How ALIBI Music Library Got Started
ProductionHUB: Can you talk about ALIBI and how it got started?
Jonathan Parks: When I started ALIBI Music Library in October 2011, I had been in the music licensing industry for seven years, and that firsthand experience – along with prior work in digital asset management for EMI/Capitol – helped me recognize the opportunity to fill a void in well-produced, well-structured and highly searchable production music.
I began by producing 90 of the most common genres of music utilized for advertising, trailers and promos. Within the first week of our ALIBI catalog launching, we licensed our first trailer (“Salmon Fishing in the Yemen”), our first promo (“American Horror Story”) and our first commercial (“SuperValu Club”).
We set ourselves apart by focusing more on the design and structure of our audio assets than any other catalog I’ve seen. We produce music that evolves and builds, refraining from repetitive cut-and-paste portions within our tracks to create as much versatility as possible within each piece of music that allows it to be used in numerous ways. We also pride ourselves in producing numerous stems and alt versions that allow editors to customize our tracks to fit the unique needs of their projects.
Since our launch, the business has grown exponentially, and we now have a full-time team of 12 with presences in London, New York, Pennsylvania, Los Angeles, San Francisco and Portland. We have produced 900+ albums of music and sound FX and have worked on countless national commercials (including Super Bowl spots), feature film trailers, scripted and unscripted TV promos, digital campaigns, video games and nearly every other type of medium.
What Are the Challenges of Providing Music to the TV and Film Industry?
ProductionHUB: What are the challenges associated with providing music to be used in TV/Film?
Jonathan Parks: The biggest challenge facing our industry is tracking performances and being accurately compensated by the performing rights organizations (PROs). Studios and networks will want to license for low fees with the understanding that licensors will generate public performance royalties, which we are dependent on for income and have to fight to collect.
ProductionHUB: Can you talk about some of the projects you've been able to work on and assist with?
Jonathan Parks: As I noted, we have been fortunate to have provided music tracks and sound effects for an extensive list of film, television, streaming, commercial and video game clients. Among the recent projects we’re most proud of are the special trailer for HBO’s “
,” Blue Wilderness’ latest commercial for and the trailer for the popular video game , to name a few.How Music Enhances Video Production
PH: How does music enhance production?
Jonathan Parks: Very simply, music is the heartbeat giving life to visual production — eliciting emotion, driving the pace, commanding our attention and holding us there.
PH: What is the future of music production going to look like (in your opinion?)
Jonathan Parks: From my perspective, technology will continue to fuel the biggest changes in the business of production music, whether it’s how we create music, how we deliver music or how we track music usage. We’re already seeing new tools and software pop up nearly every week that make our processes quicker, more efficient and higher quality, and I don’t see that progress going away any time soon. These advancements are enabling us to do things on laptops once limited to those working on chart-topping hits – we can compose music with orchestra-level sonic quality, for example. The delivery of files is far simpler and – thankfully – we’re beginning to be able to more accurately track what and how much music is used, the challenge I touched earlier.
PH: Is there anything else you'd like to add?
Jonathan Parks: Look for exciting changes to the ALIBI Music Library in the New Year. I will leave it at that, so you’ll have to stay tuned and keep checking our
for more info!
