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The UK Government’s recent Copyright and AI Impact Assessment has confirmed what many of us in the production music industry have already sensed: we are entering a period of structural change, where the value of music is no longer defined solely by usage, but increasingly by its role as data.

One of the most striking realities is that AI development has not waited for policy to catch up. AI models are already being trained on vast amounts of content, including copyrighted works. The debate is no longer about whether this is happening, but how it is governed, and crucially, how rights holders are compensated.

At present, licensing activity is emerging, but unevenly distributed. Deals are largely being struck between major rightsholders and major AI developers, often focused on high-value or restricted datasets. Independent catalogues, which make up a significant portion of the production music sector, are at risk of being marginalised unless the market evolves.

The government’s report highlights three core challenges:

Lack of transparency around what data is used to train AI models

Limited control for rights holders over how their content is accessed

Fragmented or inconsistent metadata and ownership frameworks

For production music, this is particularly significant. Our industry has always relied on structured metadata, clear rights ownership, and efficient licensing. In many ways, we are better placed than other sectors to respond, but only if we adapt quickly. Metadata is no longer just a discovery tool, it is becoming the infrastructure through which value is tracked, attributed, and ultimately monetised.

The government has outlined four potential approaches, ranging from strict licensing requirements to broad exceptions allowing AI training without permission. While no decision has been made, the most likely outcome is a hybrid model where AI systems may be able to use content unless rights are actively reserved, combined with increased transparency requirements.

This shift challenges a fundamental assumption in our industry. Traditionally, value has been realised at the point of sync. But AI introduces a parallel chain, where music is not only consumed, but analysed, learned from, and embedded into systems and this creates new questions. How do we license music for training, not just usage? How do we ensure attribution and remuneration at scale? How do we technically control access to our catalogues?

Production music libraries that can answer these questions will be well positioned for the next phase of the market. Whilst there is uncertainty, there is a clear opportunity. The production music sector is uniquely structured, with clearly defined rights ownership, established licensing frameworks and rich metadata.

, our recent work with Cyanite and Marmoset exploring AI transparency and contextual metadata reflects this direction. Understanding how music is described, discovered, and contextualised is no longer just about better search, it is about ensuring that value flows correctly in an AI-driven ecosystem.

The policy landscape is still evolving, but the direction is clear.Transparency will increase, licensing models will evolve and control mechanisms will become more important.

For production music, the question is not whether AI will impact the industry, but how proactively we respond. Those who invest now in metadata, rights clarity, and licensing infrastructure will not only protect their catalogues, but unlock entirely new revenue streams.

AI, Copyright and the Future of Production Music: A Turning Point for Our Industry

Christmas comes around at the same time every year. And yet, when it comes to music for television, advertising and branded content, the annual search for the right Christmas track can still become a last-minute scramble.

At MediaTracks, we think the best Christmas music searches start early and go beyond simply typing “Christmas” into a search box.

The challenge isn't finding something festive. There is an enormous amount of Christmas music available. The challenge is finding something that says Christmas while also saying something specific about your scene, programme or brand.

And that means thinking much more creatively about what Christmas can sound like.

Start with the story, not the sleigh bells

Before choosing a track, think about what Christmas actually means in the context of the production.

Is it magical and nostalgic? Warm and domestic? Funny and chaotic? Luxurious and sophisticated? Youthful and energetic? Quiet and reflective? Or perhaps Christmas is simply the backdrop to a scene that needs tension, emotion or comedy.

A festive track still needs to do everything any good sync track does. It needs to support the edit, establish tone, communicate emotion and help tell the story.

That is why searching purely for “Christmas music” can sometimes lead you in the wrong direction.

Instead, think warm family Christmas, quirky festive comedy, luxury winter, magical anticipation, Christmas party, nostalgic childhood or festive chaos.

Those extra words can make all the difference. Try typing some of those into our search bar above...

Familiar doesn't have to mean predictable

One of the great advantages of traditional Christmas music is familiarity. Within a few notes, the audience knows exactly where they are.

But a familiar tune doesn't require a familiar arrangement.

This is something we've deliberately explored across the MediaTracks catalogue.

