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What are the best Japanese TV shows at the moment? From web manga to comedy drama, asadora (morning serialised drama) to a true story based on a struggling high school baseball team, viewers are spoiled for choice. When it comes to Japanese TV music, the music supervisors’ choices have been equally varied. We’re proud to showcase some of the recent series that have used music from our extensive catalogue.
The Woman Who Wants to Cook and the Woman Who Wants to Eat Season 2
Cooking is how Yuki Nomoto de-stresses, but one day, she finds herself making way more than she can eat by herself. And so, she invites her neighbor Totoko Kasuga, who also lives alone. What will come out of this impromptu dinner invitation...?
This Japanese web manga series is written and illustrated by Sakaomi Yuzaki, and the first series of 10 episodes premiered on NHK General TV in December 2022. The second season has double the number of episodes, and features two of our tracks, ‘Past Recollections 2’, a beautiful, pastoral string and piano piece and, at the opposite end of the spectrum, ‘P.A.R.T.Y. 2’, a fun, Latin-style hip hop instrumental with big Mariachi horns.
The original manga series has not only led to this TV adaptation, but also to a dedicated shop selling merchandise with original art, whose proceeds go to Marriage for All Japan, an organization that advocates for same-sex marriage equality in the country.
Want to read the manga in English? It’s published through Yen Press.
NTV’s new comedy drama – which is also full of suspense - debuted in January, and is based on the book Tonari no Nurse Aid by Mikito Chinen. Our heroine is Sakuraba Mio, a newcomer who’s assigned to the Department of General Surgery at the prestigious Seirei Medical University Hospital. She’s not a doctor or nurse, but her job as a ‘nurse aide’ makes her the closest person to the patients, and one of the hospital’s unsung heroes.
Mio’s a caring person, but also a medical geek, so she’s curious about what’s going on, especially with skilled, handsome ‘lone wolf’ surgeon, Ryuzaki Taiga. Full of unpredictable twists and turns, this is a funny, touching drama series about hospital life.
Paul Mottram’s ‘Misfit 2’ is perfectly suited to the show’s mysterious, quirky feel, with its unusual cello pizzicato.
NHK’s new asadora (morning serialized drama) features jazz singer/actress Shizuko Kasagi (Shuri Mizutani) and songwriter Ryōichi Hattori (Tsuyoshi Kusanagi).
Based on the life of the inspirational pre- and post-war jazz singer and actress Shizuko Kasagi (1914-1985), this series has been an important vehicle for educating a general television audience on the lives of relatively unknown Meiji, Taisho, and Shōwa-era female pioneers for over six decades.
The fictionalized story of Kasagi’s life features music by Takayuki Hattori, the grandson of Ryōichi Hattori, who was the singer's principal mentor and songwriter.
Asadora narratives typically see the heroine moving from a rural town to either Tokyo or Osaka to pursue a dream, often against the backdrop of war and occupation. Kasagi was a member of a dance troupe, getting her big break in 1938 when she was selected to join a new, experimental male-female variety theatre troupe based in Tokyo, the Shōchiku Gakugekidan (SGD), where she met up and coming composer Ryōichi Hattori. Her powerful voice made her a muse for his dream of creating a Japanese version of the new (at the time) African-American swing jazz style. The media proclaimed Kasagi the ‘Queen of Swing’.
After the war, Hattori wrote ‘Tokyo Boogie’ for Kasagi, which became her biggest hit in 1948. The singer subsequently reinvented herself as a comedic actress, appearing in several movies and TV shows, even becoming a judge on a popular TV singing show in the 1970s.
In terms of the series, as JapanForward.com says, ‘Boogie Woogie will not only be about how Shizuko Kasagi was the Queen of Boogie Woogie and cheerleader for postwar Japan. It will also be the story of how post-war Japan, and especially its female half was able to reimagine and rebuild itself so successfully.’
A lilting version of the ‘Valse’ from Swan Lake is one of the featured tracks on the show.
Tokyo detective duo Ukyō Sugishita and Kameyama Kaoru are back for season 22 of Aibou. The members of the First Investigative Division are exploring a case where a man fell to his death from his apartment. What does it have to do with religious group ‘Paradise of Smiles’ and is it connected to a terrorist incident from a decade ago?
Igor Dvorkin and Duncan Pittock’s ‘Tympanum’s developing deep drum groove adds to the tension.
