Tech Focus: Sports Music, Part 2 — Music Libraries Offer More Options Than Ever

A vast number of tracks are available in a wide variety of genres

Anyone seeking library and production music and cues for use in sports productions has more choices than ever before. Here are some of the leading options.

Click here for Tech Focus: Sports Music, Part 1 — Controversy Over Rights Shakes the Sector
Click here Tech Focus: Sports Music, Part 3 — DDEX Teams With EIDR To Streamline Metadata Standards

APM Music, a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing/Sony ATV and Universal Music Publishing, supplies a comprehensive collection of music for sports-entertainment clients, such as broadcasters (ESPN, Turner Sports, Fox Sports, NFL Network), professional franchises (New England Patriots, Dallas Cowboys, Boston Red Sox, Vegas Golden Knights, Golden State Warriors), production entities (NASCAR, NFL Films, PGA Tour Productions), and collegiate athletics (Clemson, Alabama, Notre Dame, Auburn). Choose from more than 710,000 tracks in every genre by award-winning composers 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. Find what you need through the Music Director Service APM Search site or create something unique through the company’s custom music division, APM Custom.

Manhattan Production Music (MPM) is a leader in production music and has expanded to offer custom scoring from award-winning artists and composers as well as licensing songs from up-and-coming indie artists. MPM is the sister company to Chesky Records, a Grammy Award-winning and renowned audiophile label specializing in jazz, world and classical recordings. It is this access to some of the finest producers, engineers and musicians in the world that makes MPM’s music library sound like music you’ll want to take home and listen to. Click here for a sports-related music demo.

Megatrax offers more than 150,000 tracks, including alternative and underscore versions and complete edits. New website features an ease-of-use interface and improved search system. Portable hard-drive update system enables faster music updates and accurate metadata. Full-time tech support and music supervisors with live chat are available, as are online Spanish and Portuguese translations. Payment options include radio barter deals. Custom scoring is available via Aircast Custom Music division. Click here for sports-related music.

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. Delivery formats include downloads and hard drives. All WAV files are provided with full keyword metadata for search applications. Click here for sports-related music and here for sports sound effects. Sister company Westar Music also features unlimited, worldwide licensing.

Born from original music and sound design for leading worldwide brands, The Vault Production Music Library, designed by Stephen Arnold Music, offers more than 125,000 tracks of highly curated, up-to-date, and relevant content with quarterly updates. With excellent customer service and music supervision, The Vault offers a high standard in production music, taking maximum advantage of the assets that made it a leader in sonic branding. It’s staffed full-time with composers, who are called on regularly to aurally differentiate the likes of Golf Channel, CNN, ESPN, Nat Geo, Discovery, and dozens more brands and networks across the globe. Click here for sport-related music.

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 makes it faster and easier than ever to find and license the music you need. Click here for sports music.

WarnerChappell Production Music is a worldwide leader in production, news, and custom music. Its brands offer composed works for well-known sports productions, networks, and companies, including ESPN, British Open, the World Cup, Major League Baseball, Cox Communications, and SPEED Channel. Click here for sports music.