Production music

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Production music (also known as stock music or library music) is recorded music that can be licensed to customers for use in film, television, radio and other media. Often, the music is produced and owned by production music libraries.

Contents

Background

Unlike popular and classical music publishers, who typically own less than 50 percent of the copyright 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 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, [1] 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).

The first production music library was set up by De Wolfe Music in 1927 with the advent of sound in film. The company originally scored music for use in silent film. [2]

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.

Production music is frequently used as theme or background music in radio, film and television. Well-known examples of British TV series with theme songs sourced from library catalogs include Ski Sunday ("Pop Looks Bach" by Sam Fonteyn), Dave Allen At Large ("Studio 69", sometimes known as "Blarney's Stoned", 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). The Christmas hit single based on the character Mr Blobby uses excerpts from "Mr Jellybun" by Paul Shaw and David Rogers. 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) [3] as background or incidental music.

American TV has also utilized production 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). Other notable examples are the Nickelodeon animated series The Ren and Stimpy Show and SpongeBob SquarePants , 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—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 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 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. [4]

As noted by library music historian Jonny Trunk, founder of Trunk Records, 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, 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. [5] 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. [5] [6]

In the 2000s, library music also began to interest crate-digging hip hop producers. [7] Some were interested, in part, because of the sample-clearance issues faced with commercial music releases while others, such as Madlib, have used it for its unique musical quality. Library music has been sampled by artists including the Avalanches, Jay-Z, Beyoncé, A$AP Rocky, Flying Lotus, RZA, Swizz Beatz and Ghostface Killah. Some music producers, such as Frank Dukes, have also been inspired by the library music model and distribute some of their compositions as production music for sampling. [8]

Industry

Market

The production music market is dominated by libraries affiliated with the large record and publishing companies: Universal Music Publishing Group library music has the music libraries of Chappell Recording Music Library, Bruton, Atmosphere, and others such as Killer Tracks; Concord Music owns Imagem Production Music, formerly Boosey & Hawkes Production Music, which includes the Cavendish, Abaco and Strip Sounds labels; Sony Music Publishing owns KPM Music and Extreme Music; BMG Rights Management runs its own production music division; and Warner Chappell Music owns Warner/Chappell Production Music. [9]

Sonoton is the largest independent production music library. [10] Other independent libraries include Vanacore Music, ALIBI Music and West One Music Group.

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 internet usage, to thousands for 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, BMI and SESAC 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. [11] [12] [13] [14]

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 as 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 (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. [15]

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 art 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

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers</span> Non-profit performance-rights organization

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, broadcasters, and digital streaming services.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Broadcast Music, Inc.</span> Performing rights organization in the United States

Broadcast Music, Inc. (BMI) is a performance rights organization in the United States. It collects blanket license fees from businesses that use music, entitling those businesses to play or sync any songs from BMI's repertoire of over 22.4 million musical works. On a quarterly basis, BMI distributes the money to songwriters, composers, and music publishers as royalties to those members whose works have been performed.

Copyrights can either be licensed or assigned by the owner of the copyright. A copyright collective is a non-governmental body created by copyright law or private agreement which licenses copyrighted works on behalf of the authors and engages in collective rights management. Copyright societies track all the events and venues where copyrighted works are used and ensure that the copyright holders listed with the society are remunerated for such usage. The copyright society publishes its own tariff scheme on its websites and collects a nominal administrative fee on every transaction.

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 locations such as shopping and dining venues. Legal consumer purchase of works, such as buying CDs from a music store, confer private performance rights. PROs usually only collect royalties when use of a work is incidental to an organisation's purpose. Royalties for works essential to an organisation's purpose, such as theaters and radio, are usually negotiated directly with the rights holder. The interest of the organisations varies: many have the sole focus of musical works, while others may also encompass works and authors for audiovisual, drama, literature, or the visual arts.

A royalty payment is a payment made by one party to another that owns a particular asset, for the right to ongoing use of that asset. Royalties are typically agreed upon as a percentage of gross or net revenues derived from the use of an asset or a fixed price per unit sold of an item of such, but there are also other modes and metrics of compensation. A royalty interest is the right to collect a stream of future royalty payments.

As with any other idea, the idea for a performing arts production is copyrighted as soon as it is created. In order for any of these works to be performed, the proper licenses must be obtained. The only exception to this rule is with the case of works already in the public domain. This includes, for example, the works of William Shakespeare. Whether a work is in the public domain or not depends on the date it was created. If the work is not in the public domain, a license must be obtained to perform it. In many cases, the license for a Broadway production is called an option.

Music on hold (MOH) is the business practice of playing recorded music to fill the silence that would be heard by telephone callers who have been placed on hold. It is especially common in situations involving customer service.

