Current TV, APM Music Pact on Music Use
September 15, 2006
By Carly Mayberry
Current TV is set to confirm Thursday a multiyear deal agreement with production music company APM Music that will allow independent producers untethered and legal use of more than 200,000 professional recordings.
Current TV's video producers -- a viewer-created content community the company calls VC2 -- can now download their choice of music for their own short-form projects through a co-branded version of APM Music's Web site, accessible through Current's online studio. Music can be searched by style and category using a proprietary music search functionality created by APM Music in conjunction with Los Angeles-based Globalist.net.
"Throughout the history of media, there was a great 'sound barrier' with the best stuff reserved for the media elite and everyone else got what was left over," said David Neuman, president of programming for Current TV. "Today, APM and Current have torn down that barrier. It's another step in our mission to democratize media."
The deal lessens previous barriers most independent producers faced when trying to obtain permission and negotiate publishing rights.
"This arrangement, the first of its kind, makes the vast APM Music library available to the creators of consumer generated media, while recognizing the rights of the respective copyright owners," said APM Music President Adam Taylor. "This will be an important model moving forward for all consumer generated media sites."
APM Music is a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing and BMG Music Publishing providing the United States and Canada exclusive access to over 23 different music libraries specifically created for use in film, TV, radio, recording and new media. Recent productions including APM Music's recordings include "Superman Returns" and "Cars."
Source: The Hollywood Reporter
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/thr/new_media/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1003122553