, for example, takes familiar festive material into a warmer, contemporary world with acoustic textures and R&B influences. It can give a Christmas scene an unmistakably seasonal identity without resorting to the expected musical clichés.

 takes classic carols and reworks them with modern production and contemporary beats. The melodies provide the recognition, while the treatment gives them a completely different energy.

That's often a powerful combination for sync: something the audience instantly recognises presented in a way they weren't expecting.

Innovation doesn't always mean adding more.

 album takes the opposite approach, stripping Christmas back to simple melodies played on piano. There's something about hearing those familiar childhood tunes without the layers of orchestration, bells and festive production that can immediately evoke memory and nostalgia.

For an intimate family scene, a reflective moment or an emotional Christmas sequence, simplicity can be far more effective than a huge festive arrangement.

 playlist explores a similar world: quiet anticipation, warmth and that particular sense of stillness before Christmas Day.

Sometimes Christmas doesn't need to arrive with a fanfare.

There are occasions when you don't want Christmas reinvented at all. You want it to feel completely real.

 was created with exactly that in mind, capturing the authentic sound of traditional carol singing. It has a human, communal quality that can be difficult to recreate with heavily produced Christmas music.

 draws on the unmistakable tradition of Salvation Army-style brass band arrangements. That sound carries an extraordinary amount of cultural association: town centres, winter streets, community celebrations and Christmases past.

For productions looking for a quintessentially British Christmas atmosphere, those musical associations can do a great deal of storytelling very quickly.

The voice is another powerful way of creating an immediate sense of Christmas.

, we worked with the London Voices to explore Christmas repertoire through unaccompanied voices. Without an instrumental backing, the harmony, words and familiar melodies come to the foreground.

It gives editors another colour entirely: traditional and recognisable, but also intimate, atmospheric and capable of moving between the beautiful and the playful.

And crucially, it doesn't sound like another generic Christmas production track.

Of course, sometimes the pictures demand scale.

 collection explores Christmas through orchestral and classical music, giving editors access to a more cinematic, elegant and expansive festive sound.

For period settings, luxury brands, spectacular winter imagery or those moments when Christmas genuinely needs to feel grand, orchestral music can provide a sense of occasion that smaller arrangements simply cannot.

The important thing is that big should be a creative decision, not the default setting for Christmas.

There's also a danger of taking Christmas music too seriously.

Sometimes a production needs sparkle, fun, kitsch and absolutely no musical restraint.

playlist dedicated to those gloriously sparkly, unmistakably festive holiday vibes.

For reality television, entertainment, comedy, promos and light-hearted seasonal sequences, subtlety isn't always your friend. Sometimes the audience needs to know it's Christmas before they've even spotted the tinsel.

Whatever style you choose, the arrangement matters just as much as the composition.

Look for tracks with clear sections, musical development and useful edit points. Does the track build? Is there a moment that can punctuate a reveal? Is there a strong ending? Can an editor move easily between sections?

Instrumentals, reduced mixes, underscores, stems and shorter edits can turn a good Christmas track into a genuinely useful piece of production music.

At MediaTracks, we increasingly think about music not simply as a finished track, but as a toolkit for an editor.

For audiences, Christmas may begin in December. For production teams, it starts considerably earlier.

Christmas specials, campaigns, promos and seasonal programming can be in production months ahead, so building playlists and identifying potential tracks early makes sense.

September and October are excellent times to start exploring what's available.

And rather than creating one enormous Christmas playlist, divide your choices by what the music actually needs to achieve.

Think traditional, comedy, magical, emotional, contemporary, advertising, party, nostalgic, children's, cinematic and quirky.

When the inevitable urgent Christmas request arrives, you've already done the difficult bit.

Christmas can be an R&B-influenced acoustic arrangement. It can be a childhood melody played on a piano. It can be the London Voices singing a cappella, a Salvation Army-style brass band, carollers on a doorstep, a modern remix or a full classical orchestra. It can even be unapologetically cheesy.

Different audiences, programmes, brands and scenes require completely different approaches. A daytime lifestyle programme, children's animation, supermarket commercial, period drama and reality show may all need Christmas music, but they certainly don't need the same Christmas music.

And sometimes, don't use Christmas music at all

Perhaps the most useful piece of advice is knowing when to stop searching for Christmas music.