Inspired by a real story, Gekokujo Kyuji, aka Worst to First: A Teen Baseball Miracle, is centred around a local school baseball team, which has lost its first game in the prefectural tournament for the past 10 years. The drama focuses on Nagumo Shuji, a man who played baseball all his life until an injury in college forced him to retire. Shuji is now a social studies teacher and his daily life changes drastically after he is put in charge of the school's weak baseball team.
The show features Terry Devine-King and Tom Jenkins’ ‘Fire Comet’, a slice of dreamy, building piano and guitar-led indie rock.
Looking for music to soundtrack the best sporting moments? Our Summer of Sport collection has you covered, for highs, lows and everything in between.
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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The possibilities to ‘get your brand heard’ are more plentiful than ever before, with the rise in podcast advertising, YouTube’s global reach and platforms such as TikTok centering on ‘sound on’ content.
What do you need to think about when it comes to crafting a music strategy for brand differentiation? Strategic selection of music in ad campaigns can unlock impressive returns on investment (ROI), through brand perception, recall and emotional engagement. We’re here to show you how…
Music Psychology in Advertising
‘When people hear a piece of music they like, they share the content that’s associated with it. The true impact that it should have on any ad is not, “Does it tell the story?” but, “Does it get you more ‘likes’ and shares and views?”’ - Daniel Jackson, CEO, Cord Worldwide
When it comes to music and advertising, the two go hand in hand, and each can enhance the other. Plus, science shows that the right soundtrack can enhance brand recall and memorability. Industry bible The Drum quotes a report by Spotify that shows that audio ads caused a 24% higher brand recall than visual ads (which is also great news for radio ads).
Watch our Music Makes It video to see exactly what we mean:
A study by Man Made Music suggests that music can improve brand recognition by 46%, with another by PHMG finding that 74% of young adults develop a better understanding of a company’s personality through music – showing the massive impact of music on brand identity.
Music Branding Strategies
Look at Netflix if you want an example of successfully aligning a brand logo with a sound – that ‘Tu Dummm’ is now so recognisable that ‘Tudum’ is the official Netflix site that takes you behind the scenes of all your favourite shows. Plus, because of all those ‘must watch’ binge shows on Netflix, such as Stranger Things, Black Mirror and Bridgerton – not to mention the streamer’s true crime hits - the audio logo creates a jolt of subliminal emotion too: from excitement to dread and anticipation. It’s the sound that says, ‘you’re not going anywhere for the next few hours: make sure you’ve got enough snacks.’
Netflix built a whole campaign – ‘Sounds like a good story is about to start’ – around the brand recognition for ‘Tudum’:
The Apple TV+ audio logo is even simpler – which is impressive when the visual logo is black and white and in lower case; the audio is arguably having to work even harder to make an impact:
So, in terms of brand perception, audio can really help to get you across the line.
Beyond brand recall, music can obviously be used to generate emotions – UC Berkeley scientists have identified at least 13 fundamental emotions, including joy, amusement, relaxation, anxiety, sadness, triumph, scariness, defiance and feeling pumped up, in a survey of over 2,500 people. They recorded their emotional response to songs from genres as varied as jazz, rock, classical, folk, heavy metal and even marching bands.
Whether you’re using Ed Sheeran’s ‘Shape of You’ to spark joy, or a national anthem to stir pride, bear in mind if you’re a global brand that people from different cultures might have a different emotional reaction to a track.
The study showed that Vivaldi’s Four Seasons made people feel energised; ‘Rock the Casbah’ by The Clash pumped them up. Heavy metal is largely viewed as being defiant; everyone agreed that Psycho’s screeching violins triggered an almost primal fear.
When it comes to music selection, bear in mind what you want your audience to do, as well as how you want them to feel. If the music is prominent and it’s driving the creative and the message, this aids audience involvement, whilst more discreet music can be better at conveying news – think of new product or service announcements.
Whether you want your music in the foreground or the background, we have an unparalleled selection, covering every mood and genre. Check out our collections and playlists for masses of inspiration.
Maximising ROI through Music Licensing
Music might be a universal language, but we don’t always pay enough attention to what it’s saying and how it’s being understood.
The UC Berkeley researchers translated their data into an interactive audio map – you can move your cursor to listen to thousands of music snippets to find out if your emotional reactions match how others respond to the music.
Music can fast-track or slow down your story, not to mention inspiring the desired action from consumers. It’s a vital connecting link between the audience and the screen, making your commercials dynamic and compelling.
