Red Igloo Music has rolled out a new cloud-based music distribution system that is poised to revolutionise the local production music landscape. The Johannesburg-based music distributor specialises in production music – commonly known as ‘library’ music – which is widely used by broadcasters, advertising agencies, corporates and other content-producing entities requiring music with rights that have already been cleared in advance.
CEO Fred Woods was extremely upbeat as he pointed out some of the features of this major new online production music resource, the scale of which has never before been seen in South Africa. “Offering around 140 catalogues and more than 250 000 tracks, this new development further cements Red Igloo’s position as the leading supplier of production music on the African continent,” he said. “Our site now offers local clients the ability to instantly search, audition and download tracks in the format of their choice, and all tracks are comprehensively encoded with metadata to simplify the usage tracking and cue sheet process.”
Woods says every track that supplied is covered by existing blanket licence agreements that are in place between the broadcasters, NORM [the National Organisation for the Reproduction Rights in Music in Southern Africa] and SAMRO [the Southern African Music Rights Organisation]. “This means that obtaining clearance for the use of the music is also extremely painless, as it is already pre-cleared and licensed,” he says.
The new cloud-based system will make it far simpler and more convenient for professional production entities to search for the “mood” music that meets their requirements – a process that can be time-consuming, expensive and even tedious. The variety of music on offer covers genres ranging from sound design elements and the classics to the latest dance trends from around the globe. Labels represented include massive catalogues such as Warner Chappell and AX’s, as well as niche brands such as Altitude and Hypekit.
