extreme music / bleeding fingers
a growing demand for custom music from extreme’s clients catalyzed the launch of bleeding fingers in august 2014 .
production companies extreme music / bleeding fingers and grooveaddicts for whom he has written music for media including news broadcast music, commercials and trailers across the usa and europe .
submission for hans zimmer / extreme music' s bleeding fingers competition, incorporating zimmer' s percussion stem and drawing from a modified version of his theme .
extreme music / bleeding fingers is a production music company. the production arm of sony / atv music publishing, the company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising, and online media .
the technology allows customers to edit the music that they license from extreme music before the music airs in their production .
the grammy - and oscar - winning composer behind man of steel and dark knight is partnering with extreme music to launch the bleeding fingers custom music shop. at zimmer’s campus, the “stanford of score, ” they’ll craft tunes for duck dynasty, mountain men, and more .
representing one of the shop’s biggest coups, bleeding fingers beat out 13 bidding competitors, including three fellow music shops, to score the docu - series “planet earth ii. ” zimmer wrote the main theme and staff composers jacob shea and jasha klebe wrote the score proper, which was recorded by an 80 - piece orchestra — bleeding fingers’ biggest band to date — at london’s air studios .
you can read the full - report on sony / atv' s extreme music and hans zimmer' s joint venture the bleeding fingers custom music shop in tomorrow' s billboard, which you can pick up at the billboard shop or subscribe now to billboard and read it online, in print and on your ipad .
extreme music, which is owned by sony / atv music publishing in new york, partnered with menlo park music technology company ujam to develop the software .
top producers timbaland and mike “daddy” evans have pacted with sony / atv music publishing’s extreme music to create 75 new urban pop tracks for the production music house .
“they’ve all been through the zimmer boot camp, ” says extreme music and bleeding fingers ceo russell emanuel (kofsky will serve as the new company’s chairman). “these are seasoned tv and film composers. hans’s role is to bring in the talent. they’ll become bleeding fingers composers. our job is to bring in the business. ” bleeding fingers will compete with more democratic, digital, crowdsourced companies making music for reality tv. jingle punks, for example, a four - year - old music production company with offices in new york, l. a. , toronto, london, and sydney, has music on reality shows like pawn stars, american pickers, and the voice. the company is tech - driven and lets virtually anyone submit songs to be added to a catalog that’s polished and made available to music supervisors .
hans zimmer (far left) visits the studios of npr west with (left to right) contest winner daniel suett, bleeding fingers ceo russell emanuel and chairman steve kofsky. stephanie hall / courtesy of the artists hide caption
english / original title: the liberators – why we fought. writer: emanuel rotstein. camera: dirk heuer. sound: alexander towers, tino keck. editing: rodney sewell. music: bleeding fingers (hans zimmer), extreme music. production: the history channel (germany) gmbh & co. kg. producer: emanuel rotstein. length: 60 min .
the custom - scoring business is long overdue for a major shake - up and we fully intend to bring it ,
said russell emanuel, the ceo of bleeding fingers and extreme music, in a prepared statement .
this is a natural evolution for us and represents major incremental growth and an exciting next chapter in our story .
very recently, imagem music group acquired 5 alarm music. in 2010, warner chappell music, the global music - publishing arm of warner music group corp, acquired nashville’s 615 music, groove addicts production music library and london - based carlin recorded music library and in 2007 they acquired non - stop music. also in 2007, universal music group, which already owned firstcom and mastersource, acquired killer tracks through its acquisition of bmg. in 2009, sony atv music acquired extreme music .
emmanuel had launched extreme music just a year earlier in 1997 and was the talk of london after he mailed out condoms to a thousand music industry executives. the condom package read ,
extreme music: the only safe thing you' ll get from us .
like extreme music, bleeding fingers ranks as the leading custom music scoring company in the industry. in addition to designing the soundtrack for hit shows like
$ 100, 000 pyramid
, the duo notably won a highly competitive bid to orchestrate the original music for bbc america' s standout series “planet earth ii”. in 2007, planet earth reached an international audience of over 100 million people, going on to claim four emmy awards .
bleeding fingers custom music shop cut its ribbon three years ago, partnering with oscar winner hans zimmer to mass - produce scores for unscripted, reality, and documentary tv series that include “survivor” and “alaskan bush people. ” its latest and biggest catch is bbc’s upcoming “planet earth ii. ”
extreme music, which has a library of original music that it licenses for films, television shows, commercials and video games, announced wednesday the launch of its music editing tool, called customix .
extreme music ceo and bleeding fingers co - founder russell emmanuel (photo courtesy of extreme music) the market for production music has grown to an estimated valuation of $ 2 billion globally, ranging from television and film scoring, to electronic gaming and licensing for commercials. when this segment of the industry first emerged in the 1920′s and 30′s, very few companies existed in the space, and each followed a very basic business model. instead of utilizing talented musicians to create catalogs of original music, these niche production houses would simply replicate the top songs of th ...
plans for the new venture include 18 new studios on zimmer’s sprawling santa monica, california, campus, a place they call the “stanford of score. ” clients of bleeding fingers won’t necessarily get hans zimmer himself in a room directing an orchestra. during his decades as a composer, he’s assembled a collective of understudies–musicians and composers to whom he’s delegated work. many have had direct hands in the work zimmer is most famous for. bleeding fingers offers these creators and other up - and - comers steady work .
