Eight Reasons Supernatural Sounds IS NOT A Production Music Library

On August 15, 2025 Supernatural Sounds hit a milestone. We released our 30th studio album Western Skies. Of course, we’re incredibly proud of this album and of making and releasing 30 albums for film, TV, video games and trailers. It’s at moments like these that one tends to pause and reflect. One thing I’ve been reflecting on is the kinds of conversations I have with producers, directors and showrunners—or what I call creative leaders.

Here’s a question I get asked quite a bit: “why does your music sound so different from all the other production music libraries out there?” That’s a great question. It’s so important that I decided to write an article explaining why we are, in fact, not really a Production Music Library (PML). And because I’m semi-addicted to list-making, I decided to put these ideas in a list called “eight reasons Supernatural Sounds is NOT a production music library.” Catchy huh?

To help us understand how I can make this claim, I’ll cover several topics in this article:

1. What is a PML?
2. How does ideation impact PML music and why is this important?
3. How do PML’s and composers mitigate very real financial risks?
4. How do PML’s and composers work together?
5. What role do music supervisors play in this equation?
6. How do the priorities of creative leaders compare to the priorities of music professionals?
7. And then at the end, once I’ve described those things, I’ll present eight reasons we’re not a PML (although we are a music library).

Since this is a longer article, I would not be offended in the least if you chose to go straight to the end. You’ll see the eight reasons straightaway. However, they may not make as much sense without the context of what the rest of this article describes.

Before I go much further, I want to say that I’ve been hesitant to write this article for a few years now. Why? Because I have so many friends who own or write for PML’s. I don’t want my friends to feel like I don’t respect their artistry or believe I’m better than them. I don’t believe that at all. In fact, I really admire PML’s and recognize the important role they play in the entertainment industry. PML’s fill a very important niche and thousands of hours of programming would be incomplete without them.

What Are PML’s?

I’d like to begin by putting forward a definition of what makes a PML, well, a PML. In essence, PML’s provision music, both instrumental and vocal music, that is “synced” primarily to visual media (film, TV, ads, trailers, video games). Unlike traditional score, where a composer writes music commissioned for a specific project, production music is usually not commissioned for a specific visual media production.

This raises two important questions: how does the music get made and where do the ideas come from for the kind of music to make? Let’s address the first question – how music gets made. In my experience, it is usually the composers who write, record, mix and master their own tracks for PML’s. Usually composers handle overall production, but not always. Some PML’s will collaborate in music production.

Now the second question – where do ideas for the music come from? Some PML’s give composers a creative brief to write to. But most composers in this field are completely independent, which means they must come up with their own ideas for what music to write. Ideation of the music is a very important part of the business model for composers and PML’s because it involves risk. If a composer writes music that nobody wants, that music will not get “placements” (sync licenses that earn income) for the composer or the PML, who typically licenses the music on behalf of the composer.

PML’s and composers earn income through sync licenses, the type of license that authorizes a production to use a PML’s music. Sync licenses are the bedrock of this business model. Nearly all the income generated in this industry comes by way of sync licenses. Most sync licenses require authorization from those who own the master recording, the music writers and the publishers. This is why many PML’s are one-stop-shops, meaning a production can quickly and easily secure a license from all parties.

Sync licenses are the bedrock of this business model. Nearly all the income generated in this industry comes by way of sync licenses.

How Does Ideation Impact PML Music And Why Is This Important?

It is typically the composer who ideates the kind of music to write; not always, but typically. This means that the composer also bears most of the risk if they guess wrong. If a composer writes music that a PML will not represent to their stable of music buyers, or if the PML tries to represent the music but cannot secure placements, the composer loses…. Big time.

How big? This depends on how the music was produced. If a composer had to book studio time and hire musicians or other professionals to help them produce the music, they have a hard cost to cover. These costs can be measured in the tens of thousands of dollars. It is very common for a ten-track album to have hard costs of at least $10,000, if not far more. That may not seem like much but imagine how you’d feel if you made a $10,000 investment and saw zero return! That is the risk-equation composers are constantly seeking to mitigate.

To do so, most indie composers I know of avoid hard costs and do the majority of the work themselves. But they still incur opportunity costs. Like what? Let’s assume a composer creates a ten-track album and it takes them 2 months to complete it. Let’s also assume that they cannot get placements for that album. This means that the two months they spent making that music is a wash. Imagine what it would mean for you to not generate any income for 2 months. How would that impact your situation?

