Too many tracks and too little time to find them? Music libraries, growing faster than ever online, are putting a premium on search and control features.
Music libraries are massive and getting bigger on a daily basis. Blame the democratization of digital music creation for a world where anyone can- and seemingly does- make their own music. But the bulk of the tracks come from about a dozen core players in the music library business who have been putting as much creative effort in helping clients find and manage the music they need amid an ever-denser thicket of millions of tracks.
CDs and DVDs still abound in the sound library universe, but downloadable MP3 files and hard drive storage are becoming the lingua franca of the business. Web sites are not only destinations to a library developer’s catalog but also a portal into their sonic depths. Four companies, mSoft, Sonomic, Soundmouse and Soundminer, offer search engine and management systems that various library developers use and make compatible with their libraries. These systems use mainly broadcast wave files (BWF) that allow the inclusion of metadata- titles, descriptions, BPM, etc. Some library developers also create their own search engines, strategically meshing them with the libraries’ own marketing program.
Non-Stop Music’s (www.nonstopmusic.com) search methodology, CUEgle, is a keyword-based Internet-loaded search engine for Non-Stop’s 38,000-track music track base. Users can download an MP3 file of a selected track; an AIFF or WAV file of the same track can be obtained from a hard drive. "It’s all about updating and integrating," says Non-Stop President and Partner Randy Thornton. "Internet-based searches and storage allow us to update the music on a 24/7 basis and clients can search using as many criteria as they want. More terms give you a narrower search; fewer terms broaden the search. And the search engine itself is constantly refining its ability to react to those terms."
While most libraries offer low-resolution samples from their Web sites, with a high-res version available for download, increasingly libraries are finding that some users prefer to graze rather than commit to a blanket annual license from one or two companies. As a result, the percentage of "singles" downloads is on the upswing. (It’s not unlike what happened to the music industry itself in the wake of Apple’s iPod and iTunes revolution.)
AirCraft Production Music Library has made Live Librarian part of its newly updated Web site (www.aircraftmusiclibrary.com). Based on an iChat-type of messaging exchange and powered by a third-party (Live Person.com), a user will type in requirements for a particular piece of music and one of AirCraft’s librarians will respond. This type of search approach adds an interesting dimension: Instead of relying on the libraries’ own description of a piece of music, the user can express it themselves. "They know what they need better than anyone else, and we know our library better than anyone else, so it’s a very good way to search," says Josh Hoekwater, AirCraft’s production manager.
Online delivery of music files will continue to grow, but a parallel trend has been an increase in hard drive delivery. The fact that both physical and virtual distribution approaches are thriving underscores what Ben Trust, managing director at Megatrax Music (www.megatrax.com) believes, which is that as libraries become ever larger, service has to become part of the management system. "Anyway you want it" is how Trust describes Megatrax’s hard dive configurations that let users choose between two resolution levels of WAVE, MP3 or BWF file formats, and which can be updated via the Internet or a DVD as new titles are ready. The company views its library as an open source, compatible with all major third-party search engines. "We see library management evolving the same way the computer OS did," says Trust. "The proprietary operating systems in the early days gave way to the open systems like Microsoft and Linux. The proprietary ones have the least market share."
The schism is likely to continue- many sound editors are reluctant to connect their workstations directly to the Internet, fearing viruses could destroy data. Many others, however, regard virtual distribution as inevitable.
Customization of the library experience extends to the tracks themselves. SmartSound’s (www.smartsound.com) Mood Mapping software, the latest iteration of its Sonicfire Pro software that manages the company’s libraries, offers users up to eight different preset layers of instrumentation or, in the case of orchestral composition, the equivalent of stems- strings, percussion, brass, etc.- from its Strata library series. Relative levels can be changed using a GUI slider pot on the workstation screen.
Despite its standard use in feature films and broadcast, surround music remains a bridesmaid in the library domain. Several libraries have released a smattering of 5.1 tracks, something AirCraft is about to do, too, with a techno-flavored array of music on DVD. "I don’t think there’s a market for every type of music being released in 5.1, but if people latch onto it, it’s something we’re willing to do more of," says Hoekwater, reflecting general industry sentiment.
One trend to watch for: More cheap recording gear and a surfeit of volunteers for stardom could see some libraries becoming online agents of indie bands’ recordings for placement in films, television and commercials.