“we set up extreme music to be the antithesis to what, at the time, was a production music industry that wasn’t very interesting, ” emanuel told forbes .
the winning composer, zimmer announced today on weekend edition sunday, is daniel suett, a 22 - year - old londoner fresh out of the leeds college of music. his reward — beyond enviable for a recent college graduate — is a job, working for bleeding fingers as a staff composer .
already, bleeding fingers' client list includes it' s always sunny in philadelphia, duck dynasty, boston' s finest, the fox reboot of cosmos, judge judy, and more. the operation is run out of a new facility in santa monica .
according to emanuel, extreme music is the only production library that offers anything like customix, but that will not last long .
so nobody can accuse zimmer — an oscar - winner for disney' s the lion king, and a three - time grammy - winner — of resting on his laurels. in fact, he' s expanding the business in a joint venture launched earlier this year between extreme music and rci global, an investment company owned by zimmer and his business partner steve kofsky. the bleeding fingers custom music shop offers bespoke music libraries for television clients as well as custom scores for unscripted, reality, and
light drama
tv productions .
when zimmer' s not supervising the bleeding fingers operation, he' s continuing to write music for the big screen. you' ll be able to hear his work soon in films including christopher nolan' s interstellar, winter' s tale, and the amazing spider - man 2 — among, we have no doubt, many others .
“there’s been a gap in the market for being able to do that, ” said russell emanuel, extreme music’s co - founder and chief executive .
extreme started as a small london - based music library. two decades later, the company maintains offices in three continents and 82 full - time employees. they quickly became the primary music source for power players like sony, paramount, disney, mtv, hbo, apple and american express. in 2012, billboard named emanuel one of the 10 most powerful executives at sony / atv. moving extreme' s headquarters to the states, the company is now anchored at a 7, 500 square - foot production compound in santa monica, california. emanuel shares the world - class facility with oscar award - winning composer and longtime business partner hans zimmer, serving as the home to both extreme music and their joint venture bleeding fingers, which was founded in 2014 .
bleeding fingers custom music shop cut its ribbon three years ago, partnering with oscar winner hans zimmer to mass - produce scores for unscripted, reality, and documentary tv series that include “survivor” and “alaskan bush people. ” its latest and biggest catch is bbc’s upcoming “planet earth ii. ” the shop’s origins go back to 1982, when russell emanuel [ … ]
extreme music has a catalog of just under 13, 000 tracks that were created specifically for production soundtracks. that’s relatively small compared to the music libraries from giants such as universal music group, which has hundreds of thousands of songs available for license .
ryan demaree is a sundance award winning film & tv composer - as well as an established singer / songwriter. he has written for fox, warner bros, at & t, amazon, titmouse animation, big picture ranch, green planet, extreme music, bleeding fingers, and collaborated with several a list directors, composers, and artists in los angeles. he has performed and toured with national tours, choirs (including the boston pops), country artists and rock bands .
the business that emmanuel built, however, is no laughing matter. while the company doesn' t disclose its finances, emmanuel says extreme music is
very profitable .
viacom in august 2005 bought extreme for $ 45. 1 million. three years later, sony / atv picked up extreme for an undisclosed sum. in both acquisitions, emmanuel remained in charge of the business .
emmanuel and remote control co - owner steve kofsky, who will be bleeding fingers’ chairman, are beginning to staff the operation by hiring a creative manager and an assistant with an eye to add two more. jacob shea, who has been in the remote control camp for almost six years, has been hired as the lead composer. the bleeding fingers studio is under construction next door to the homes of remote control and extreme in santa monica and once it is up to speed, emmanuel and kofsky figure it will have 16 composers working there. that figure owes to the building’s configuration of 14 writing rooms and two recording studios. bleeding fingers was created after extreme kicked the tires on a few production houses that offered scoring services. the impetus was requests from television production companies requesting custom tones and cues. ultimately, russell and kofsky say in different ways, bleeding fingers brings a unique level of seasoned composers, studio production and infrastructure to a business that, when it comes to music, is short on time and money. kofsky says it is as close to hiring a composer as a reality show might do. “but it’s done in an affordable way, ” he says, “ and they’re going to get more for their money” than using library tracks or hiring a single composer. “we have brands we want to protect. we know how to (provide music) effectively and efficiently, but maintain the integrity of both our brands. ” adds emmanuel, “essentially, it’s a lane of business that has been booming because of reality companies and it splits nicely between our two companies. both companies are trusted, diligent about copyright, and there’s a quality level. ”
songs from extreme music' s library grace the soundtracks of works such as lincoln, mad men and dexter. kevin edelman, of metalman music, is the music supervisor for several shows, including homeland and criminal minds. he recently demoed a beta version of customix .
