The winners of the LMAs 2014 On October 23rd, the inaugural Library Music Awards cast a spotlight on the underrated world of Production Music. For those not familiar with the term, Library (or Production) Music works are the musical equivalent of stock images, and they’re an invaluable resource for makers of films, television programmes, trailers and online video. These libraries of off-the-shelf music not only offer a more affordable alternative to using bespoke compositions, but can also provide a stable income for composers. We ran an article back in February 2008 on this very topic (http://sosm.ag/feb08prodmusic), but even since then, much has changed.
As Richard Canavan, the man behind the Library Music Awards, explains, “Both the composers themselves, and those who represent the libraries work hard to produce great music for picture and its about time the best gets recognised. The awards are an opportunity to show off this creativity, and celebrate the fact that ours is a cutting-edge, inventive and passionate industry.”
The day consisted of a packed schedule of talks for composers in an event called Tune Up which looked to examine every aspect of the Library Music industry. The event began with 
BASCA composers panel. L-R Ben McAvoy, Andrew Skeet, Tom Howe, David Lowe, Daniel James and Nick HarveyFAMES demonstrating their one-stop solution for live-recording orchestral scores on a budget. Using video conferencing and high-quality audio streaming, orchestrator Stephan Hodel was able to talk to and give performance direction to the conductor of an orchestra in a studio in Macedonia. This was followed by a talk presented by the Musicians’ Union from session guitarist Adam Goldsmith, and two panel discussions from BASCA (the British Academy of Songwriters, Composers & Authors) — one with composers including David Lowe (BBC News, Panorama, Grand Designs) — and a second which was an enlightening Q&A session with representatives from production music libraries. Spitfire Audio director Christian Henson — a composer in his own right with credits including Alien: Isolation, Poirot and Fresh Meat — then gave a workshop on combining real instruments with virtual instruments. This was one of the recurring themes of the day: how to make the most of a limited production budget. The Tune Up event was rounded off by mix engineer Jake Jackson, who mixed the orchestral recording from earlier in the day. Read more about jake in our interview from 2012 here: http://sosm.ag/aug12jackson.
Extreme Music's Dan Knight with compere and stand-up Al BarrieProduction Music Libraries each put forward tracks for nomination within 12 categories ranging from Best Folk to Best Trailer. The awards ceremony itself was an enormous success, attracting over 250 composers and library representatives. The big winners of the evening were Extreme Music who took home three awards, while Audio Network, Universal Music and Imagem all walked away with two. EMI Production Music, Twisted Jukebox and Squirky Music also tasted victory, each receiving a gong.
Sponsored by Sound On Sound magazine, Spitfire Audio, Ivory London, FAMES and orchestrator/arranger Stephan Hodel, the whole day was a triumph and we look forward to seeing it grow further next year.
