Production music
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Production music is the name given to the music owned by production music libraries and licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media.
Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of the copyright 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 very convenient medium 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.
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. APM, the largest US library, has over 28,000 tracks.
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[edit] Business model
The business model of production music libraries is based on two income streams:
- License or synchronisation fees (sometimes called mechanical royalties): These are the fees paid upfront to the library for permission to synchronise 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 standardised and set by the MCPS. In the US and elsewhere, libraries are free to determine their own licence fees.
- Performance income (or performance royalties): Performances income is generated when music is publically 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, the fees are paid annually by the broadcaster to performance organisations such as ASCAP, BMI, and SESAC in the US and the PRS in the UK, who then distribute the 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, with the composer receiving the remaining 50 percent. Like license fees, performance income is highly variable and dependant 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.
[edit] "Royalty-free" libraries
With the proliferation of music libraries in recent years and the subsequent increase in competition, some smaller libraries have evolved the somewhat misleadingly titled 'royalty-free' 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 inperpetuity for them to synchronise as often they wish. These libraries depend mainly on performance royalties for their income - so, assuming the music is broadcast, royalties are indeed paid on the music, though it is the broadcaster, not the customer, who pays them.
Since royalty-free music deprives composers and libraries of a significant source of income, libraries employing this model typically cannot attract the level of talent and quality that their traditional-model counterparts do, and royalty-free libraries are generally seen as a cheaper option for those on a limited budget.
[edit] Quality
Historically, production music's reputation has suffered from a perceived lack of quality. In truth, most of the music owned by the top libraries in the business is of entirely professional quality, and will often usually use veteran composers, engineers and performers.
At the lower end of the market, standards of production and composition tend to be more variable.
[edit] The Market
Production music today is dominated by libraries affiliated with the large record and publishing companies: KPM, a preeminent UK music library, is owned by EMI, and both BMG and Universal Music have music libraries under their own name as well others owned by them (Hollywood-based Killertracks & Network Music and Dallas-based FirstCom, for example, are all owned by BMG). Prominent independent music libraries include Megatrax, Videohelper, Gravity, 5 Alarm Music, 615 Music, Extreme Music, Burning Petals Production Music, Blue Fuse Music, and Amusicom.