If the pictures already contain Christmas trees, decorations, presents and snow, the music doesn't necessarily have to shout “CHRISTMAS!” as well.

Sometimes a warm acoustic track, beautiful orchestral cue, emotional piano piece or upbeat pop track will tell the story far more effectively.

That's the approach we take at MediaTracks. Our job isn't simply to provide music that matches a search term. It's to help editors, producers and music supervisors find music that adds something to the picture.

Beyond the Sleigh Bells: Choosing Christmas Music for Sync

Cymru on Screen: Bringing Welsh Music and Screen Together

Wales has never been more visible on screen. From major television productions and feature films to games, digital content and post-production, Welsh creative talent continues to make an impact both within the UK and internationally.

But a successful creative industry is about more than productions. It is also about the relationships between the editors, producers, composers, musicians, post-production teams and independent creatives who make them happen.

That was the thinking behind Cymru on Screen, held at Gloworks in Cardiff Bay on 24 September and co-hosted by MediaTracks Music, British Film Editors and Gorilla.

The event brought together people from across Wales' screen, post-production and music communities for an informal evening of conversation, live music and, most importantly, new connections.

Cymru on Screen wasn't designed as a conference or a sales event.

It was about getting people into the same room.

As the Welsh screen sector has grown, so too has the network of production companies, post-production facilities, broadcasters, freelancers and other creative businesses supporting it. But people working in different parts of that industry don't always have the opportunity to meet face to face.

Cymru on Screen provided exactly that opportunity.

Throughout the evening, guests from across film, television, editing, post-production, music and the wider creative industries were able to meet, exchange ideas and discover more about each other's work.

For MediaTracks, the evening also provided an opportunity to celebrate something that has become an increasingly important part of our catalogue: 

We believe that music representing Wales should come from the musicians, composers and artists who understand its culture, language and musical identity.

That's why we created MT Cymraeg, our dedicated home for the music and creative voices of Wales. The label champions Welsh composers and artists, bilingual creativity and music created specifically for use across television, film, documentary and other screen productions.

Ymasiad Cymreig (Welsh Fusion) Volumes 1–3

 explore contemporary Welsh music through folk, pop, electronic and cinematic influences, while 

 brings Welsh language and culture into music created specifically for children's programming.

Other releases demonstrate just how varied contemporary Welsh production music can be. 

 features atmospheric piano and synth music from Welsh artist Gwenno Morgan, while 

 draws directly on traditional musical influences. Many of the MT Cymraeg albums have also been recorded in Wales.

Music might be one of the final elements added to a production, but it can completely transform how a scene feels.

Editors need music that works with picture. Producers need music they can license confidently. Composers and artists need to understand how their music will actually be used.

MediaTracks has spent 30 years connecting music with picture, and events such as Cymru on Screen allow us to build those relationships at a regional level too.

They also give us the opportunity to listen. Understanding what editors, producers and post-production teams are looking for helps us make better production music and gives the composers and artists we work with a clearer understanding of what the screen industry actually needs.

Live music formed part of the event too, helping to celebrate the musicians and creative voices that sit alongside Wales' thriving screen sector.

For MediaTracks, that combination of music, screen and conversation was particularly important. We are proud to work directly with Welsh composers, artists and musicians, and Cymru on Screen gave us an opportunity to celebrate those relationships while making new ones across the industry.

Cymru on Screen demonstrated the value of creating more opportunities for Wales' creative communities to meet.

An editor might discover a new composer. A producer might meet a new post-production partner. A musician might gain a better understanding of how music is selected for television. A conversation over a drink might eventually become a new production, commission or collaboration.

Those connections strengthen the whole creative ecosystem.

As an independent production music company, we see our role as extending beyond simply supplying and licensing tracks. We want to champion emerging talent, support education, encourage collaboration and create opportunities for the musicians and composers we work with.

British Film Editors, Gorilla and everyone who joined us at Gloworks

 and helped make Cymru on Screen such an enjoyable evening.

We're proud to be part of Wales' creative community, and we're looking forward to building on the connections made in Cardiff.

Explore the MT Cymraeg collection and discover authentic Welsh music created for screen.