crimson tide, the lion king, inception, gladiator — that' s just a handful of the many movies that feature award - winning scores by hans zimmer. lately, zimmer has lent his ear to soundtracks written by a new generation of aspiring film composers. he' s been judging a contest for the bleeding fingers custom music shop, a production house in santa monica that makes music for reality tv shows — everything from duck dynasty to survivor .
extreme music, which employs 60 people worldwide, is expanding its santa monica operation by constructing a building next to its existing office that also will allow for more studio space .
entering the music library world, then, “seemed like a good way to get off the tour bus, ” so emanuel formed extreme music with a partner in 1997 — catering mostly fresh edm music to such clients as the bbc and itv. “top gear” was an early adopter .
a santa monica music company is hoping that an expansion into music technology hits the right note with customers .
that’s where zimmer and his new partners come in. if he can use music to help you understand what’s happening in inception, surely he can make reality tv better. the academy award - and grammy - winning composer behind the aforementioned film about dreams within dreams, plus the dark knight trilogy, man of steel, and about 100 more (plus game call of duty: modern warfare 2), along with his business partner steve kofsky, are teaming up with extreme music, sony / atv music publishing’s production music division, to officially launch the bleeding fingers custom music shop. they’ll target clients interested in custom - crafted music for light television drama, documentaries, and reality tv. in what they call a “proof of concept” period, they’ve already scored duck dynasty, boston’s finest, and the history channel’s mountain men, which won ascap and bmi awards .
bleeding fingers’ founders are targeting showrunners and music supervisors who are under the gun, budget - wise and deadline - wise, and don’t want to sift through a million crowdsourced tracks by no - name musicians using garageband. “it’s a quality play, ” zimmer says. “i don’t think anybody wants to make something of poor quality. the whole point is to encourage excellence. you gotta start somewhere. i think it’s important to try set an example. ”
this guest article was written by bob mair, ceo, owner and founder of black toast music, an independent music publisher / production music library based in chatsworth, ca .
“prior to extreme, there were businessmen creating catalogs, rather than creatives creating catalogs – so we were crowned the ‘bad boys’ of production music in our first year, and we owned it. ”
if you begin to notice more of those befitting songs in the coming months and years, a new web app released wednesday could be the reason why. extreme music, a popular music production library, just introduced a new feature called customix to its website .
music libraries were once the very last resort for music by supervisors and producers looking for music placements in their film and television projects. libraries were quite simply thought of as the bastard children of the music industry. today however, music libraries are quickly becoming more and more relevant by asserting themselves as legitimate competition to the record labels and major music publishers. the growing force of music libraries is evident in several areas, but nothing demonstrates this more dramatically than the fact that major music publishers have been scrambling to acquire the most prominent music libraries .
one of the powers of this application is that it turns you into a music editor without needing the deep music knowledge that a skilled music supervisor would need ,
emanuel said .
estimates of the size of the market for production music are nearly impossible to come by, making it difficult to calculate extreme' s rank in the business .
when it comes to production value, compromise is for pussies ,
emmanuel says .
i pity the fool that' s in competition with extreme. we are the bar .
••••
uk media music library extreme music has formed a joint - venture with media ventures entertainment group, the company headed by composer hans zimmer and producer jay rifkin. the venture, hothouse, will provide music production for composers, producers and film companies in both london and los angeles. hothouse also plans to launch a film composer agency service .
extreme music comes to the table with a catalog of about 13, 000 unique copyrights, a fraction of what competing production music companies offer. emanuel says showrunners and supervisors don’t want to go shopping in a costco - sized store to try and find the perfect score. that’s why, he says, extreme has the “highest grossing music catalog in the world. ” “i know it’s cheesy and everything, but it really is about quality not quantity, ” emanuel says. “if you dive into these freight trains worth of music, it’s a small amount that’s making money. ”
bob wrote a well constructed and informative article about music libraries. being in the music clearance and cue sheet business for over 30 years, i love going to music libraries and have always known that bob mair and black toast music were top notch. you rock bob…and amy !