Target Audience Analysis for Music Selection
How do you pick music that resonates with consumers to maximise your ROI? First things first: identify your target audience. It’s vital to conduct thorough audience analysis to establish who they are and their preferences and values, in order to then select the music that will appeal to them and amplify your brand identity.
Make sure they know the music you’re using, that it’s emotionally congruent and culturally relevant – especially if you’re targeting Gen Z.
Sir John Hegarty, founder of ad agency Bartle Bogle Hegarty (who forged a 28-year partnership with Levi’s and created some truly iconic ads in the process, such as Nick Kamen’s 80s ‘Launderette’ and the phenomenon that was Flat Eric), maintains that, ‘The selection of music for advertising campaigns is and should remain driven by the creative idea.’
BBH chose a number of classic 50s and 60s tracks for their Levi’s ads in the mid-80s. Whilst familiar to older customers who had always bought Levi’s (thus capitalising on nostalgia), these tracks sounded completely new to the teen and 20s audience that Levi’s were targeting at the time. BBH then moved to breaking new artists in their 90s ads for the brand – licensing music that hasn’t been widely used before avoids the risk of ‘brand misattribution’.
So, there are a few tactics at play here:
Use a pre-existing track that you can present as a ‘new’ find to a younger generation (think Kate Bush’s ‘Running up that Hill’ in Stranger Things)
License a track that’s currently hugely popular with your target audience
In terms of working out the Return on Investment (ROI) of the money you’re spending on music licensing – or on creating unique tracks – there are a few ways to go about it.
When it comes to measuring the effectiveness of music in ads, you can:
Track brand recognition through surveys or focus groups
Monitor sales data – for example a study in the Journal of Marketing found that shoppers who heard music in a shop spend up to 38% more money. Track your sales data before and after using a track to get a picture of how music is impacting your bottom line
Measure customer loyalty and retention rates before and after implementing any kind of sonic branding
Analyse social media engagement – tracking likes, comments and shares on social media posts can all be useful in terms of sensing how well your music is resonating with your audience
Whilst you might think it’s worth a large proportion of your budget to license a hugely popular track to resonate with your target audience, this isn’t necessarily the case.
Immersion is a measurement of a person’s neurologic connection to an experience or piece of content, which is captured via a heart reading measurement device (such as an Apple Watch) and transferred into a score based on an algorithm.
To measure whether familiar or unfamiliar music had the best result, Immersion took three ads with no dialogue, from Kuhl outdoor clothing, Stance socks and Nivea spray sunblock. They then tested the ads with brand-appropriate, familiar Top 20 songs (from pre-2000) and songs which had fewer than 13,000 Spotify streams for ‘less popular’ music.
Choosing songs from pre-2000 – i.e. before the rise of digital streaming – meant that the songs chosen had a greater chance of being familiar to the audience. Pre-streaming, music was more of a ‘monoculture’, with most of us finding our music through listening to the radio and, crucially, listening to the whole track. No ‘skip’ option back then.
The Immersion scores were analysed both individually for each ad and grouped as ‘popular’ and ‘less popular’ music. The researchers were surprised to find that in both instances, the less popular music outperformed the popular music.
The takeaway from this is that a) you probably don’t need to spend thousands trying to license a global hit and b) testing your ad with different music selections to see which resonates most is definitely a good use of time and money. The data proves that the popularity of a song doesn’t significantly drive immersion or future action in your audience.
For example, Nike created a custom track for their Emmy award-winning ‘You Can’t Stop Us’ spot, which was created to foster a spirit of hope after the pandemic.
Nike worked with Cowboys in Japan to re-record a portion of their track ‘Daylight’ in order to complement the edit perfectly.
However, let’s look at another global brand: Coca-Cola, who are one of the renowned experts at choosing music for advertising (think of their classic 70s, ‘I’d Like to Teach the World to Sing’ campaigns).
With the average American listening to more than four hours of music each day, multi-million dollar deals with artists can still be worthwhile when forging a connection to hundreds of millions worldwide.
An artist’s bond with their fan base can both keep the company current, and lead to cross-marketing opportunities. As a heritage brand, Coke needs to target children and teens in order to refresh its image with a younger audience.
Check out this ad featuring Taylor Swift for Coca-Cola, which also plugs her album:
This spot puts Taylor’s music and fans centre-stage:
Coca-Cola has taken this a step further with its Coke Studio music platform, complete with a Europe-wide ‘Summer of music’ promotion; a digital-first, always-on platform acting as a global stage for breakthrough artists and hosting its own festival in Madrid.
