Gone are the bassy “wocka, wocka, wocka” soundtracks of television past, though remnants of those early guitar-driven tracks still inform the brilliant parodies scored by Flight of the Conchords creators James Bobin, Bret McKenzie and Jemaine Clement. Nominees Bobin, McKenzie and Clement didn’t win an Emmy for original music and lyrics during last week’s telecast. But this year the Emmys proved that original production and licensed popular music for TV is more diverse, sophisticated and catchier than ever.

At the Creative Arts Emmy Awards a week earlier, the rest of the original composition honors for main titles, series and mini-series were presented to established and up-and-coming artists. Said composer Bob Thiele, who wrote the nominated Sons of Anarchy theme song with Velvet Revolver guitarist Dave Kushner, “It has been so gratifying to find new, independent artists and use their music or pair them with the right songs to create a signature sound for the show.”

The worlds of indie music, television and film continue to collide, driven by demand from an increasingly sophisticated viewer. And evolving production music companies, as well as newer start-ups, are stepping in to meet that need. Newly rebranded music collectives like Search Party, who provided the music supervision to the Emmy-winning HBO original film Grey Gardens, are using their film music supervision experience to match film composers to advertising and television projects, and craft unique licensing deals. For a Timex Ironman spot last year, Search Party licensed the Liars’ song “Clear Island” and landed on Advertising Age’s “Top 10 Ad Songs of the Year” list. “The audacious choice” of the song, said Ad Age, “makes for the most memorable watch commercial we’ve ever seen.”

As more production music houses branch out into creative licensing and inventive and economical mashups-including blending library music with original scoring-next year’s Emmy Awards should showcase even more wildly original music and styles. Sadly, there’s no final word yet from Bobin, McKenzie and Clement on whether Flight of the Conchords will return for yet another season to set the bar even higher.