There are big differences in music libraries – and there are significant differences among the people and productions that use them.
Individual libraries and their distinctive online search engines can make them habit-forming. Besides the quality of music and licensing capabilities, the comfort level of music supervisors, producers and other audio gatekeepers with the libraries they already know can impact who they turn to. Stephen Arnold Music, proprietors of The Vault “anti-library” collection (www.anti-library.com) routinely sees this play out.
“People on deadline aren’t always ready to dip into a library they haven’t tried,” notes Stephen Arnold, president of Stephen Arnold Music. “We’re connecting with people who are a little more fresh to the industry. They’re not locked into using their traditional libraries, and when they visit The Vault, the music resonates.”
The Vault has been tapped recently by the likes of Fox’s Imus in the Morning, CBS’s Cold Case, MTV’s Live La Bam, National Geographic Channel’s Expedition Great White, and Outdoor Channel’sIn Fisherman, as well as NBC, Turner Networks, History Channel, NASCAR and UFC.
Blanket licenses, needle drops or production blankets all have their place, as well. In the case of The Vault, a production blanket can prove to be a good bet, since its relatively smaller size and tightly currated catalog makes music searches yield quick winners.
“There are people who don’t want to get overwhelmed with doing a keyword search and then getting several hundred cuts to go through,” notes Arnold. “They also appreciate that when they call us up, they’re usually talking to the track’s composer or writer — it’s the creative talking to the creative.”