top producers timbaland and mike “daddy” evans have pacted with sony / atv music publishing’s extreme music to create 75 new urban pop tracks for the production music house. timbaland and evans — noted for their work with chart - toppers like jay - z, missy elliott, britney spears, katy perry and miley cyrus — join quincy jones, snoop dogg, hans [ … ]
founded in 1997, extreme music boasts the number one production music catalog in the world. emanuel' s trained team of world - class producers and musicians develop the entire music library in - house, creating and curating a catalog of tracks for their international roster of clients to use for placement in television shows, films, commercials, and other contemporary forms of media .
being an independent music songwriter and singer, i would love to place some contemporary pieces for television and movie production. music libraries appear to be a wonderful way to categorize different types of music, but with the similar concerns as music publishers. the cost diffential appears to be a very positive result of the music libraries although, with the end result being how i can place my music out there to be heard. black toast appears to be a significant force in the contemproary music industry .
seeing a prime opportunity to leverage their collective expertise to produce original scores for television and film, emanuel teamed up with hans zimmer to launch bleeding fingers. arguably the greatest film composer of all - time, zimmer has scored over 150 movies, including
the lion king
,
pirates of the caribbean
,
gladiator
,
the dark knight trilogy
and
the last samurai
. beyond winning an academy award, zimmer has also won four grammys and two golden globes .
levinson and emmanuel scratched out a budget on the back of a cigarette box, itemizing the things they' d need to start their own company. in april 1997, levinson wrote a check for â£100, 000 and extreme music was born .
three ways to become the best at what you do so that your clients feel reassured by the price they pay you. russell emanuel was 15 years old when he decided to leave high school. he knew from a very young age that he was a musician, through and through. in 1997 he co - founded extreme music, a library stock of production music. extreme music became famous, not only for the music it offered, but also for the notorious punk energy and marketing that russell channeled through the brand. most memorably, he sent condoms to numerous industry professionals, printed with the message :
the only safe t ...
“we get the music right before we get anything else right, ” said emanuel, who got his start in the music industry as punk rock musician .
read next: tencent music $ 30 billion ipo heads to u. s .
along with being able to provide high quality music at affordable prices, a network of indie artists, and a need to stay as current as possible (to compete with the larger music publishing companies), music libraries can quickly create music with the hottest “new sound” before production companies even know they are looking for it .
timbaland and evans — noted for their work with chart - toppers like jay - z, missy elliott, britney spears, katy perry and miley cyrus — join quincy jones, snoop dogg, hans zimmer, paul oakenfold and mark mothersbaugh on the extreme roster. extreme prexy - ceo russell emanuel said, “our urban music offering is already second to none with snoop, quincy and rodney jerkins – adding these guys means we now have all the bases loaded. ”
his formula for recruiting world - class musicians and making high - quality recordings has earned extreme many top - tier clients in hollywood, including paramount, lionsgate, walt disney and fox, as well as major tv networks and brands like mtv, nbc, hbo, showtime, the bbc, american express, ford motor and the national football league. movies and tv shows that have used extreme' s music include
katy perry: part of me ,
brave ,
snow white and the huntsman ,
csi ,
30 rock
and
jersey shore .
artists who have contributed music to extreme' s catalog of 12, 000 titles include hans zimmer, snoop lion, paul oakenfold, timbaland, james s. levine and george martin .
zimmer began contributing to extreme’s library in the late ’90s, and when the company spread to the u. s. in 2001, it set up shop at his remote control productions campus in santa monica .
with film music, you' re writing something that only suits the film, whereas tv music tends to follow trends of whatever music is kind of riding at the time ,
suett explained .
i was trying to see how many styles i could get out of one piece of music, and how different i could make each one .
from there, emmanuel moved on to bruton music, a library of production music now owned by universal publishing. at the time, production music had second - class status within the world of music publishing. the business was built around cheaply producing libraries of sound - alikes, songs that sound like famous tunes but without the large licensing fees of the originals .
i am the co - founder of a new music service called zamplify, that will be out this summer. our objective is to make it easier for the public and music industry leaders like you to find good music, by crowdsourcing the detection of the best new music and providing an effective way to assess the velocity of new artists (by genre) .