A classic opportunity cost would be calculated by trying to guess what would happen if someone chose option A over option B, especially when those options are mutually exclusive. For traditional entrepreneurs, this might mean choosing between building a new factory versus expanding sales internationally. Since both options are expensive, they might not be able to do both at the same time.

For composers, the equation might be expressed this way. What would my economic outcomes be if, for the next two months, I wrote an album of innovative new music that I think MIGHT get placements versus a more traditional album that I know WILL get placements? I bet you can already guess which option most composers would choose. In other words, in the music-for-visual-media industry, composers have very little financial incentive to experiment and create something fresh and innovative. The financial risks are often simply too high.

How Do Composers and PML’s Mitigate Risks?

In my experience, composers mitigate risk by writing as much music as they can as fast as they can and by writing new music based on what has gotten placements in the past. The net effect is that originality suffers, the very thing I believe creative leaders look for in music. Please let me explain.

Composers are often incentivized to produce music fast. The faster they write, the more music they can produce. This allows them to spread their music around to various PML’s. This, in turn, increases the likelihood that at least some of the tracks will earn placements and income. But music that is produced quickly is often not that original. This can lead to an album’s worth of tracks that sound very similar.

Composers also mitigate risk based on hard data. They can look at statements from their PRO (performing rights organization) and know exactly what tracks they’ve placed over the preceding 24 months or so. This gives them every incentive to create new music that sounds a lot like old music.

PML’s often mitigate risks through specialization. Some PML’s only want to be known for one thing, like pop, jazz, hip-hop or rock. Others specialize in a format, like trailers, TV commercials or similar. They specialize because they know that when music buyers need their niche, the buyer comes to them. This strategy allows small PML’s to complete with the giants and still win. But the net effect is often homogenized playlists with a lot of very similar sounding music.

How Do Composers And PML’s Typically Work Together?

PML’s usually form sub-publishing agreements with composers, where the PML often takes the publisher’s share and the composer keeps the writer’s share. This has two important implications.

First, a composer must write a lot of music and get a lot of placements to earn a living income. This means many indie composers write for several PML’s, often producing specialized music they know the PML will take into their library. In so many ways, this limits the creative imagination of the composer who is disincentivized to innovate with new types of music.

Second, because many composers struggle to earn a living wage, they literally cannot take the risk of writing music they are not very certain will get placed. Again, this inhibits creativity and experimentation, which I would argue are paramount to creative leaders who are looking for something fresh.

What Role Do Music Supervisors Play And Why Does This Matter?

Music supervisors play a very important role in the music-for-visual-media industry. They are an indispensable resource and partner to creative leaders. I personally know many wonderful music supervisors and I’m a friend of the Guild of Music Supervisors. As it relates to PML’s, I would make a few observations. Music supervisors:

• Are overwhelmed with music options. I have heard horror stories of email inboxes being inundated with more music than they could listen to in a lifetime.
• Serve as translators. They usually work with creative leaders to define their vision. They then translate creative leader’s ideas into creative briefs that are used to source music.
• Tend to care about a few things. As it relates to PML’s, supervisors seem to prize variety, pre-cleared music, affordability and efficiency in the licensing process.
• Usually work with a small list of trusted music partners. Trust is the operative word here. A music supervisor’s career can go south quickly if they can’t find music the production wants or if their clearance process goes awry.
• Are typically time-starved. Many music supervisors work on more than one production simultaneously. They also manage a very process-driven approach that can include these steps: create and submit briefs, review cues (music tracks), pick cues to audition into a scene, work with a team to select final cues, clear cues, complete cue sheets.

In my experience, music supervisors often form long-term relationships with a select few PML’s. They do this for many of the reasons I list above. This sometimes means that boutique music libraries don’t make their list. I completely understand why music supervisors do this. But the end result is that innovative music, especially cues that don’t sound like production music, often isn’t auditioned for their productions.

How Do Creative Leaders’ Priorities Compare To Music Professionals’ Priorities?