A Coke spokesperson flagged the importance of music for one of their key demographics as a driver for their music partnerships:
‘We know the power of music to unite and uplift people and particularly to evoke emotions, aid self-expression and create memorable experiences. For many, it is the beating heart of magical shared experiences, and of course, we know it is a key passion point for our Gen Z audience. Our renewed music partnerships across Europe will allow us to deliver “once-in-a-lifetime” experiences that we believe will ignite a truly memorable summer of events.’
Coke also partnered with Lollapalooza Stockholm, Untold in Romania and Tomorrowland in Belgium to create immersive, access all areas programmes to drive engagement.
Betty Alekou, Brand Director at The Coca-Cola Company, added, ‘Gen Z are redefining creativity… they’re first on trends and connect with music both physically and virtually.’
Coke Studio launched in 2022, working with artists from a range of backgrounds to create original songs. Josh Burke, Global Head of Music and Culture Marketing at Coca-Cola, said that, ‘we’re looking at music more holistically than just the song in the ad… We really strive to create a music culture through our brand that enables this connection to happen authentically, leveraging artists, of course, but also by creating music experiences that make the programme richer.’
This Coke Studio collab brings together Imagine Dragons with the Inner City Youth Orchestra of Los Angeles for a performance of ‘Symphony’ that fuses rock with classical to create a ‘Real Magic’ moment courtesy of the brand:
By strategically bringing together two diverse music audiences, Coke have expanded their brand message even further. It’s a highly successful way of enhancing brand messaging with music.
Dialling up the Emotion
As well as creating experiences, you can also forge an emotional connection through music selection. Just think of all those John Lewis Christmas campaigns, where the tracks are carefully chosen to reinforce the feelings of the ad – generally covers of well-known songs that go alongside a heartwarming storyline.
Lily Allen’s cover of ‘Somewhere Only We Know’, soundtracked the gorgeous animation for ‘The Bear and the Hare’:
The combination of the ad and the track not only took the song to No. 1 in the charts, but also helped to generate over 53 million YouTube views for this video – which cannily shows a behind the scenes of the artistry used to create the ad, for an added brand boost:
It’s the perfect example of brand storytelling through music – the tracks they pick are very familiar, but the versions that John Lewis use are different. It makes you listen to the track in a new way, and suggests that it’s unique to the ad. By often using younger artists, they appeal to a wider demographic who’ll be drawn to engage with the ad because they’re a fan.
Reportedly costing £1 million to make, ‘The Bear and the Hare’ resulted in online sales increasing by nearly 23% for John Lewis and overall seasonal sales that totalled £734 million. Like for like sales compared with Christmas two years previously were up 20.5% - it’s pretty stellar in terms of ROI.
What other tips can we give you? Well, apart from choosing the right track and artist, making sure the music works with the structure and tone of your ad is also crucial; are you bringing the drama, music-wise, at the right moments to create your desired emotional effect?
Adapting Music to Different Media Platforms
Industry experts Kantar say that 84% of the ads that they test globally have music. However, if you’re licensing music to increase your ROI, then think carefully about where you’re placing your ad: sound is much less likely to be on in some platforms. While subtitles are commonplace, if your ad doesn’t work without the music, then avoid these environments or platforms.
Kantar’s Link ad testing database shows that 50% of Facebook ads contain music – but behavioural metrics suggest that around 85% of viewing on Facebook is done with the sound off. That’s potentially a lot of unjustified expense. YouTube and TikTok? Very much ‘sound on’ platforms, with TikTok in particular having music at its heart.
Best Practices for Effective Music Licensing
On average, music is around 4% of an ad’s production budget. However, there are ways in which you can use music licensing to save you money. By re-using the same creative, but setting it to new music, you can save on production costs and give an already successful ad a longer lifespan.
Mercedes’ adorable ‘Snow Date’ ad, for example, used two different tracks – ‘Feel My Love’ and ‘Don’t Ever Lose Your Innocence’:
When you’re looking for ad music, you need to be across copyright. It’s easy to fall foul of licensing on platforms such as YouTube (which can take down your channel if you’re found to be flouting the rules.)
Here are the basics of copyright music:
The copyright holder of a music piece – often called the ‘author’ – is the person who created the song. Usually, this is a composer or a lyricist.
The author possesses the right to ensure others are not reproducing, distributing, utilising, performing or playing the song in public without their permission.