“when we went into this space, we totally underestimated the opportunity - - we certainly knew it was a big opportunity, but not as significant as big as what extreme ended up becoming, ” emanuel stated .
customix is only available to extreme music' s subscribers, which means it' s probably not for you unless you' re an industry pro, or if you' re independently producing high quality content for digital distribution. on the bright side, that means you can just kick back and relax, knowing that more felicitous music is on its way to the shows and movies you love to watch .
in other nat geo news today: the network announced that bill clinton will be the first guest on the new season of startalk, hosted by dr. neil degrasse tyson. season 2 premieres sunday, october 25 at 11 / 10 c. the two - hour special billy the kid: new evidence premieres sunday, october 18, at 9 / 8c and globally on the national geographic channel. executive produced by kevin costner, the special traces the origins of a newly discovered tintype containing what appears to be a second image of the famed fugitive. nat geo wild has greenlighted big game of thrones (wt), a wildlife miniseries that chronicles rival animal clans battling for supremacy in the wild. it premieres on nat geo wild globally in 2016. and hans zimmer has signed on to score the main title theme music for national geographic channel’s upcoming movie event saints & strangers, shooting now in cape town, south africa. zimmer and extreme music’s bleeding fingers music will score the film. saints & strangers chronicles the trials and tribulations of the first settlers at plymouth. the four - hour film is slated to premiere on the network later this fall .
the online extension of billboard magazine, urltoken is the essential online destination for the music business .
the extreme music library limited was founded on 10 sep 1996 and has its registered office in london. the organisation' s status is listed as
active
. it currently has 6 directors. the company' s first directors were halliwells directors limited, hl secretaries limited. 20 - 49 people are employed at this company .
the park city film music festival is working to become a destination for film composers, aspiring artists and filmmakers. i am hoping that the music libraries will become sponsors and help us grow this industry .
customix works with many of the 13, 000 songs in extreme music' s library, which includes tracks from artists like hans zimmer, quincy jones, george martin and snoop lion. one doesn' t need one of those producer' s acumen to use customix, however — it was designed as an easy - to - use tool .
bob mair is the ceo, owner, and founder of black toast music, a leading, independent music publisher / production music library based in chatsworth, ca. since its launch in 1990, the company has placed music in hundreds of television series, specials, promos, and tv movies, and dozens of high profile motion pictures, along with videogames, internet advertising campaigns, and numerous, multi - media presentations .
music libraries know that in order to compete, they must have music that will fit every possible use. libraries therefore create this music before it is even requested. when they do not have a certain type of music at hand, some libraries such as ours (black toast music), will even create something specifically for the project. libraries know that their reputation for being able to deliver “anything and everything” that a project may need quickly and affordably is the only way to thrive in this competitive business. coupled with their strong attention to the needs of their clients, music libraries have continued to become even stronger and more of a force to be acknowledged .
indeed, in today’s economy, with budgets for placing music within entertainment properties more and more constrained, affordable high quality music is more important than ever before. this allows music supervisors, producers and creative directors seeking “cool” music to come to library companies and not have to spend an arm and a leg on a “famous” song. in such a scenario, everyone wins; the indie artists get exposure and get paid, the library makes money, and the production company gets great music with less expense, and also acquires some “indie cred” in the process .
some great points here bob. i would add a fourth point to your list of why libraries add so much to a catalogue. certainly here at imagem production music, we create music that is built to work for synchronisation. so not only do we have a great existing range of music and a roster of brilliant composers, but we can guide them to writing music in a way that it works in exactly the way that our clients want. this is something that many commercial works lack – so in essence you’re getting cheaper music that works better to picture .
extreme currently adds just over 1, 000 new tracks to its library each year, taking a very surgical approach to the music they produce. yet, despite a comparably low output, one key to extreme’s astonishing success has been continuously creating and diversifying their library. instead of adopting a limiting made - to - order business model, or mirroring popular trends, emanuel implements a perspective of entrusting great talent to freely create and collaborate .
what makes a production music library like ours so effective is that when a client selects a track, they know it' s completely original and they can clear it ,
says emanuel .
one phone call, and it’s done - - often at a lower price point, because we offer a more efficient process .
extreme’s tracks have been used on network shows like “glee, ” “mad men, ” “30 rock, ” “entourage, ” “the office” and “gossip girl”; and features and trailers including “the fighter, ” “avatar, ” “ twilight saga: eclipse ” and “inception. ”
fourteen years ago, emi production music chief peter cox summoned a punk rocker named russell emmanuel into his london office .
in the world of production music - with its dodgy history of sound - alike recordings - that was saying something .
extreme’s extensive catalog currently consists of over 15, 000 original copyrights, covering the full spectrum of genres - - from classical and rage metal, to alternative rock and electronic dance music. the library even includes tracks from notable legends like quincy jones, snoop dogg and george martin. in 2008, the company was sold to sony / atv for $ 110 million, with emanuel still remaining as the active ceo .
instead of scolding emmanuel, cox shook his hand and told him ,
you really are the bad boys of production music .