Because I’ve worked with many creative leaders (directors, producers, showrunners), I’ve come to recognize certain traits that are quite distinctive. Let me list just a few. Creative leaders often:

• Are story-driven first and foremost. They are storytellers at heart. When it comes to music, they want music that amplifies the story, that makes the story richer and stronger.
• Are risk-embracing rather than risk-averse. They must take meaningful risks to have a successful career. Very few creative leaders play it safe. This means they often struggle to understand or appreciate those who are NOT risk-takers. Their game is risk.
• Love originality. They are frequently looking for something fresh and innovative, something they haven’t heard before.
• Usually don’t speak music. They know what they like when they hear it, but often they don’t speak musical jargon.
• Want a direct relationship with music creators. It is very frustrating for them to listen to track after track in post-production and hear music that is close, but not quite there. Many of them would rather just sit down with a composer and describe what they want.
• Want music to add emotional depth. They’re looking for that special piece of music that just makes a scene come alive.

By now, I would imagine you are beginning to see how the priorities of creative leaders and those involved in the music-for-visual-media space are different.

Creative leaders are story-driven and risk-embracing lovers of original music that makes their narratives come alive.

Eight Reasons Supernatural Sounds Is Not A PML

Now that I’ve laid the groundwork for how music professionals tend to operate in this space, I’d like to put forward eight ways Supernatural Sounds is so different that we cannot reasonably be categorized as a PML.

1. We write and produce story-driven music. Our tagline says it best: Music for the heart of the story. I see our music as a set of concept albums clustered around a finite set of themes and emotions. For example, heartbreak and break-up narratives would be well served by Lonesome Highway. That album clusters around feelings of loss, nostalgia, painful memories and resolve to put the past in the rearview mirror and strike out for better days. Like concept albums, we want our music to take the listener on a journey, often centered around a three-act play.
2. Ideation is the most important part of our process. We will literally research a new album for six months to a year before we write a single note of music. This research includes watching classic and modern films, TV shows and other content to understand what has been done already. This allows us to write truly original music. The research usually culminates in a creative brief that describes the themes of the album, the kinds of productions that would want the music and, most importantly, how our album will add something new to the archive of existing music while avoiding overdone cliches. For instance, the creative brief for Western Skies says: “not too close to Ennio Morricone.” Why? It’s not just because Morricone is an iconic composer we would never copy. It’s also because spaghetti-western music creates an almost Pavlovian expectation for certain kinds of narratives. We wanted to create something truly original that doesn’t impose baggage limits on creative leaders.
3. We value originality over almost everything else. For instance, we do not offer sound-alikes at all. Period. Our philosophy on this is simple: evocative but never derivative. We are fiercely independent as creatives and believe we have something meaningful to say. For example, the album Cali-Coast reminds a lot of people of 70s rock-radio. But not one track on that album was reverse-engineered from popular songs in the 1970s.
4. We are risk-embracing. Because Supernatural Sounds is owned by a visionary serial entrepreneur, we are not only financially solvent, we are also not hungry. This means we can wait for the right music buyers to come to us for an album we write this year—even if it takes years for that buyer to show up. Most PML’s and composers cannot take that much risk.
5. We don’t rush music production. We take our time and sweat every little detail. We are not trying to make perfect music. We are trying to make music that has the perfect level of emotional impact. As each new track is created for a particular album, we play it for a set of listeners and ask them to describe the one emotion they feel as they listen. If their language is not very close to what we wrote in the creative brief, we go back to the drawing board.
6. We don’t specialize in one type of music. We take the Stanley Kubrick approach. Kubrick never specialized in one film genre. He made films because he believed in the story and had something important and unique to say through each film. Our music covers many different genres, but each album has something unique to say in the way it approaches that genre.
7. We rarely work exclusively with music supervisors. Most of the time, when we work with music supervisors it is because the creative leader introduces us to them. When you work with us, you’re usually working directly with the composer and visionary responsible for the music you hear. That is very rare for PML’s. This also allows us to quickly create new custom music for a production if a creative leader wants to hear alternatives. That is practically a unicorn.
8. We were founded by a filmmaker. This is probably our most unique characteristic. Randall Shattuck is a documentary filmmaker, former owner of a creative agency and co-owner of a film production company. Randall founded Supernatural Sounds in the late 1990s precisely because he couldn’t find the kind of music he was seeking for his own productions.

Wrap Up

Thank you again for your interest in Supernatural Sounds, our music and our unique approach to creating music for visual media. I trust you enjoyed this tour through the production music industry and have gained a sense of how and why we are different. If there’s an opportunity to help improve the emotional impact of your productions through music, please know our door is open.