Cymru on Screen

If you're an editor, you've probably been there: eyes glazed, headphones on, trawling through hundreds of production music tracks trying to find 

not too epic, not too bland, emotionally rich but not overpowering. It's a universal frustration, especially when you’re up against a deadline and just need music that 

At MediaTracks, we’ve been hearing this pain point loud and clear. So we asked ourselves: what if we tackled it head-on?

 is the result - an album created specifically to make editors’ lives easier. Developed through a unique collaboration between composer Evie Kitching and editor Becca Luck, it was designed to cut through the noise and deliver a focused toolkit of music that enhances storytelling without overshadowing it.

“I work in sport and I’m sent a lot of playlists meant for big epic montages,” says Becca. “But in reality what I’m looking for day to day are these storytellers that help paint emotions in a subtler way.”

That search for subtlety, for musical cues that don’t shout but still speak volumes, shaped every decision on this album. And it’s why the working relationship between Becca and Evie became the heart of the project.

“Participating in this project has made me realise I really need to widen my vocabulary when describing music,” Becca admits. “I’ve found myself using ‘neutral’ and ‘not too big’ far too often!”

Evie took this creative brief and ran with it. Drawing from reference tracks and working closely with Becca’s feedback, she composed a collection of cinematic, emotionally intelligent pieces that blend classical instrumentation with contemporary production.

“The collaborative process gave me valuable insight into exactly what an editor is looking for,” says Evie. “Using reference tracks and video clips, I had to envision myself as the editor - considering how the music would sit beneath dialogue but still subtly reflect emotional shifts.”

The result is a suite of eight tracks that feel coherent but tonally distinct. From moments of quiet perseverance to soaring hope, 

 offers a nuanced emotional arc tailored to modern storytelling.

“Evie has been the perfect match for me,” says Becca. “She writes really beautiful harmonies, and I’ve been sad at times to ask her to make some deliciously yummy chords more ‘neutral’ and less interesting - because I know I need slightly pared back chord progressions to sell the narratives I work on.”

Evie, for her part, embraced the challenge with curiosity and creativity.

“My favourite part of composing this album was being able to steer each of the eight tracks in different tonal directions,” she says. “The album felt like a journey in itself.”

And for Becca, that journey is far from over.

“As I move into working on a busy summer of sport, I’m very excited to be armed with a new album of music to dip into,” she says. “It’s also great because I don’t need to worry about finding the words to describe it now.”

 is now available via MediaTracks Music - a collection of subtle, emotionally intelligent cues designed to do exactly what the title promises: help your stories defy expectation, and resonate more deeply.

Editor's Choice

Five years ago, my father sat down one evening, opened Google and typed in the words “music businesses for sale”, which, as business acquisition strategies go, probably isn't one that would feature in many textbooks, but it was a search that was ultimately to change the direction of both my career and our lives rather considerably. At the time, I was looking for a change. I had spent 15 years working in education, including eight years as Director of Music at a large independent school, and although I was enormously proud of what I had achieved during that time, I had reached the point where I knew I wanted, and probably needed, to do something completely different. I didn't particularly know what that something was, but I knew that I wanted to remain connected to music and that I wanted an opportunity to put some of the entrepreneurial skills I felt I had developed over the years to use in a completely different environment.

MediaTracks was already a well-established independent production music company, which had been trading for around 20 years and had built both a strong reputation within the industry and a catalogue containing some cracking music. Tragically, its founder and owner, Steve Johnson, had died, and the company was essentially being kept in a holding pattern by his family while they looked for somebody who could take the business on and begin its next chapter. Steve's own story is an important part of the MediaTracks story, because music, performance and entrepreneurship were part of the company's DNA long before we arrived. Before founding MediaTracks, Steve had enjoyed a wonderfully varied career in music and had been the bass player in Lieutenant Pigeon, the gloriously eccentric Coventry group best remembered for their 1972 number one single, “Mouldy Old Dough”. It was a largely instrumental record dominated by honky-tonk piano which became one of the biggest-selling UK singles of the year, and Steve subsequently re-formed Lieutenant Pigeon in the 1980s, touring with the band and enjoying particular success, before later moving into documentary video production and eventually establishing MediaTracks.