for zimmer, who previously partnered with extreme on customix, an online music library that edits music to video, this is a smart diversification in a rapidly changing time for major motion pictures in hollywood–the number of traditional big - budget projects are shrinking. “the world is shifting, ” zimmer says. “the way we tell stories is shifting. television writing has become so incredibly good, and at the same time you have reality shows, which have a completely different approach to telling stories. maybe not that different really from an robert altman movie if you think about it. ”
with the proliferation of affordable home recording equipment today, there are more and more unsigned bands than ever before. due to this rapid influx of unsigned artists, coupled with declining record sales, publishers and record companies are more overloaded than ever, and often do not have the time to sift through the mountains of music to find the gems nor do they have the resources to develop and market all of these talented new artists. there is therefore a plethora of extremely talented, yet unsigned and un - published, bands and music artists who are seeking to get their music “out there. ” these indie artists are now seeking out music libraries to help them market their music to film and television .
in 1996, emmanuel decided to hang up his guitar and look for a
real job ,
as he calls it. he wound up at match music, a production music company in london that was sold a year later to bmg. once again unemployed, emmanuel talked to an acquaintance he' d met while at match music, an angel investor named mark levinson. emmanuel pitched an idea for a production music company that would up the industry ante by using professional recording equipment and top - notch musicians that emmanuel had met in his decade of touring .
hugo has been commissioned by emi production music uk to compose and produce a film noir album to be recorded at abbey road studios in autumn 2018 .
mailing out condoms wasn' t emmanuel' s only hijinks in the early days. at an awards show put on by promax u. k. for tv marketing executives in 1999, he bought a table front and center of the ballroom. he hired 10 people with dwarfism to attend, outfitting them in extreme music t - shirts emblazoned with the words
size isn' t everything
on the back. emmanuel and his staff bought tickets for the back of the ballroom and watched the hilarity .
over time, as the media landscape began evolving, converging with the rapidly changing worlds of music and marketing, the need for disruption in the space arose. transitioning into the 1990' s, as paradigms started definitively shifting, two experienced musicians and industry veterans noticed the need for an easily licensable catalog of high quality original music. while sitting in a board room brainstorming ideas, russell emanuel birthed a concept that would eventually evolve to stand as the global leader in production music .
what i was really looking for ,
zimmer added ,
and what i didn' t, of course, tell anybody, is: take that piece of music and ignore it as much as possible. fight with the music; go and put your own stamp onto it. figure out how to be original .
the market for production music has grown to be worth an estimated $ 2 billion globally, ranging from television and film scoring, to electronic gaming and licensing for commercials .
just as artists are able to create high quality music due to affordable recording technology, so, too, can libraries. libraries which often have a vast network of songwriters, musicians and vocal artists at their disposal can quickly create high quality music at lower prices, thus allowing them to offer competitive licensing fees to diverse film and television projects .
a friend just sent me this article which i hadn’t previously seen. you pose the question and suggest answers to “what do these majors want and need from music libraries”. i think you’ve missed the main reason for the proliferation of production music library acquisitons by the “majors” in recent times. as i see it there are two main reasons. 1) it’s the 50% retain on royalty splits! also, the fact that more and more “performance” only deals are being offered to composers making this area of music publishing even more attractive to them. 2) by comparison to “core” catalog acquisition costs, generally production music libraries are cheap buys. bottom line – nothing more, nothing less !
“there was a real weariness to the old - school way libraries had been turning out copycat music, ” emanuel says. “we were actually committed not to doing that. ”
what i’m really interested to see in the future is how these libraries start indexing, cataloguing and archiving the wealth of music (good & less good) that they have .
libraries have been working steadily in this business for many years, but because of their status, they have had to work harder and faster, and usually under the radar. however, clearly today, this hard work is paying off. the fact that the major music publishers have recently acquired so many of the top music libraries demonstrates that libraries have something that the publishers cannot duplicate and therefore must buy. this reinforces the premise that music libraries have not only “arrived” but have today become “power players” within the entertainment, advertising and broadcasting industries .
the shop’s origins go back to 1982, when russell emanuel was working in the mailroom of london music library bruton music. he was invited to record an album of sound - alike songs, corresponding to such bands as duran duran, and while he spent the next 15 years in the rock world, steady royalty checks from that first album “kept rolling in. ”
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music can make or break a tv show, movie or even an advertisement. in entertainment media, a perfectly selected song will complement the visuals and dialogue, and enhance the overall impact .
over the past 20 years, we at black toast music have been fortunate to have had a good deal of success placing our music within tv shows, films and ad campaigns. our placements have included songs in multiple episodes of hbo’s “the wire, ” “true blood” and “treme, ” as well as fx’s “the shield, ” showtime’s “dexter” and many more. we are also proud to have our music play a part in almost every episode of the new show “glory daze, ” and we are also excited about our most recent commercial placement in the new national ad campaign for domino’s pizza .
great analysis, bob. it raised a question in my mind. you wrote that “publishers and record companies are more overloaded than ever, and often do not have the time to sift through the mountains of music to find the gems nor do they have the resources to develop and market all of these talented new artists” and that “indie artists are now seeking out music libraries to help them market their music to film and television. ” my question: aren’t libraries in the same boat as publishers and record companies when it comes to finding the gems among unsigned artists? do you go differently about sifting through all the requests ?
