, 1978), known professionally as Swizz Beatz, is an American record producer, rapper, disc jockey (DJ) and songwriter. Born and raised in New York City, Dean embarked on his musical career as a DJ. At the ag ...
and
Ghostface Killah
Dennis Coles (born May 9, 1970), better known by his stage name Ghostface Killah, is an American rapper and a member of the hip hop group Wu-Tang Clan. After the group achieved breakthrough success in the aftermath of ''Enter the Wu-Tang (36 C ...
. Some music producers, such as
Frank Dukes
Adam King Feeney (born September 12, 1983), better known as Ging and by his former stage name Frank Dukes, is a Canadian musician, record producer, and songwriter. A prolific producer, he has worked with artists including Camila Cabello ("Havana ...
, have also been inspired by the library music model and distribute some of their compositions as
production music for sampling.
Industry
Market
The production music market is dominated by libraries affiliated with the large record and publishing companies:
Universal Music Publishing Group
Universal Music Publishing Group (UMPG) is a North American music publishing company and is part of the Universal Music Group. It was formerly known as MCA Music Publishing until it merged with PolyGram.
Universal Music Publishing is the worl ...
library music has the music libraries of Chappell Recording Music Library, Bruton, Atmosphere, and others such as
Killer Tracks
Universal Production Music (UPM), formerly known as Killer Tracks, is a company that produces and licenses production music for use in film, television, advertising and interactive media. The company was founded in Hollywood, California, in 1989 ...
; Concord Music owns Imagem Production Music, formerly
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 woodwind musical instruments.
Formed in 1930 throu ...
Production Music, which includes the Cavendish, Abaco and Strip Sounds labels;
Sony Music Publishing
Sony Music Publishing (formerly Sony/ATV Music Publishing) is the largest music publisher in the world, with over five million songs owned or administered as of end March 2021. US-based, it is part of the Sony Music Group, which is itself owned ...
owns
KPM Music
KPM Music is a company that creates and provides library music that was originally known as KPM Musichouse. It was formed by the merger of KPM (the initials of Keith-Prowse-Maurice, which was then a division of EMI) and Musichouse (a company that ...
and
Extreme Music
Extreme Music is a production music arm of Sony Music Publishing. The company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising, and online media. Their library includes music from artists and composers such as Quincy Jones, ...
;
BMG Rights Management
BMG Rights Management GmbH (also known simply as BMG) is an international music company based in Berlin, Germany. It combines the activities of a music publisher and a record label.
BMG was founded in October 2008 after Bertelsmann sold its ...
runs its own production music division; and
Warner Chappell Music
Warner Chappell Music, Inc. is an American music publishing company and a subsidiary of the Warner Music Group. Warner Chappell Music's catalogue consists of over 1.4 million compositions and 65,000 composers, with offices in over 40 countries.
...
owns Warner/Chappell Production Music.
Sonoton
Sonoton Music claims to be the world's largest independently owned Production Music Library. Formed 1965 by Rotheide and Gerhard Narholz in Munich (Germany), the company owns the copyrights of over 130,000 compositions and musical recordings of al ...
is the largest independent production music library. Other independent libraries include
Vanacore Music
Vanacore Music is an American production music company for television, film, advertising, and digital media. Their services include a custom music division, production music libraries and music licensing expertise. They license music to a wide va ...
and
West One Music Group
West One Music Group is a British global production music company. Founded in Soho, London, in 2003, the group consists of twelve labels, including And Then Some, Asia Record Collective, Electronic Dance Series, Fired Earth Music, Kaptain Music, ...
.
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 UK, license fees for production music are nationally standardized and set by the
MCPS. 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 (PROs) such as
ASCAP
The American Society of Composers, Authors, and Publishers (ASCAP) () is an American not-for-profit performance-rights organization (PRO) that collectively licenses the public performance rights of its members' musical works to venues, broadca ...
