Audio post house Sonic Union announced a market expansion of its multi-catalog production music search system, SuperSonic, designed to facilitate and accelerate the process of audio selection at the editorial level of commercial production. Assembled by audio experts, the interface hosts a roster of over 600,000 fine-tuned tracks, drawn from catalogs such as 5Alarm, Megatrax and a dozen other well-regarded, high quality libraries. Licensing and clearance is handled seamlessly by Sonic Union.
SuperSonic is carefully curated by Sonic Union professionals to carry only modern versions, relevant period tracks and accurately described tunes, all on one easily searchable site.
Sonic Union funneled a decade of experience into SuperSonic, as it originated as Sonic Union’s personal in-house library music search tool, which exponentially grew and evolved over the years to now be shared as a practical solution to benefit outside users in the industry. Users receive personalized service from a team of music experts, led by music supervisor Justin Morris, that is dedicated to helping with searches and user experience in all major markets.
Sonic Union carries a robust media liability policy specific to music licensing (often required by agencies) and does not compose or commission any music of its own. There is no fee to use the portal and users do not have to be a client company to access the library collections, but a sign-up process is required to first attain access. Streaming will be available for users with solely a username and password, and completing the established SuperSonic download agreement allows users to have download privileges. Courtesy streaming kick-off searches are also available prior to being registered.
Sonic Union managing director and co-founder Adam Barone noted, “When we need to find a great track fast in session, we benefit from having already invested time and effort into pruning the catalog offerings to what we’d actually use, and searching across all those simultaneously. So we thought – why not extend that to our editorial clients and beyond?”
SuperSonic includes the options to make-your-own playlist or select from an array of pre-made “trending” playlists, which can all be sent via email. Users can also customize their view of the site with organizable columns on the side and search for a track by library name or keyword, and refine their search results with a drop-down menu.
“As a music supervisor, I’m using SuperSonic everyday as my main source of budget-friendly library music,” noted Morris. “Many users tell us that our playlists save time by creating great jumping-off points, and showing that multiple sources were considered for the best possible track for a project.”
Google Opens Its Defense In Antitrust Case Alleging Monopoly Over Online Ad Technology
Google opened its defense against allegations that it holds an illegal monopoly on online advertising technology Friday with witness testimony saying the industry is vastly more complex and competitive than portrayed by the federal government.
"The industry has been exceptionally fluid over the last 18 years," said Scott Sheffer, a vice president for global partnerships at Google, the company's first witness at its antitrust trial in federal court in Alexandria.
The Justice Department and a coalition of states contend that Google built and maintained an illegal monopoly over the technology that facilitates the buying and selling of online ads seen by consumers.
Google counters that the government's case improperly focuses on a narrow type of online ads — essentially the rectangular ones that appear on the top and on the right-hand side of a webpage. In its opening statement, Google's lawyers said the Supreme Court has warned judges against taking action when dealing with rapidly emerging technology like what Sheffer described because of the risk of error or unintended consequences.
Google says defining the market so narrowly ignores the competition it faces from social media companies, Amazon, streaming TV providers and others who offer advertisers the means to reach online consumers.
Justice Department lawyers called witnesses to testify for two weeks before resting their case Friday afternoon, detailing the ways that automated ad exchanges conduct auctions in a matter of milliseconds to determine which ads are placed in front of which consumers and how much they cost.
The department contends the auctions are finessed in subtle ways that benefit Google to the exclusion of would-be competitors and in ways that prevent... Read More