Music libraries have grown increasingly sophisticated and eclectic in their offerings. Long gone are the days when production music simply meant an inexpensive piece of stock music. Today, companies such as bicoastal Associated Production Music, Megatrax, North Hollywood, as well as Groove Addicts, Los Angeles, offer music from emerging and established artists, often in Web-based formats that provide powerful search engines and easy accessibility to everything from licensed tracks to more traditional production music.
Entering into the fray are two new offerings: Tonic Song Library (TSL), from Tonic, a New York-based music, sound design and audio production facility; and Heliumvault.com, part of Smack Music & Sound Design.
TSL
TSL was launched earlier this year, under the guidance of Tonic principal/composer Peter Fish and composer/producer Andy “A.J.” Gundell. Although Gundell only recently joined Tonic, he and Fish have a long history together, teaming on several compositions, including work for All My Children. A score for that show earned the composers an Emmy Award last month for Outstanding Achievement in Music Direction and Composition for a Drama Series.
The new collection–which is billed as “the greatest songs you’ve never heard”– represents fully licensed songs from both established and emerging artists. “What we’ve done in putting together this library, which so far has about five-hundred songs, and growing daily, is offer editorial content in the most high-quality of fashions,” explains Fisher, who notes that each track available via TSL are pre-cleared, meaning both master and synch rights have been secured.
As for offerings, Gundell notes, “the artists and songwriters that we’re dealing with run the full gamut from indie bands and artists that are about to break through, to number one hit songwriters.” Among the artists and acts available via TSL are Sugar Rush, a Welsh Band currently in talks with Interscope, and Danny Serafin of the group Chicago.
Gundell notes that artists are attracted to TSL as a way to get their tracks to the market, citing the lackluster state of the record industry, and the difficulty new acts have in breaking through. “The record business has been in incredible flux and uncertainty, and it’s always been hard for quality writers and artists to get record deals, but it’s even harder than it’s ever been now,” says Gundell. “We have this huge pool of talented people who are looking for alternative forms of expressing themselves and marketing their material.”
Gundell and Fish relate that most of the content in TSL, which is currently offered on CDs–a Website will be launching this summer–was secured via their relationships with artists, songwriters, and producers. Currently, TSL tracks have been used for some undisclosed television programming.
“We are neither an oldies place, nor are we solely just an indie place,” states Fish. “We’re across the spectrum, and in every genre as well–from urban to rhythm and blues to country to alternative, to children’s work, you name it we’ve got it.”
HELIUMVAULT.COM
A helium vault, notes Ed Bilous, principal/composer at Smack Music, and the architect of the shop’s new online music offering, Heliumvault.com, is a vault where the most ancient and precious documents are stored, so they won’t be exposed to the oxygen that could degrade them.
The musical version of a helium vault–which launched in March–offers a fully searchable and archival database of music from the artists on the Smack roster. Much like an iPod, the site allows users to create play lists, which can be referenced for later use. “All the tracks have come out of our company,” notes Bilous. “Not only do you have this resource that’s completely available online, but because we’re composers and producers, if any of the tracks needs to be edited or re-mixed or re-arranged, we can do all that as well, so it’s far more than just a traditional library.” Users also have the ability to have tracks merged–in other words, if a producer liked the beginning of track A, but the middle of track B, the two could be combined. Bilous reports that several tracks are in demo stage with agencies, and while the service is geared to advertising, some filmmakers have expressed interested in tracks.
While the offerings on the site have so far been from the Smack artists, that will change once the site begins offering its new acoustic collection, which will include acoustic rock, guitar, and folk music. Artists to be featured include: Kris Ricat, Mike Degan, Dan Mufson, Kyle Querec, Chris Szczesniak, and David Ricard. “The new collection of acoustic music is the first to include artists we haven’t worked with previously in advertising,” notes Bilous, “but are performing artists in their own right, whose music we would like to have available for commercial use.”