* * and third, and possibly most importantly, in order to provide excellent service to their clients, libraries have created catalogs that cover almost every possible genre a music supervisor might need, making them a one stop shop .
hugo is a graduate of music production from kingston university london (2001). he studied piano and composition privately and worked as in - house composer for music production company wise buddah in london. in 2007 he trained with ®emmy - award winning film composer hummie mann in seattle (pacific northwest film scoring program) and went on to work for ®emmy - award nominated film composer joey newman in los angeles, which laid his ground for scoring to picture .
greg, i’d be more than happy to discuss and answer any questions you may have in regard to your business model and how it relates to the music library business. i’d be curious to hear how your business model compares or differs from a company like taxi .
all of these acquisitions seem to indicate that these renowned libraries have something that the major publishers want and need. but the question remains– what could a music library possibly have that a company with a catalog as large and prestigious as, say warner / chappell, need ?
this trend to feature unknown “indie” acts in television programming actually began in the mid 90’s, with hit tv shows like “dawson’s creek” and “party of five. ” as a result of the exposure in these shows, many of these bands quickly crossed over into the mainstream. because of this phenomenon in the mid nineties, along with the decline of physical cd sales, indie bands are today more eager than ever to have their music featured in film and television. music libraries have become one of the easiest and most successful ways to get that to happen .
for example, if a music supervisor likes a song but wants to speed up the tempo to match a fast - paced scene, he could do that using customix. previously, he would have had to select a song that already had a tempo to match the scene in his movie .
hans zimmer went looking for the next great screen composer. hear the winning entry the mind behind the music of inception, gladiator and more says he was looking for someone who would take his prompt and
ignore it as much as possible .
he and the winner joined npr' s rachel martin .
it' s always been our duty to shake shit up, rip the industry a new one and create music so sexy you' re going to need a safe word ,
emmanuel says .
if it' s in our catalog, then it' s 200% legit, high - caliber audio ammo .
customix lets music supervisors quickly edit songs they plan to license. the app allows users to adjust the volume to individual elements of a track (vocals, drums, guitar, bass, etc .), change a song' s tempo without changing its pitch and edit the length of a song without cutting it into pieces .
anyone who goes to the movies know hans zimmer' s work, even if they don' t recognize his name right away. zimmer is the composer of the music for man of steel, the lone ranger, 12 years a slave, rush, last love, and the hit tv miniseries the bible. a nd that' s just in 2013 .
our model is different from taxi. we are a social discovery engine that helps surface the best new music and artists, not a fee - based placement agent (nothing wrong with that, and maybe those four words don’t do justice to taxi, but the point i’m trying to make is just that: our models are different .) i can explain further when we talk .
sound and music do the emotional heavy lifting in unscripted shows like a & e’s quacky beardfest. they tell you how to feel, even when acting is sparse, expressions are hidden under camo caps and facial hair, and very little in the way of drama is actually transpiring before your eyes. even at their best, the visual components in reality tv involve a lot of dirty looks and slack - jaw glares .
for me, it' s always been interesting to find new voices and develop new talent ,
zimmer told npr' s rachel martin .
what interests me is just people being given a chance to write music, because the only way you can get better at it is if you write all the time. i think it' ll prove a very good sort of training ground for everybody, and it gives purpose behind actually wanting to be a composer .
®la independent film award, ®nyc independent film award and ®european film award winner hugo de chaire is a british composer working in film and television. he has worked on films with directors including gilles paquet - brenner, paul kowalski and andrew martin, ®oscar - winning writer and producer julian fellowes, and worked for ®emmy - nominated composer joey newman. his music is regularly played by radio stations and tv networks around the world, among others classic fm uk, klassik radio germany and univision across the usa .
proudly, an unorthodox music powerhouse that pound for pound packs a punch that leaves the competition on the ropes begging for mercy. our unrivaled roster includes quincy jones, hans zimmer, sir george martin, snoop dogg, labrinth, rodney jerkins, robbie nevil, ramin djawadi, vince clarke, paul oakenfold, mark mothersbaugh, boris blank, timbaland, brian tyler, michael giacchino, james s. levine, xzibit, blues saraceno, john powell, harry gregson - williams, steve jablonsky, klaus badelt and junkie xl .
