Libraries survive, despite economy - Post Script - Editorial

Post, Sept, 2003 by Marc Loftus

In this month's issue you'll find Post's Annual Sound Library Directory. The purpose of a sound library is to provide users with a diverse selection of rights-cleared, high-quality recordings, helping to eliminate the costs incurred from creating a custom score. The guide is designed to serve as a resource for producers and post professionals, allowing them to quickly find the licensors of a wide range of production music, which, for a price, can be incorporated into their video, film or Web projects.

So how is the library business going these days with the troubled economy?

"There is probably more licensing going on, but there are more suppliers," says Mitch Coodley, principal of Metro Music in Manhattan. Metro offers both custom scores and production music. His library is comprised of 60 CDs and Coodley says he's seen a lot of demand coming from fashion clients such as Victoria's Secret, Polo.com and Givenchy.

Coodley recalls that in the early '90s, when the economy was struggling, he noticed a definite boom in his library business. But today, he's not sure if he can say the same. One trend he's noticed is clients selecting a cut from the Metro library and then having it enhanced, or customized, with additional musical layers. But as an artist, Coodley admits to not studying market trends as much as, say, the bigger libraries might.

Adam Taylor, however, is president of Hollywood's APM, one of the largest libraries in the country, and he's very aware of what's taking place in the sound library business. APM, he says, has seen double-digit growth every month over the past year, so don't let the economy fool you.

"We're doing very well," says Taylor. APM continues to put out 20 to 30 new CDs every month, and that, he feels, makes them slightly different than many other libraries.

"Our clients expect a certain level of quality and comprehensiveness," Taylor explains. "It's important for us to remain trend setters. It's not enough for us to be just a huge archival library. We need music that's on the radio now."

So browse Post's Directory. There's probably a library that has something very close to what you're looking for.