Tech Focus: Production Music, Part 2 — Libraries Offer an Array of Choices

A look at leading suppliers and their offerings

Anyone seeking library and production music and cues has more choices than ever before. Here are some of the leading providers of production music.

Click here for Tech Focus: Production Music, Part 1 — Sports Exerts Social Pressure

5 Alarm Music is one the largest independent production-music library for film, television, commercials, and radio, offering music expertise from multiple award-winning composers. It hosts more than 100 music libraries and 285 independent artists, with a broad selection of cost-effective music solutions. Its sports roster includes the Los Angeles Lakers, LA Dodgers, New Orleans Saints, University of Notre Dame, Major League Soccer, TVG (Horse Racing Network), and promos for the Los Angeles Rams. Click here for a sports reel.

APM Music, a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, supplies a comprehensive collection of music to sports-entertainment clients: broadcasters (ESPN, Turner Sports, Fox Sports, HBO Sports, NFL Network), professional franchises (Broncos, Dodgers, Dallas Stars, NY Giants, LA Clippers), production entities (NASCAR, NFL Films, VWBSN, PGA TOUR Productions) and collegiate athletics (Alabama, Notre Dame, Auburn, South Carolina, Georgia, and Clemson). Choose from 550,000 tracks in every genre by award-winning composers, top session players, and indie trendsetters. As a mainstay in sports culture with songs like the Monday Night Football theme and catalogs like the NFL Films Music Library and MLB Music Library, APM Music is a complete resource for sports content, available through its APM Search site, Music Director Service, and custom-music division, APM Custom. For a closer look and listen, check out recent work at sports.apmmusic.com, along with special custom-music projects under the Get Custom Music section.

FirstCom Music provides a diverse selection of high-quality, easy-to-license music in an expertly curated collection of more than 30 catalogs and more than 225,000 tracks. Some of today’s top content creators for sports entertainment bring excitement, emotion, and authenticity to the game. Its range of music services includes music supervision, custom searches, and original scoring. FirstCom Music’s must recent innovation, Score Addiction, lets users link a video and customize tracks to on-screen dialogue, climaxes, and transitions. It empowers creativity with relevant music and advanced production tools for telling the stories of sports champions. Links: New Releases, Hoops & Highlights, Profiles, Custom Music

Killer Tracks delivers original music that captures passionate audiences the world over, with more than 163,000 tracks from 39 global libraries. Friendly, knowledgeable support is available through a dedicated team of music-search specialists and licensing experts. Sports clients include ESPN, Fox Sports, NFL Network. and NBA Entertainment. Some recent sports placements include the 2016 Monster Energy Supercross and Top NFL Films Shots (Week 13). Sports-related links: Action & Intensity, Dramatic, Baseball, Football, Hockey

Megatrax offers more than 150,000 tracks, including alternate and underscore versions and complete edits. Its new website provides an ease-of-use interface and improved search system. Other features include portable-hard-drive update system for faster music updates and accurate metadata; full-time tech support and music supervisors with live chat; and online Spanish and Portuguese translations. Payment options include the ability to do radio barter deals. Custom scoring is available via Aircast Custom Music division. Click here for a sports-related link.

Sound Ideas offers more than 600 distinct royalty-free collections to broadcast, postproduction, game developers, and multimedia facilities, with unlimited lifetime synchronization rights with every purchase. Formats include downloads, DVDs, hard drives, and CDs. All .wav files are provided with full keyword metadata for search applications. Links: Sports Music, Sports Sound Effects. Sister company Westar Music also features unlimited, worldwide licensing.

Warner/Chappell Production Music is a worldwide leader in production and custom music. Its brands have composed works for well-known sports TV shows, networks, and companies: ESPN, British Open, World Cup, Major League Baseball, Cox Communications, SPEED Channel. Click here for music reels.

VideoHelper is an independent, boutique production-music library providing exclusive music for sports-entertainment broadcasters (NFL Films, ESPN, ABC Sports, MSG, HBO, Showtime) and professional franchises (Seahawks, Mariners, Orlando City Soccer Club). Thousands of multi-genre tracks complete a catalog specifically designed to drive video. VideoHelper brings a very specialized breed of production music to sports programming: one that thinks like a producer and is easily editable. Its website/search engine is designed to make it faster and easier than ever to find and license music. Click here for a music reel.