Industry[edit]
Market[edit]
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[edit]
The business model of production music libraries is based on two income streams:
Libraries[edit]
Royalty-free libraries[edit]
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[edit]
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.