I have always rather liked that part of the story, because the company we were considering buying hadn't been created by a large corporate music organisation or assembled as an investment vehicle; it had been created by somebody who had actually lived a life in music, performing, recording and producing, before using all of that experience to build his own independent music business. That also meant that when we bought MediaTracks, we weren't simply acquiring a catalogue of tracks and a collection of contracts, but taking responsibility for something that another musician and entrepreneur had spent years building, and I have always felt that there was a degree of custodianship attached to that. We wanted to respect what Steve had created while also recognising that, if the company was going to thrive for another 20 years, it couldn't simply stand still. There was, however, one fairly significant problem with this exciting new plan: I knew absolutely nothing about production music.

I was a professional musician and had spent my entire working life around music, but sync licensing, blanket licences, music supervisors, sub-publishers, metadata, cue sheets and collection societies represented an entirely new language. There wasn't really a training course or handbook when we took over, and we weren't given months of structured handover in which somebody patiently explained how everything fitted together. Instead, Day One consisted largely of being handed a memory drive, some passwords and crates of contracts, at which point I remember thinking, with some justification, 

One of the first things I decided to do was to speak to as many of the artists, composers and clients already working with MediaTracks as possible, because before deciding what needed to change I wanted to understand how the company was perceived by the people whose music it represented. I wanted to know what they thought worked, what didn't, what they valued about MediaTracks, what frustrated them and, most importantly, what they thought we could do better. Looking back, that instinct probably came directly from my background in education, where so much of my work had been about understanding people, spotting potential, encouraging them and trying to create the circumstances in which they could succeed. Although I had moved into an entirely different industry, it became apparent quite quickly that many of those principles were just as relevant to running a music company.

MediaTracks might represent a catalogue containing thousands of pieces of music, but behind every one of those tracks is a person who has written it, performed it, produced it and invested something of themselves in its creation. The technology, systems and commercial structures surrounding production music are obviously important, but one of the things I have become increasingly convinced of over the past five years is that, fundamentally, this remains a people business.

Learning by doing, asking and occasionally getting things wrong

The next few years involved an extraordinary amount of learning, much of which came simply through doing the job, making mistakes and being prepared to ask questions when I didn't understand something, even when I suspected that the question I was about to ask might be a particularly stupid one. There were registrations that needed correcting, terminology that initially meant absolutely nothing to me (and still doesn’t!), royalty statements that appeared to have been deliberately designed to confuse anybody who attempted to understand them, and systems that sometimes seemed to require a postgraduate qualification merely to log into them. There were also some rather less consequential learning experiences, including discovering during recording sessions that it helps if you put your headphones on the right way round. Fortunately, one of the things I discovered very quickly was that the music industry contains some extraordinarily generous people who were prepared to give their time, share their knowledge and point me in the right direction. Industry expert George Hyde, Paul Clements at the MPA, Simon Anderson at Audio Network, Lina Tebbs, formerly of Warner, David Newton at PRS and Ben Parry from London Voices are just some of the people who have offered advice, answered questions and encouraged me along the way, and there have been many others.

One of the most important lessons I have learned is that nobody builds a business in isolation and there is absolutely no shame in admitting that somebody else knows considerably more about something than you do. In fact, being prepared to ask those people for advice has probably saved us from making considerably more mistakes than the ones we inevitably made ourselves.

Perhaps the biggest change in my thinking over the past five years has been understanding that, in production music, good music on its own isn't enough. When I first arrived at MediaTracks, I naturally approached the catalogue primarily as a musician, so my questions were largely musical ones: is this well written, is it well performed, does it sound good, is the production strong and, fundamentally, do I like it? Those questions still matter enormously and there should never be any compromise on musical quality, but I gradually began to understand that they are only part of the equation. You can have an absolutely brilliant piece of music sitting in your catalogue, but if an editor can't find it when they need it, if the track title tells them nothing useful, if the metadata doesn't describe accurately what the music actually does, if the album concept is confusing or if the right alternative versions aren't available, then that brilliant piece of music may simply sit there undiscovered. That has fundamentally changed the way we approach A&R and catalogue development. Rather than simply asking whether we like an album, we now spend much more time thinking about why it should exist in the first place, who might use it, what sort of production it might work for, whether there is a genuine gap in our catalogue and, crucially, what editors, producers and music supervisors are actually telling us they need.

