What Is Production Music?

Production music is music written and recorded specifically to be used in film, television and other media.

It is available to license from Production Music Libraries, who produce the music and own the various copyrights. Licensing is usually handled by the music library themselves, although in the UK this is done through the MCPS on behalf of all libraries. The license rates vary according to how the music is to be used, and can range from tens of dollars to thousands of dollars, usually depending upon the eventual audience size for the music.

Production Music for Media

Production Music is a very convenient way for media producers to license music. Production music libraries will usually have a wide selection of musical styles available, and media producers know that any of the tracks are avaiable to license at an affordable rate. Libraries vary in size from having a few dozen music tracks, to having many thousands in their catalogue. Some of the larger libraries have been established since the first half of the twentieth century. They now form a major financial part of the wider music industry, and are owned by the same major international music companies such as EMI and Sony.

How Production Music Works

Production music libraries make their money from two different income streams - synchronisation/mechanical license fees and performance royalties. These license fees are those paid by the media producer that allows them to incorporate a piece of music into their media production. The fees vary widely depending on the nature of the project, and are usually geared according to the eventual audience size, as well as the length of time the production music is played for.

So for example using a few seconds of music in a local radio commercial will be a lot cheaper than using a longer length in a nationwide TV advertising campaign. Performance royalties are paid annually by broadcasters (TV stations, Radio networks) to Performance Rights Organisations (PRO) who represent composers and puclichers, including Production Music Libraries. These license fees are redistributed by the PRO among it's composer and publisher members, according to which music has been broadcast by the TV/Radio stations.

Types of Production Music

Production music is also know as library music, or stock music. A new and popular form of production music is Royalty Free Music. The licenses from Royalty Free Music libraries cover the synchronisation/mechanical licence mentioned above, but are usually much simpler, being a one-time fee giving permission for many uses, overe again, in perpetuity.

Royalty Free Music is a great way for media producers to save money by using the simpler licensing model. Fees for traditional production music licensing can soon escalate to large amounts, eating up a production budget, but royalty free music can provide a very cost effective alternative. Another benefit is that the administration can be much simpler for the media producer, since the royalty free music license is usually a one-time fee and covers all uses from then on within the media project.

How To Find Production Music

Production music libraries make their music avaiable to media producers on audio CDs. However over the past few years this has started to change with the evolution of an internet-based model. Now media producers can listen online to the library tracks, and download the music tracks they choose to use, having organised the license payment throught the same website.

There are many advantages to using production music for tv, film and media. - it's readily available - it's designed specifically for media - there is just about every musical style available - licensing is straightforward.

Royalty free music, which is a form of production music, offers all of these plus a simpler, more cost effective licensing method. Instead of the licensing fees varying widely depending on the nature of the project (usually geared according to the eventual audience size) , a simple one-time license is all that is needed. This makes licensing music for your project quick and easy!

Royalty Free Production Music Library

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