There's More Than One Place to Find Great Music

We are all creatures of habit, particularly when we're busy. We find something that works, get comfortable with it and, before long, it becomes our default choice. It's perfectly understandable, especially in television production, where deadlines are tight, budgets are under pressure and nobody has time to make life unnecessarily complicated.

Music is no exception. Most editors, producers and music supervisors have their preferred production music libraries, the ones they know well and return to time and again. They know how to navigate the catalogues, they're familiar with the search tools and they have a reasonable idea of what they're going to find. When you've got a programme to finish, why would you look anywhere else?

Well, we'd like to suggest a few reasons.

Not because there's anything wrong with the libraries you're already using, but because there's a much bigger world of production music out there, and you may be surprised to discover just how easy it is to access.

You might already have access to far more music than you realise

Here's something that we think deserves to be much more widely understood across the television industry.

The UK's major broadcasters have production music licensing agreements in place with MCPS (Mechanical-Copyright Protection Society). These blanket agreements provide qualifying productions with access to music from the many production music libraries that participate in the MCPS licensing scheme.

That includes MediaTracks Music, along with a whole host of other independent production music libraries.

If you're working on a production covered by the appropriate broadcaster's MCPS production music blanket licence, you can use our music without having to negotiate a separate sync licence or pay us an additional sync fee.

It's worth repeating because we suspect a surprising number of people working in television don't fully appreciate this. The licensing arrangements are already in place. You don't need to find an additional budget to use music from an independent library, and you don't need to negotiate a separate agreement with us every time you find a track you like.

Of course, the usual licence conditions and music reporting requirements still apply, but from an editor's perspective, accessing our music should be every bit as straightforward as using the catalogues you're already familiar with.

So, if the music is already covered by your broadcaster's existing arrangements, why limit your search to the same handful of libraries?

The problem with always choosing what we know

We completely understand why certain music libraries have become the default choice for so many production teams. They've spent years building relationships, developing search platforms and making themselves an integral part of the editorial workflow. They've earned their place in the industry, and many have excellent catalogues.

But there's a difference between choosing a library because it has the best music for your production and choosing it simply because it's the one you've always used.

Over time, familiarity can unintentionally narrow our choices. We search the same catalogues, encounter the same composers and become accustomed to a particular musical sound. Meanwhile, there are hundreds of talented composers and artists represented by independent libraries whose work might be absolutely perfect for the programme we're making, but whose music never gets considered because we haven't thought to look elsewhere.

That's a shame, not just for those artists and independent businesses, but for the productions themselves.

The whole point of production music is to help tell stories, create atmosphere, communicate emotion and give pictures another dimension. Surely, the wider the choice of music available to us, the better our chances of finding something that does exactly that?

And when accessing that wider choice doesn't necessarily involve any additional licensing costs, it seems an opportunity too good to overlook.

Everyone has great music. What makes it different?

We don't believe independent music libraries have a monopoly on creativity, any more than the larger libraries do. There is exceptional music throughout the production music industry, and we're certainly not going to pretend otherwise.

What interests us is what makes one catalogue different from another, and increasingly, we believe the answer lies as much with the people behind the music as it does with the music itself.

At MediaTracks, we're fortunate to work with an extraordinary range of composers, musicians and artists, each bringing their own experiences, influences and creative perspectives to our catalogue. Some are established professionals with years of experience, while others are at the beginning of their careers. They come from different backgrounds, communities and musical traditions, and that variety is something we actively seek to encourage.

As an independent library, we have the opportunity to get to know the people we work with. We understand where their music comes from, what inspires them and, in many cases, the personal stories that have shaped their creative journeys. Those relationships are an important part of how we develop our catalogue.

We've also made a conscious decision to work with organisations and industry partners who can help us create opportunities for musicians who might otherwise struggle to find a route into the production music industry. Through our apprenticeship programme, collaborations with musicians with disabilities, educational initiatives and partnerships with emerging artists, we're trying to ensure that our catalogue reflects a broader range of voices and experiences.

This isn't about ticking boxes or making grand statements about diversity. It's about recognising that the music industry is richer when more people have the opportunity to contribute to it, and that different experiences often lead to different creative ideas.

For us, provenance matters. Knowing who has created a piece of music, understanding the circumstances in which it was made and being able to share the story behind it all add something to the relationship between music and the people who use it.

And perhaps, at a time when questions about artificial intelligence, originality and ownership are becoming increasingly important, knowing where your music comes from has never been more relevant.

Independent doesn't mean difficult

One of the misconceptions we'd particularly like to challenge is the idea that using an independent music library somehow involves more work.

We know editors don't have hours to spend exploring unfamiliar websites or chasing people for music. We also know that the best piece of music in the world is of little use if you can't find it when you need it.

That's why accessibility matters just as much to us as the quality of the music itself.

MediaTracks music can be discovered through our own website and through supported broadcaster music systems and search platforms. If you're already working within one of those systems, there's every chance our music is available to you alongside the catalogues you're accustomed to searching.

And if you'd rather deal directly with someone, we're always happy to help.

In fact, that's one of the things we particularly enjoy about being independent. We know our catalogue, we know our artists and we can take a personal interest in what you're working on. If you're struggling to find the right piece of music, you can tell us what you need and we'll do our best to find something that fits.

Whether you're looking for contemporary tension for a factual series, upbeat pop for reality television, authentic regional music for a documentary or something completely unexpected, we'd much rather have a conversation about your production than simply point you towards a search box and wish you luck.

Why supporting independent libraries matters

There's a wider conversation to be had here about the sort of creative industry we want to be part of.

We hear a great deal about supporting independent businesses, encouraging diversity, creating opportunities for emerging talent and ensuring that the creative industries remain open to people from all backgrounds. These are important ambitions, but they only become meaningful when they're reflected in the decisions we make.

When an editor chooses a track from an independent library, they're not simply selecting a piece of music. They're also helping to sustain a business that invests in composers, commissions new work, develops artists and creates opportunities within the wider music industry.

For a smaller independent company, those placements and the royalties they generate can make a significant difference. They help us reinvest in our catalogue, commission more music and continue working with artists whose voices deserve to be heard.

That doesn't mean anyone should use music simply because it comes from an independent library. The music must always be right for the production, and quite rightly so. But if independent libraries aren't being searched in the first place, their artists never even get the opportunity to be considered.

And that, we think, is where something needs to change.

We're not asking editors to abandon the libraries they know and trust. We're simply encouraging them to widen the net a little, to recognise that the independent sector has an enormous amount to offer and to remember that many of these catalogues are already available through the licensing arrangements their broadcasters have in place.

Supporting independent production music doesn't have to be a grand gesture. Sometimes it can be as simple as trying a different search, listening to an unfamiliar composer or sending a brief to a library you've never worked with before.

Those small decisions, made by people across the industry, can collectively make an enormous difference.

There's more than one place to find great music

Ultimately, this isn't an argument about big libraries versus small libraries. It's about choice, creativity and making the most of the music that's already available to us.

The MCPS blanket licensing system provides an opportunity for broadcasters and qualifying productions to draw on a wonderfully diverse range of production music, including catalogues from independent companies like ours. The arrangements are there, the music is there and the people behind it are ready to help.

So, the next time you're looking for music for a television programme, perhaps consider searching somewhere you haven't looked before. You might discover an extraordinary composer, a sound you weren't expecting or a piece of music that brings something completely different to your production.

And if you're curious about the people who made it, we'd be delighted to tell you their stories.

There's more than one place to find great music.

It's time to discover independent production music.

Discover MediaTracks Music.