LEARN ABOUT LICENSING PRODUCTION MUSIC

Production music is music that is specifically written, recorded, and produced to be synchronised to films, television, gaming, radio and much more. Production music can amplify emotions, heighten tensions, and capture an audience’s attention in a variety of formats. It is also known as library music, stock music or catalogue music.

Production Music companies traditionally control the master recording and publishing rights of the music they represent on an exclusive basis and will license this music to their media clients for use within a production. Common clients for production music companies include television and film production companies, trailer houses, advertising agencies, brands, video game companies, radio stations, app developers, content creators and more.

Check out some of West One Music Group’s production music in action here on YouTube.

WHY USE PRODUCTION MUSIC?

Production music is often more affordable and streamlined than licensing commercial music without compromising quality. Production music is all pre-cleared – there is no need to track down additional copyright permissions or owners, saving valuable production time. All the music in our catalogue can be easily licensed and is ready to use immediately in any content worldwide.

Production music has two main income streams:

• License – or synchronisation fees – is the amount a client pays to the production music company to use the piece of music in their film, trailer, etc.

• Royalties – or mechanical – performance or neighbouring rights – are licensed by Collective Management Organisations when music is reproduced or publicly performed. Fees for these licences are paid to Collective Management Organisations worldwide, such as ASCAP, BMI, PRS, MCPS, GEMA and GVL. These Collective Management organisations then allocate the royalties based on usage to their members, such as ourselves and our composers and artists.

HOW DO I FIND THE BEST PRODUCTION MUSIC?

There are many production music companies worldwide, but we’re one of the few fully global and independent companies, meaning we’re not a subsidiary of a larger record label or publishing company. This allows us to focus on creating the highest quality, authentic music for the world’s media.

Our state-of-the-art website allows you to search our catalogue of over 80,000 tracks by mood, genre, instrument, decade, emotion and composer. You can layer multiple of these categories to find the perfect track quickly and easily. Our favourites and projects function, music matching tool, and our curated playlists and collections facilitate simplified searching for your needs: you can even create your own personal playlists. Our expert team is always available to do personalised music searches to help find the best track for you!

TYPES OF PRODUCTION MUSIC

• Orchestral production music: Our orchestral offerings are written and performed by some of the most talented and highly regarded classical composers, artists and orchestras in the world. Our orchestral music is emotional, dramatic and tense—perfect for storytelling and epic moments. 

• Music for trailers: We have an entire label dedicated to music for trailers, Fired Earth Music. From sweeping and dramatic to innovative and experimental, our dynamic trailer music tracks are recorded live by the world’s finest orchestras. 

• Sound design: Cutting for trailers, promos, video games or high-impact content? Our sound design albums feature both traditional sound design effects and more experimental noises and sound pallets. 

• Music for advertising and brands: Whether you’re looking for music for pharma, fashion, tech or corporate productions, you’ll find everything you need to bring life to your brand and engage your audience. Our tracks have been used in advertisements for brands such as Burberry, Fendi, Porsche, Vaseline, McCormick, Apple, and Spotify.  

• Music for Christmas: Ring in the holiday cheer with our magical Christmas selections. From traditional to scary, pop to hip hop, our authentic and diverse Christmas music covers all genres and can be expertly crafted to fit any content.  

• Pop production music: We work with some of the most talented pop composers, artists and producers to bring you contemporary, of-the-moment tracks for any type of media production.  

• Custom production music: Whether you need a single track, sonic logo, or entire film score, our custom music division brings your vision to life. Work with us and our incredible community of diverse composers and artists to create unique music for your project.  

• Music for sports: Our sports music takes you on a complete journey through the highs and lows of your favourite sporting events. Engage your viewers with energetic pop and hip hop, exhilarating rock and inspiring orchestral music from across our catalogue.   

• Music for Gaming: Whether you need the perfect track for an epic and sweeping moment or a sinister atmospheric track, we will help immerse your audience in their chosen worlds without compromising the quality or ambience of your game.   

• Music for Background: Our catalogue offers jubilant tones, tension-building underscores, relaxing melodies, and quirky acoustics to help set the mood for any moment.