Regardless of the genre, the author automatically gains copyright protection when they create a musical composition.
A musical piece is protected under copyright law for the author’s entire lifetime, plus 70 years. After this, the music becomes part of the public domain.
Licensing popular tracks can be expensive, so if your brand doesn’t have a big budget for music, then look to a reputable music licensing platform like Audio Network. Thousands of original, high-quality tracks are at your fingertips, with all the licensing pre-cleared for global use.
Using pre-cleared music ensures that you’re adhering to all compliance rules and avoiding any potential legal issues. Find out more about licensing by reading Audio Network’s FAQs.
Find out more about licensing with our explainer:
Copyright for Artists, Composers and Specific Recordings
What about if you’re an artist, or own the rights to a specific recording of a piece of music? Usually, the author or composer of a track (whether it’s the music or lyrics) assigns the copyright to a publisher to license for them. The piece stays under copyright for the duration of the author’s life, plus an additional 70 years. For sound recordings, in most countries it’s 70 years from the end of the calendar year of release (if it was first released after 1963), and sound recordings are usually licensed by the record label.
Here at Audio Network, we’ve been fortunate enough to contribute music to enthralling brand stories from LEGO to Durex, BP to Lipton Tea.
If you’re interested in using one of our syncs, submit a music brief and our expert in-house teams can curate a selection of tracks, carefully tailored to your project, for more help in licensing music that’s going to maximise your ROI and develop effective music curation for brand consistency.
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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You need to buy music for video production! Imagine a horror film with the sound off. It’s less scary, isn’t it? Music is responsible for guiding and driving so much of the emotion you feel when you’re watching a film or TV programme, an advert or a video game.
It can tell you who’s the hero or the villainess – and give depth to both. You can even use it to misdirect the audience. Your hero? Actually, he’s been the villain pulling the strings from the start… However, not all the music that is being used has necessarily been composed specifically for the film or programme that you’re watching.
Production music (aka library or stock music) has been specifically composed for sync, but not for a specific production – it can be used anywhere from TV to ads, films or for video content.
It’s all cleared; there’s no need to get further copyright permissions
Straightforward licensing costs make budgeting easier
It’s a simple, quick and cost-effective way of securing original, high-quality music
The music is available in a variety of moods, lengths and mixes
How Do You Choose the Best Production Music?
Production music is a convenient resource, as most libraries offer a broad range of musical styles and genres. It can be challenging to know where to start, though, and choosing your music has the potential to be an enormously time-consuming process.
So, here are our top tips:
What Mood or Emotion Are You Looking To Create?
Planet Earth II’s astonishing ‘Iguana vs Snakes’ sequence is brilliantly shot and edited. But would we have had our hearts in our mouths, and been on the edge of our seats, willing a lizard to run for its life and escape that mass of snakes without its expertly-selected and crafted soundtrack? It’s a story of tension – stay stock still or run, literally for your life – and repeated peril for the iguana, and triumph then failure for the snakes. The music creates the atmosphere, and helps to tell the story, whilst ramping up the viewer’s emotion.
The production music you choose doesn’t only enhance the viewer’s feelings. It can also be used to indicate tone and speed up, or slow down a scene. As a first step, you need to define the genre, feeling or atmosphere that you’re looking to create, and the pace. This will cut down the amount of time you spend trawling through endless tracks on music libraries.
What Are the Keywords That Will Give You the Best Search Results?
Do you want your audience to feel scared or sombre? Joyful or giddy with love? When you’ve decided on the feeling or tone – action, creeping dread, nostalgia, romance, yearning – draw up a list of keywords to help you to narrow down your search. Write down as many as you can think of off the top of your head, and then refine them.
Searching for action? That’s easy on Audio Network – look under the ‘Production Genre’ tab, and it’s right at the top. Then you could also put in search terms such as ‘exhilarating’, ‘heroic’ and ‘energy’. Or, you can search via particular musical genres, instruments, or bpm.
Create a Playlist
When you’ve nailed your search terms and are ready to dive in, create a playlist. This will enable you to compare and contrast – and also allows you to see which particular genres or instruments speak to you. Is it the dramatic drums that will ramp up the tension? Or, should you look for some more haunting strings for that nostalgic sequence?
You could create a collection of go-to playlists for a variety of projects. Perhaps one for epic trailer music, or nature documentaries? Happy, celebratory music for wedding videos, or tracks rooted in emotion?
