The non-profit Production Music Association (PMA,) the leading advocate and voice of the production music community, announced and honored the winners of the inaugural Mark Awards for Excellence in Production Music during a ceremony last night at the Directors Guild of America (DGA) headquarters in L.A.
Named in honor of the late Andy Mark, who was a music library owner and a founding member of the PMA, the Mark Awards recognize the very best in production music in 17 categories. Among those 17 categories were two special honors: Composer Gerhard Narholz, founder of Sonoton Production Music, received the first “Hall of Fame” Mark Award, while David Israelite, president & CEO of the National Music Publishers Association, received the first “Ambassador” Mark Award.
Here’s a full rundown of winners of the 1st Annual Mark Awards:
BEST PRODUCTION MUSIC TRACKS
Best Ambient Track
“40 Winks”/9 Lives Music
Best Dance Track
“Timeout”/SuperPitch
Best Electronic Track
“Indigo”/MYMA
Best Hip Hop Track
“We the Light”/Firstcom Music
Best Jazz Track
“Bopology”/APM Music
Best Orchestral Track
“Complexity”/VideoHelper
Best Rock Track
“Truth Is”/Amphibious Zoo Music
Best Vocal Track
“Comin’ For A Change”/BWN Music
Best World Track
“A Stroll in Pelourinho”/Megatrax Production Music
BEST USE OF PRODUCTION MUSIC
Best Use of Production Music In A Commercial Advertisement
“When Dreams Come True”/Guinness-In Pursuit of More/APM Music
Best Use of Production Music In An On-Air Promo
“Beethoven to the Fifth”/EHF Euro 2016/VideoHelper
Best Use of Production Music In A Theatrical Film Trailer
“It’s OK”/Comet/Audio Network
Best Use of Production Music As Theme Song In TV Program
“Into Battle”/Gunstories/Stephen Arnold Music
Best Use of Production Music As Underscore In A TV Program
“All Up In Ya Earhole”/Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon/VideoHelper
Best Use of Production Music In Full-Length Theatrical Film
“Not Alone”/Girl On The Edge/MidCoast Music
The PMA assembled an independent group of industry professionals, culled from executives working within TV networks, ad agencies, promo departments, trailer companies, and licensing organizations, to facilitate the submissions, judging, and final selection of Mark Awards winners.
Hunter Williams, PMA executive director, related, “Production music has long been the sonic lifeblood of so many audiovisual productions, ranging from television programs to promotional campaigns to major theatrical releases. With its proliferation across the gamut of media productions and distribution channels, companies responsible for the contribution of production music to the creative process have never before had their own awards event. These people and companies are truly worthy of long-overdue recognition – thus the establishment of the Mark Awards.”
Founded in l997, the Production Music Association (PMA)–headquartered in both L.A. and Nashville–has more than 675 members, including music publishers, composers, and industry professionals. The mission of the PMA is to elevate the unique value of production music and to ensure the viability of the production music industry.
Conference insights
The Mark Awards ceremony capped a major day of proceedings for the PMA. Earlier at the same DGA venue, the Association’s 2nd Annual Production Music Conference (PMC) was held, Highlighting the PMC were 10 panel discussions covering topics pertinent to the production music industry, including a session focused on Production Music In Advertising.
Among the Advertising roundtable panelists were three former ad agency music producers: Gabe McDonough, now EP at MAS (Music and Strategy), who earlier led the music department at DDB Chicago as VP/sr. producer of music and integration before moving on to direct music operations at Leo Burnett and later TBWAChiatDay’s Media Arts Lab (MAL); Bill Meadows, VP/Influencer Marketing at PMK BNC, who previously served for 12 years at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (CP+B), including as VP/executive integrated producer/music, talent + public works; and Chip Harter, now founder of SYNC or SWIM, who earlier worked under Meadows for four years at CP+B as a music producer.
During the PMC session, Meadows noted that production music libraries and resources are “light years ahead” of where they were when he started in the business. Harter too affirmed that the quality of libraries has taken a major upturn, becoming an integral part of the music landscape today with future prospects looking strong. McDonough concurred, observing that tighter timelines in advertising have necessitated “working with music libraries more and more.” McDonough assessed that music libraries are way better than they were 10 years ago.