Over the past five years, I have learned to listen much more carefully to the people who actually use production music. Collaborating with editors has been particularly valuable because there is no substitute for seeing how somebody working against a deadline searches for music, what language they use, what makes them click on one track rather than another and what makes a piece of music genuinely useful once it is placed against picture. None of this means allowing data or commercial considerations to dictate creativity, because the whole thing falls apart without brilliant creative people making brilliant music. It simply means understanding that our job as a publisher is to give that music the best possible chance of being discovered, licensed and ultimately heard.

The MediaTracks we bought had a relatively small catalogue containing some excellent music and enjoyed a sound reputation within the industry, but it also became clear quite quickly that both the industry and the world around it were changing rapidly and that MediaTracks needed a much clearer direction if it was going to remain relevant. The catalogue was relatively narrow and traditional in its approach, while the artist roster was predominantly white and male, and that didn't sit particularly comfortably with me given my background in education and my belief that part of leadership is about creating opportunities for people who might otherwise struggle to access them. We therefore made a conscious decision to widen the net, not simply because diversity was something that looked good in a company statement, but because a production music catalogue should surely reflect the extraordinary range of people, cultures, experiences and musical traditions represented on screen. That journey has led us towards new artists, writers and producers, more authentic repertoire, partnerships with organisations outside the traditional production music world, educational initiatives, mentoring and writing camps designed to create genuine routes into the industry. It has also challenged us creatively because broadening a catalogue shouldn't simply mean asking the same group of people to imitate music from somewhere else; wherever possible, it means finding the people who actually understand that music, its culture and its musical language.

When I think about what I am proudest of after five years, therefore, my mind doesn't immediately go to a particular financial figure or television placement, although naturally we need those things for the business to survive and grow. I think about our MediaTracks apprenticeship scheme, the partnerships we have developed, our work with musicians with disabilities, and the collaborations we have created between composers and professional editors, because those are tangible examples of the sort of company we have been trying to build.

There is still a great deal more to do, and I would never pretend otherwise, but those initiatives are no longer peripheral projects sitting alongside the business; increasingly, they are fundamental to what MediaTracks is and what we want it to become.

Neither Dad nor I came from the production music industry, which initially felt like an enormous disadvantage but, with hindsight, may also have given us permission to question why things were done in certain ways rather than simply accepting that this was how the industry had always operated.

Dad brought decades of business, strategic and financial experience from operating at a very high level in a completely different industry, including experience of running businesses worth billions of pounds, while I brought music, education, creativity and experience of leading teams and developing people. Those backgrounds might appear to have very little to do with running a production music company, but we discovered remarkably quickly how many of the underlying skills were transferable.

Whatever the industry, there are still customers, products, budgets, investments, risks, relationships and people, and although music is unquestionably an art form, within our particular part of the industry it is also a commodity that has to be marketed, licensed and sold. Becoming comfortable with those two apparently contradictory ideas has been an important part of my own journey. Likewise, the transition from education to business turned out to be less dramatic than I had imagined because leadership remains leadership regardless of the organisation. You still have to communicate clearly, recognise talent, motivate people, manage limited resources, make decisions with incomplete information, accept responsibility when those decisions are wrong and create an environment in which people have the confidence to do their best work. The context may be completely different, but many of the principles aren't.

Of course, it would be very easy to write a five-year retrospective in which everything has progressed seamlessly upwards and every decision has turned out brilliantly, but anybody who has ever run an independent business would recognise that version of events for what it was. Production music can be an extraordinarily unpredictable business, and cash flow, royalties, return on investment and systems have occupied considerably more of my waking hours over the past five years than I would care to calculate. You can spend money commissioning and producing an album today without knowing exactly when, or indeed whether, that investment will generate the return you hoped for, while a piece of music can be broadcast now and the royalties associated with that usage may not reach you until considerably later. When those royalties involve multiple territories, collection societies, sub-publishers and different payment cycles, predicting cash flow becomes even more entertaining. Sometimes we commission something because every commercial instinct tells us there is a demand for it, only to discover that it doesn't perform as we expected, while another album or track suddenly finds an audience or a series of placements that nobody could have predicted. And just when I think I have finally understood royalties, somebody introduces me to another revenue stream, territory, collection mechanism or distribution cycle and I realise there is an entirely new rabbit hole waiting to be explored.