Make Sure You’ve Got the Rights to Your Chosen Music
Despite the plethora of music you can download for free on Spotify, you can’t just put any music into your production – you can find yourself in hot water, legally. So, your options are to hire a composer or musician, or find music that you can license. Yes, there are plenty of royalty-free sites available, but your project is unique and your music should be too.
Audio Network has a catalogue of over 200,000 tracks, which are ideal for film or video productions, and a team of music specialists on hand to advise you. Every track has a variety of cut-downs and mixes, making it easy to find exactly the right piece, at the right length. We work with over 1,000 composers, artists and musicians and record in the world’s most renowned studios, including Abbey Road.
Production Music Types
Whether you’re creating a documentary, short feature or blockbuster trailer, choosing the correct production music for your piece is crucial. Here we’ve broken down some of the most common queries and searches for production music types.
Orchestral Production Music
What’s unique about Audio Network’s Classical Collection? We’ve arranged, recorded and edited all the pieces of music specifically for media use. The iconic compositions tell universal, timeless stories of romance, yearning, celebration, war, temptation, lust, wrath, death and grief. Even humour features in Saint-Saëns’ Carnival of the Animals.
Each collection of tracks includes a huge variety of edits and cut-downs. Want an aria without the vocal? Done. Need to heighten emotion? There’ll be a version which ramps up the harmonies, strings or percussion. We’ve looked at the classical canon through an editor’s eye, to make it easier than ever to incorporate fantastic classical production music to tell your story.
Production Music for Trailers
Successful trailer music delivers an intense emotional backdrop, grabbing the audience’s attention. It can evoke an ominous sense of expectation, or deliver an assault on the senses. Working with world-renowned composers to produce music of the highest level, our Maximum Impact collection spans all genres from stirring emotional drama, through to blistering apocalyptic action and everything in-between.
The collection is music composed, recorded and produced specifically for trailers. Showcasing epic emotion, it is designed to create unrivalled reaction for blockbuster movies and television.
Our diverse roster of award-winning composers, including Lorne Balfe (Mission Impossible, Top Gun: Maverick), Mark Petrie (Guardians of the Galaxy and Avengers: Endgame), Luke Richards (Transformers: The Last Knight and videogame Call of Duty) and Mark Denis (X-Men: Apocalypse and Zero Dark Thirty), are at the top of their field. They are experts in creating music to drive powerful emotions and know how to maximise intensity to thrill an audience.
Looking for music to motivate, inspire and engage your audience? Whether it’s for explainer videos or brand presentations, or a soundtrack to your annual conference sizzle reel, we have a mass of pumping, powerful, uplifting tracks. Check out our Business & Brands playlist:
Cartoon Production Music
For cartoon capers, we have everything from crazy free form jazz to comedy chases and, if you want something vintage, even a melodramatic steam train getaway. Check out this selection:
The US is home to a huge range of music styles, from the Blues to Nashville-based, pedal steel-infused Country Rock. Go back to the dawn of rock and roll to sample some Rockabilly, or jump on your Harley and embrace your inner rebel with our Rock list.
The Beats Series is your go-to source for the ultimate collection of hip hop – from the East Coast to the West Coast, trap to UK grime. Divided into six different playlists, the series expertly covers production types such as ‘Sports’ and ‘Party’, together with staples from sub-genres including UK hip hop and grime, trap and classic sounds.
Indie Production Music
From indie rock to indie reggae, fresh cuts to old favourites, catchy hooks, guitars and vocals all feature on this eclectic playlist.
Summer Production Music
Looking for a track to create that Route 66 road trip vibe? Or the ideal backdrop to a poolside scene? Or maybe to give the stifling feel of summer in the city or the dry heat of the desert. Check out our hand-picked playlist of sun-drenched sounds.
Christmas Production Music
Bring festive cheer to your projects with our Christmas collections. Innocent nostalgia, heart-warming big band, stunning orchestral arrangements of traditional classics, rock & roll to RnB, traditional and contemporary. Our Christmas catalogue has a full spectrum of sounds and songs for the holiday period.
Different Eras
50s Production Music
The 1950s encompass everything from the early Rockabilly days to full-throttle Rock and Roll. Or you could return to the classic days of cool jazz and big band, or some boogie-woogie swing.
Travel back to the era of flares and the Watergate scandal, the Vietnam War and women’s rights with retro rock, glam and funky floor fillers.. We have everything you need to set the soundtrack for the 70s.
