Stock Music is a less expensive alternative to the use of custom composed, popular or well known music in a production, since it is not necessary to obtain specific permission or pay additional clearance fees for the use of a song that has instant recognition. Such a use can imply an identification of brand or endorsement with the song, and obtaining permission for this can be costly.

Stock Music has been written especially for use in audio and audio visual productions, like radio and television broadcasts, commercials and jingles, motion picture and video scores and soundtracks, corporate & training presentations, Web sites, computer games, software applications and multimedia. The Stock Music in the Westar Music Library has been produced by some of the industry’s finest composers and studio musicians it offers professional quality music and tremendous variety for all types of applications.

Stock Music is generally placed in the background, behind the dialog or voiceover, where it can set the mood, provide a suitable backdrop for a message, promote the product, activity or event being featured, identify the location of the scene or highlight the plot’s action.

Stock Music is usually made available in digital CD Red Book Audio format in order to facilitate easy cueing, dubbing and synchronization into the production. It is also becoming increasingly popular to download and license stock music from a Web site.

It is generally produced as a subscription-based library product with updates added to the collection on a regular basis, and each CD is generally based around a subjective theme or type of music - romantic, sports, emergency, Latin music, etc.

Stock Music is offered in a wide variety of period and modern genres, styles, moods and tempos - everything from classical orchestrations to animated cartoon compositions.

A Stock Music CD typically contains 8 to 15 compositions, and each composition is offered in several different versions or lengths: a full length version, an underscore or rhythm track version (for more subtle use under voiceovers), and a number of different broadcast lengths (60 seconds, 30 seconds and 5 to 15 second stingers). The broadcast versions are produced to eliminate the need for the user to create his own edits for specific kinds of production applications (like commercial spots).

Stock Music is generally licensed by the publisher for synchronization use in a production, but the license terms and costs are varied - they can depend on the type of use (broadcast, non-broadcast, commercial, film, theater, educational, etc.), audience size, number of compositions used, total time used, and type of market exposed to the music.

If the Stock Music is used in a broadcast or public performance production, its composers and publishers are also entitled to receive performing royalties from performing rights societies like ASCAP, BMI, SOCAN, PRS and APRA. Performing rights royalties are paid to the composers and publishers of the music as a result of cue sheets being filed by the presentation’s producer, but the producer does not incur any additional costs when they file the cue sheets from their productions.

The Westar Music Library provides ready-to-use Stock Music in a wide range of styles and instrumentations, on CDs that offer full length regular and rhythm tracks and broadcast length tracks for easy promo production. You can choose to license Westar Music on an annual blanket basis, or via a variety of flexible laser drop licensing arrangements.