Five years in, I am still learning how this extraordinary industry works, and I suspect I always will be.

One thing that hasn't changed, however, is my own relationship with music because, alongside MediaTracks, I have continued to work as a professional performing musician, playing the organ, working with choirs and giving concerts. Perhaps surprisingly, I have managed to keep those two musical worlds quite separate, and I think that has been important. When I am sitting at an organ or working with a choir, I don't find myself wondering whether the piece needs an instrumental version, better metadata or a 30-second cutdown, because at that moment music exists simply because it is music and I am a musician rather than a publisher.

MediaTracks today is hugely different from the company we bought five years ago, and I am immensely proud of what we have achieved, but I don't remotely feel that we have reached the destination because the business, the catalogue and the industry around us continue to evolve. Technology is changing how music is created, discovered, searched and licensed, artificial intelligence will undoubtedly change parts of that process further, broadcasters and platforms are changing the way they operate, audiences are consuming content differently and the global infrastructure surrounding rights and royalties continues to evolve.

There is a temptation within any established industry to spend a great deal of time complaining about change, particularly when that change threatens business models or working practices that have existed for decades, but I would much rather try to understand it, embrace what is useful, challenge what isn't and work out where the opportunities might lie. Perhaps that is one of the biggest differences between the MediaTracks we bought and the MediaTracks we are building. Five years ago, we inherited a company with history, some fantastic music and a strong foundation created by Steve Johnson, and I hope we have respected that history while also having the courage to change the things that needed changing. There is something rather satisfying about the fact that a company founded by a musician and entrepreneur who had travelled his own unusual journey through the music business is now being taken forward by another generation who are trying to find their own way through an industry that never stands still.

I hope that, in some small way, we are doing what any founder would ultimately want the next custodians of their business to do: look after what has been built, respect where it came from, but never be frightened to keep moving it forward. There is still an enormous amount we want to achieve, and I suspect that in another five years I will look back at some of the things we are doing today and wonder what on earth we were thinking!

Five years ago, looking at a memory drive, a collection of passwords and several crates of contracts, I remember thinking, what have we done? Five years later, after all the mistakes, questions, royalty statements, cash-flow forecasts, new artists, partnerships, placements and lessons along the way, I can answer that question with considerably more confidence - we didn't make a mistake.

William Saunders
Creative Director & Co-Owner
MediaTracks Music

Five Years On: What Have We Done?

In production music, metadata is not simply boring admin - it is part of the creative and commercial process.

Editors, supervisors and producers are often working quickly. They may need music for a tense reveal, a luxury travel sequence, a relationship breakup, or a sporting victory or a contestant walking into a room full of confidence. They rarely have time to listen through hundreds of tracks hoping to stumble across the right one.

One of the most common mistakes in production music metadata is describing only what the music 

"Mid-tempo electronic pop track with female vocals, synth bass and programmed drums."

may be technically correct, but it does little to explain why somebody making television might use it.

"Confident, stylish electro-pop with a cool female vocal and driving groove, ideal for fashion, nightlife, makeover reveals, dating shows and characters stepping into their power."

The second description still tells us what the music sounds like, but crucially it also tells us what the music does.

Good metadata should reflect the language used by the people licensing music.

A music editor may not search for "synth arpeggio with four-on-the-floor kick". They will probably search for Confident. Tension. Luxury. Breakup. Celebration. Summer. Reveal. Suspense. Victory. Emotional. Travel.

This means the metadata needs to work on several levels.

It should identify the musical characteristics of a track, including genre, instrumentation, tempo and vocal style. But it should also capture mood, energy, theme, function and potential usage.

For every single track, that means identifying:

 contemporary pop, electronic production, female vocal, punchy drums.

 confident, playful, energetic, glamorous, empowering.

 independence, attraction, success, self-belief.

 reality TV, fashion, advertising, dating, nightlife, sport and lifestyle.

Production music isn't consumed in isolation. It accompanies pictures and helps tell stories. That's why some of the most valuable metadata describes moments.