,
BMI and
SESAC
SESAC is a for-profit performance-rights organization in the United States. Founded in 1930 as the Society of European Stage Authors and Composers, it is the second-oldest performance-rights organization in the United States. 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; local radio usage will yield modest income - perhaps a few dollars each time it is played. Repeated use in a primetime network TV show can generate thousands of dollars. Another method, in the United States, of collecting royalties for performances of production, stock, and library music is through directly negotiating royalties with composers and bypassing PROs. BMI and ASCAP, and more recently SESAC, no longer have exclusive representation of composers for the collection of performance royalties. By directly negotiating the performance royalties with rights holders, licensees can pay less for the performance of a cue of music, and the licenser (the rights holder) can receive more than the PRO would pay. This is because of the removal of not only the administrative costs incurred through a PRO collecting royalties, but the removal of the "weight variable" which pays the highest performing songwriters and composers a portion of all fees collected.
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 recoup 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.
Libraries
Royalty-free libraries
With the proliferation of music libraries in recent years and the increase in competition, some smaller libraries have evolved the ''royalty-free music'' model. These libraries do not charge their customers for licensing the music. Instead, the customers purchase a CD or access to an electronic collection 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 who pays them via annual fees to the performing rights societies, not the producer who uses the music in their production.
Some companies offer truly royalty-free music which is not registered with any
performance rights organisation
A performance rights organisation (PRO), also known as a performing rights society, provides intermediary functions, particularly collection of royalties, between copyright holders and parties who wish to use copyrighted works ''publicly'' in loca ...
(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 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 music.
Non-exclusive libraries
Non-exclusive production music libraries enable a composer to sign a non-exclusive agreement allowing the artist to license the same piece to other libraries and clients with the same non-exclusive agreement. In other words, their intellectual property (their composition) can be licensed to multiple clients simultaneously, provided that they are not contractually bound by an exclusive agreement with another company. The non-exclusive library doesn't own the rights outside of the licenses that are made by that library. Typically the library does not pay for the piece, and the artist doesn't get any payment until the piece is licensed at which point the library and the artist split the license fee equally. Libraries typically require the artist to rename the piece in effect creating a unique artistic work for the library to register with their PRO (BMI, ASCAP, SESAC). Should the composer want to enter the piece into an exclusive agreement with a library or client, they would first need to remove that piece from all non-exclusive agreements.
An advantage to using a non-exclusive library is the possible broad exposure through multiple outlets, and the ability of the artist to retain control. Conversely, if an artist sells his/her piece to an exclusive library he/she is paid upfront for the piece but the artist typically sells the publishing rights, hence losing control of the piece and future licensing fees.
See also
*
List of films in the public domain
Most films are subject to copyright, but those listed here are believed to be in the public domain in the United States. This means that no government, organization, or individual owns any copyright over the work, and as such it is common propert ...
*
APM Music
Associated Production Music, LLC (commonly known as APM Music) is an American production music company headquartered in Hollywood, California, initially as a joint venture between Zomba/Jive Production Music and EMI Production Music. APM Music' ...
*
Kevin MacLeod
Kevin MacLeod ( ; born September 28, 1972) is an American composer and music producer. MacLeod has composed over 2,000 pieces of royalty-free library music and made them available under a Creative Commons copyright license. This licensing al ...
, who has produced a wide variety of royalty-free library music
*
Stock footage
Stock footage, and similarly, archive footage, library pictures, and file footage is film or video footage that can be used again in other films. Stock footage is beneficial to filmmakers as it saves shooting new material. A single piece of stock ...
References
External links
* {{cite journal, url=http://www.believermag.com/issues/201207/?read=article_zoladz, last=Zoladz, first=Lindsey, title=Beat Boutique, journal=
The Believer, date=July–August 2012
*
Into the Library', BBC Radio documentary, presenter Jonny Trunk, producer Simon Hollis, Brook Lapping Productions, April 2011
Further reading
* Hollander, David: ''Unusual Sounds: The Hidden History of Library Music''. Anthology, 2018.
* Lomax, Oliver: ''The Mood Modern: The story of two of the world's greatest recorded music libraries: KPM (1956-1977) and Bruton Music (1978-1980)''. Vocalion, 2018.
* Trunk, Jonny and Dammers, Jerry: ''The Music Library''. Fuel, 2005, revised and expanded 2016.
Music
Music is generally defined as the art of arranging sound to create some combination of form, harmony, melody, rhythm or otherwise expressive content. Exact definitions of music vary considerably around the world, though it is an aspect ...
British styles of music
American styles of music