On the evening of Thursday, February 6th, the Guild of Music Supervisors held their 10th Annual Awards. Those of us in the industry know how integral these creatives are to forming the sound of a story, fulfilling the vision of a director, spinning an impossible number of plates while jumping through endless hoops to land the right song for the right scene. While there has been more exposure to the craft of music supervision in recent years thanks in large part to the work of the Guild of Music Supervisors, it is still a profession and field that is largely unrecognized. But not at the GMS Awards.

We spoke with creatives working in all kinds of media about how stems help them get more out of their production music and thrill their clients’ ears with the sonic possibilities. This is kind of a Reading Rainbow moment... we’ve told you all about the power of stems, but we don’t expect you to simply take our word for it.

For our first roundup of 2020, we’ve got a reflective, confident vibe going on with these releases. There’s plenty of lo-fi and chill hip-hop, sunny and anthemic tracks, and uplifting percussive beats with a global twist. We also added a bit about practical applications for each release.

For all of your cutesy advertising spots full of children, products for children, and parents running after children, we present a new playlist called Child’s Play.

Abby Jeanne has a voice that makes you pay attention. Her powerful and expressive soul comes through in every note, helping her audience on their own cosmic journey. Read about how she created her record Music Box Dancer at our studios, her future recording plans, and how musicians are actually magicians.

For those of you who already utilize production music, here are a few not-so-secret secrets that will help you get the absolute biggest bang for your buck and make the biggest impact with your campaign and clients when using our music.

This year has been full of change for us at The License Lab. And as we close out 2019, it’s important to go back to the reason why we do all of this: the music. With that in mind, we’ve gone through this year’s releases and highlighted some of our favorites.

With the magic of bingeable fantasy sagas and sci-fi blockbusters in mind, we’ve created our own playlist of epic scores to give your next fantasy/sci-fi saga (or podcast about an existing saga) the proper anthemic and dramatic music to tell the tale. No lens flare necessary.

You’ve just come across the perfect piece of production music with the exact sound and feel you’re looking for, only to realize there’s just one tiny thing you wish you could change. Maybe the cue is just a bit too short for a scene, maybe it has a vocal part when you need an instrumental track. What if we told you there are hidden resources and clever hacks you can use to make almost any track fit your musical vision to a T? Introducing the wonderful world of stems.

In this roundup we feature hot electronic tracks from UNDERscore and our final holiday album of the year.

We recently finished a sonic logo for our friends at 88Nine Radio Milwaukee and thought it’d be a good time for you to meet their Program Director, Jordan Lee. He talks with us about where his love of Hip Hop comes from, why stay in Milwaukee, and he also gives us some choice musical recommendations.

We think we have a pretty extraordinary group of creatives around us. Constantly surrounded by powerful visionaries, masters of execution, and overall excellent human beings, we wouldn’t be where we are today without their support and contributions. And as we share our new video introduction to the The License Lab, we want to take a minute to recognize and feature everyone who helped create it.

‘Tis the season for odious amounts of Michael Bublé, terrible covers of classic Christmas songs, and that one Band Aid song. But you don’t want that. Your story requires something more unique but still communicates all the holly jolly feelings of the season. Here’s a special roundup of our holiday albums from your friends at The License Lab.

It’s not always about just getting it “correct.” Inspiration is not measured by precision and accuracy. Truly memorable moments are more about the energy and the human elements that keep things interesting than any technically perfected process.

In this roundup we’re diving into some indie vibes, menacing premonitions, and two new electronic-based albums from our UNDERscore label that were specially created in response to your feedback and requests. With plenty of opportunity for modern spots, podcasts, and highlights, we’re pleased to showcase such a wonderful batch of new albums to serve as the sound of your next story.

On the evening of Tuesday, September 24th, production music industry professionals from around the world came together for the annual Mark Awards. The event was filled with awards and acknowledgements for music and people in the industry, all leading up to the PMA Hall of Fame induction of visionary and music industry legend, Jim Long. Without Jim’s friendship and guidance, there would be no License Lab.

The son of Italian immigrants, banjoist and guitarist Michael Rossetto takes inspiration from his heritage, loves food analogies, and talks about communication through music and writing in his bathrobe.

There are thousands upon thousands of podcasts available. Every decent one has a solid concept, engaging host, and quality production. But the great podcasts have something more — purposeful music. For a closer look at this, we check out of one of the standout podcasts going today, Lore.