Good metadata isn't about attaching every imaginable keyword to a track.

uplifting, emotional, cinematic, powerful, inspirational

, those words eventually become meaningless. Five highly relevant moods are more valuable than twenty vague ones. Five realistic uses are more useful than a huge list of programmes and scenarios where the music would never realistically be placed. Metadata should narrow the search intelligently rather than simply maximise the number of searches in which a track appears.

For vocal production music, lyric metadata is particularly important. A supervisor looking for a song about falling in love, female empowerment, friendship or leaving a relationship needs to be able to find those themes without reading every lyric in the catalogue.

The emotional meaning of a song should therefore be captured alongside its musical characteristics.

Metadata cannot turn an unsuitable track into the right piece of music for a scene but it can make sure that when the right track 

 exist, the person looking for it has a much better chance of discovering it. 

Production music catalogues now contain enormous amounts of music. The challenge is increasingly not simply having enough tracks. It is making the catalogue navigable, searchable and useful to the people working with it.

How metadata wins placements

MT Minnies is dedicated to providing a seamless and convenient experience for children's TV and film production companies. The label will not only showcase new albums tailored specifically for young audiences but will also feature a selection of previously published albums that align with the MT Minnies brand.

With the launch of MT Minnies, MediaTracks continues to support and promote their existing album labels (MT Heritage, MT World, MT Records, MT Vocal and MT Electronic). Albums will continue to be released under these five main labels (depending on their genre) but will also have the possibility to be included in the MT Minnies category as well. This strategic decision ensures that MediaTracks' diverse range of music reaches a wider audience, catering to diverse musical audiences within the world of children's entertainment.

Clients can effortlessly discover MT Minnies albums through MediaTracks' user-friendly platform and advanced search engine by filtering albums labelled as MT Minnies (these albums will also include the MT Minnies sticker on their cover). The MT Minnies collection is also available on MediaTracks' DISCO library, offering a comprehensive resource for high-quality children's music to music supervisors and editors.

In addition to the upcoming albums, MediaTracks is excited to include a selection of previously released albums in this category. These albums have been chosen for their ability to resonate with children and will be a valuable addition to the label's collection. 

Stay updated on the latest releases and developments in the world of MT Minnies by subscribing to MediaTracks' monthly newsletters. Subscribers will receive exclusive insights into the creative process behind MT Minnies albums, along with composer spotlights and new release announcements.

For further information, enquiries, or to explore licensing opportunities,  contact María Cecilia Ayalde Ángel at 

Introducing MT Minnies

The changing BBC and the enduring value of production music

As the BBC faces difficult decisions about its future, the wider creative industries must adapt to a changing broadcasting landscape. But amid the uncertainty, production music has an increasingly important role to play in helping programme makers deliver outstanding content.

The BBC's latest announcement of further cuts is another sobering moment for the British broadcasting industry.

The planned closure of the linear BBC Three and BBC Scotland television channels, alongside BBC Radio 4 Extra, further job losses and the cancellation of established programmes, reflects the enormous financial pressures facing one of the world's most respected public service broadcasters.

With the BBC seeking to make £500 million in savings by 2028, difficult decisions are clearly being made about where and how resources are allocated.

Behind every cancelled programme, reduced commission or departmental restructure are talented people - producers, directors, editors, technicians, musicians and countless freelancers whose livelihoods depend on a thriving broadcasting industry.

The BBC has been instrumental in developing British creative talent for generations. Its continued success matters enormously, not only to audiences but to the entire creative economy.

Yet the challenges are undeniable. The licence fee is being stretched further than ever, supporting traditional television and radio alongside iPlayer, BBC Sounds, digital journalism, podcasts, social media and an increasingly fragmented media landscape.

How do we continue producing exceptional content when the resources available to create it are under greater pressure?

Across the broadcasting and production sectors, budgets are tightening, commissioning decisions are becoming more cautious, and production teams are being asked to deliver more with less.

Viewers still expect compelling storytelling, outstanding production values and engaging soundtracks. Whether it's a documentary, reality television series, factual entertainment programme or drama, music remains fundamental to the emotional impact of what appears on screen.

And while music is sometimes considered relatively late in the production process, the choices made around it can have significant financial and practical implications.

There's more than one place to find great music

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