given a demo version, i was able to customize a track in under five minutes. after logging in, i first selected a type of music —
celtic punk .
then i picked a song called
craic addict
( craic is an irish term for fun). i entered that i wanted the song to be one minute in length, at which point the app smartly adjusted. then i muted the vocals, drums, electric guitars and lowered the volume on the bass. lastly, i dropped the tempo to 120 beats per minute .
today, however, emmanuel finds himself in the unlikely position of being one of the 10 most powerful executives at sony / atv, the world' s largest music publisher. following its $ 2. 1 billion acquisition of emi' s publishing business in june, sony issued a list of the organization' s executive hierarchy that included the 50 - year - old emmanuel. it also named other sony / atv heavyweights like joe puzio, peter brodsky, john pires, jody gerson, danny strick, jimmy asci and others who directly report to sony / atv chief martin bandier .
when this segment of the industry first emerged in the 1920' s and 30' s, very few companies existed in the space, and each followed a very basic business model. instead of utilizing talented musicians to create catalogs of original music, these niche production houses would simply replicate the top songs of the time, altering just enough of the sound to avoid getting sued. more notably, these production houses were run by traditional businessmen, instead of experienced musicians or skilled creative minds. thus, the industry was deprived of innovation, and eventually earned the reputation of being a low quality marketplace that was undoubtedly necessary, yet lacked intrigue .
among the hit tv shows to which black toast has provided music are: “true blood” (hbo), “dexter” (showtime), “treme” (hbo), “the shield” (fx), “the wire” (hbo), “the life and times of tim” (hbo), “csi” (cbs), “america’s next top model” (cw) “prison break” (fox), “sons of anarchy” (fx), “modern family” (abc) “burn notice” (usa), ”cold case” (cbs), “everybody hates chris” (cbs), “my name is earl” (nbc), “nip / tuck” (fx), “dark blue” (tnt), “the young and the restless” (cbs), “general hospital” (abc), and “access hollywood” (nbc) .
they grew from a two - man operation to a dominant player in the market, with offices around the world and a library containing tracks by such notables as quincy jones, george martin, and snoop dogg for 15, 000 original copyrights. emanuel — who sold the company to sony / atv for $ 110 million in 2008, but remains ceo — is proud of that number .
“we’re very surgical about what we put in the catalog, ” he says. “our biggest competition, who we outperform, have a million copyrights. ”
“i’d like to see us doing a scripted drama. …that’s what we’d really love to do. ”
“it was an organic, natural fit, ” emanuel says of the launch .
the shop occupies a 7, 500 - sq. - ft. building on zimmer’s campus, with 11 full - time composers on staff, many of them former zimmer apprentices .
“you get more bandwidth, ” he says. “our composers all collaborate with each other, all of them have a different strong point, and it’s getting the score to [ clients ] much quicker. ”
extreme music/bleeding fingers is a production music company . the production arm of sony/atv music publishing , the company creates and licenses music for use in television , film , advertising , and online media . their library includes music from artists and composers such as quincy jones , hans zimmer , george martin , snoop dogg , xzibit , and junkie xl . extreme music is headquartered in london , with its creative operations based in santa monica , california . extreme music was founded in london in 1997 by russell emanuel and dolph taylor . in 2013 extreme music partnered with composer hans zimmer and his business partner steve kofsky to found the joint-venture bleeding fingers custom music shop . bleeding fingers focuses on creating show-specific libraries and scores for unscripted , reality , documentary and light drama television shows . 
extreme music/bleeding fingers is a production music company. the production arm of sony/atv music publishing, the company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising, and online media. their library includes music from artists and composers such as quincy jones, hans zimmer, george martin, snoop dogg, xzibit, and junkie xl. extreme music is headquartered in london, with its creative operations based in santa monica, california. extreme music was founded in london in 1997 by russell emanuel and dolph taylor. in 2013 extreme music partnered with composer hans zimmer and his business partner steve kofsky to found the joint-venture bleeding fingers custom music shop. bleeding fingers focuses on creating show-specific libraries and scores for unscripted, reality, documentary and light drama television shows.
extreme music/bleeding fingers is a production music company. the production arm of sony/atv music publishing, the company creates and licenses music for use in television, film, advertising, and online media. their library includes music from artists and composers such as quincy jones, hans zimmer, george martin, snoop dogg, xzibit, and junkie xl. extreme music is headquartered in london, with its creative operations based in santa monica, california. extreme music was founded in london in 1997 by russell emanuel and dolph taylor. in 2013 extreme music partnered with composer hans zimmer and his business partner steve kofsky to found the joint-venture bleeding fingers custom music shop. bleeding fingers focuses on creating show-specific libraries and scores for unscripted, reality, documentary and light drama television shows.