Music licensing is the licensed use of copyrighted music. Music licensing is intended to ensure that the owners of copyrights on musical works are compensated for certain uses of their work. A purchaser has limited rights to use the work without a separate agreement.

Phonographic Performance Limited (PPL) is a British music copyright collective. It is a private limited company that is registered in the UK. PPL was founded by Decca Records and EMI and incorporated on 12 May 1934, and undertakes collective rights management of sound recordings on behalf of its record-company members, and distributes the fees collected to both its record company members and performer members. As of 2022, PPL collected royalties for over 140,000 performers and recording rightsholders.

Performing rights are the right to perform music in public. It is part of copyright law and demands payment to the music's composer/lyricist and publisher. Performances are considered "public" if they take place in a public place and the audience is outside of a normal circle of friends and family, including concerts nightclubs, restaurants etc. Public performance also includes broadcast and cable television, radio, and any other transmitted performance of a live song.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">History of music publishing</span>

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A music synchronization license, or "sync" for short, is a music license granted by the holder of the copyright of a particular composition, allowing the licensee to synchronize ("sync") their music with of forms of various media output.

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PassAlong Networks, also known as Tennessee Pacific Group, LLC, was a developer of digital media innovations and services located in Franklin, Tennessee. The company had a digital music library of three million licensed songs, two million of which were raw MP3 music files, and provided a series of products and services in the digital media marketplace.

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<span class="mw-page-title-main">Music Reports</span>

Music Reports provides music rights licensing, administration, royalty accounting, and software development and hosting. Music Reports operates the largest registry of worldwide music rights and related business information.

Collective rights management is the licensing of copyright and related rights by organisations acting on behalf of rights owners. Collective management organisations (CMOs), sometimes also referred to as collecting societies, typically represent groups of copyright and related rights owners, i.e.; authors, performers, publishers, phonogram producers, film producers and other rights holders. At the least, rights holders authorize collective rights management organizations to monitor the use of their works, negotiate licenses with prospective users, document correct right management data and information, collect remuneration for use of copyrighted works, ensuring a fair distribution of such remuneration amongst rightsholders. CMOs also act on legal mandates. Governmental supervision varies across jurisdictions.

<i>United States v. ASCAP</i> American legal case

United States v. American Society of Composers, Authors and Publishers (ASCAP) et al., No. 09-0539, 2010 WL 3749292, was a United States Court of Appeals case involving copyright liability for third-party vendors that provide online music download services. In particular, the Second Circuit ruled that music downloads do not constitute public performances, upholding the district court's decision and consequently preventing ASCAP from claiming higher royalty fees from Yahoo! and RealNetworks for downloaded music. However, the Second Circuit disagreed with the district court's method of fee assessment and remanded the case for further proceedings. ASCAP appealed the decision and requested a writ of certiorari for judicial review in the Supreme Court.

References

  1. ↑ "How to use royalty free music?". joystock.org. Retrieved 2020-12-01.
  2. ↑ De Wolfe, Warren (1988). De Wolfe Millennium Catalogue. London: De Wolfe Music.
  3. ↑ "Benny's Place • Essay on The Stock Music of The Benny Hill Show". Runstop.de. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  4. ↑ "The KPM All Stars live". Bl.uk. Retrieved 7 January 2021.
  5. 1 2 Trunk, Johnny (August 26, 2019). "The What, How and Why of Library Music". Red Bull Music Academy. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  6. ↑ "The Music Library". FUEL. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  7. ↑ "The Strange World of Library Music". Pitchfork. 20 May 2014. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  8. ↑ Herbert, Conor (21 October 2019). "Library Music Is Changing the Sampling Game In Hip-Hop". DJBooth. Retrieved 2021-06-03.
  9. ↑ "BMG Production Music: BMG gründet Agentur für Produktionsmusik". Horizont.net (in German). Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  10. ↑ Video, Professional Production-Technologie und Medienrealisation in Film und. "Professional Production - Technologie und Medienrealisation in Film und Video | Sonoton – die ersten 50 Jahre". Professional-production.de (in German). Retrieved 2019-03-04.
  11. ↑ "Navigating Music Copyright: A Guide for New Artists | SongLifty". songlifty.com. 2023-10-08. Retrieved 2024-01-08.
  12. ↑ "COPYRIGHT BASICS". TVMLC.
  13. ↑ "Licensing Performance Royalties & Licenses" . Retrieved 2020-04-11.
  14. ↑ "U.S. Television Royalties". BMI.
  15. ↑ "7 Best Royalty Free Music Websites & Services For Filmmakers". The Tech Reviewer. 2017-08-11. Retrieved 2017-08-15.

Further reading

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