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
It hasn’t always been an easy road to rise up as a female MC in the rap landscape; often, hip hop culture itself has been accused of misogyny. However, hip hop has always been home to strong female trailblazers, lending their voices to the movement and carving out their own destinies on the mic.
We all have women who inspire us – let’s take a look at some of the greatest women in hip hop.
Who Are the Women Who Changed Hip-Hop?
Cardi B
Megan Thee Stallion
Nicki Minaj
Princess Nokia
MIA
Rapsody
Lizzo
Tierra Whack
Iggy Azalea
Lady Leshurr
Eve
Tink
Stefflon Don
Lauryn Hill
Lil’ Kim
Missy Elliott
MC Lyte
Salt-N-Pepa
Queen Latifah
Foxy Brown
2000s Female Rappers
Cardi B
Megan Thee Stallion
Nicki Minaj
Princess Nokia
MIA
Rapsody
Lizzo
Tierra Whack
Iggy Azalea
Lady Leshurr
Eve
Tink
Stefflon Don
Cardi B
Bronx native Cardi B first gained notoriety as a regular on Love & Hip Hop: New York. She released mixtapes Gangsta Bitch Music, Vol. 1 and Vol. 2 before signing with Atlantic Records in early 2017. Her debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy (2018), went straight in at No. 1 on the Billboard 200, went gold within 24 hours and was named as the top female rap album of the 2010s by Billboard. It also won the Grammy Award for Best Rap Album, making Cardi B the only woman to win the award as a solo artist. ‘WAP’, the lead single from her second album, confirmed her position as the female rapper with the most Hot 100 No. 1 singles.
In a recent chat with fellow diva Mariah Carey for Interview Magazine, Cardi reflected on the pressures placed on women in the business, saying, ‘people always have crazy expectations, especially when it comes to female rap. It’s not like it’s a competition, but people are always comparing and comparing and comparing. It’s almost like they want to see you fail.’ As Billboard honoured her as their Woman of the Year in 2020, we think it’s fair to say that Cardi B’s in no danger of failing.
The ‘Bodak Yellow’ video sees Cardi bossing it in Dubai and New York, accompanied by a cheetah…
Megan Thee Stallion
Megan Thee Stallion’s name comes from the Southern term ‘stallion’: a tall woman with long legs and a fit body. And she comes from a line of rappers – her mother, Holly-Wood was also a rapper, and was her daughter’s manager. Her debut studio album, Good News, was released in November 2020, and went straight in at No. 2 on the Billboard 200, and at No. 1 on the Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums.
Megan is now managed by Jay-Z’s company, Roc Nation and has been listed as one of the Forbes 2020 ’30 under 30′ – plus, in 2020, Time magazine named her as one of the 100 most influential people in the world on their annual list. Her hypersexualised style sees her rapping about her body, and being in control of men. She scored her first No. 1 on the Billboard Rhythmic Songs chart with ‘Hot Girl Summer’, featuring Nicki Minaj. As regards being a Hot Girl, she tweeted that it’s ‘about being unapologetically YOU, having fun, being confident, living YOUR truth, being the life of the party, etc.’
Nicki Minaj
In 2010, Nicki Minaj became the first female solo artist to have seven singles simultaneously charting on the U.S. Billboard Hot 100. With Pink Friday, her first solo studio album in 2010, she was certified triple platinum. Despite only six years in the spotlight, she landed on Time‘s ‘100 Most Influential People in the World’ list.
She’s the only woman to be featured on Forbes’ ‘Hip Hop Cash Kings’ list, rising as high as number 4, plus, she’s won six American Music Awards, four MTV Video Music Awards, four Billboard Music Awards and been nominated for 10 Grammy Awards.
Most recently, her feature on the remix of Doja Cat’s ‘Say So’ and her 6ix9ine collaboration ‘Trollz’, both released in 2020, marked her first and second No. 1 singles on the Hot 100, having sold an estimated 100 million records worldwide during her career to date.
‘Anaconda’ been viewed over 900 million times – it might be a bit NSFW (her visuals are as raunchy as her lyrics), but it shows Nicki in full effect, working it as only she can.
Princess Nokia
Destiny Nicole Frasqueri, aka Princess Nokia, is a strong supporter of intersectional feminism and the gay community and she continues to shine a spotlight on colonial history as well.
She really rose to prominence when her album 1992 was revamped by Rough Trade Records and released in 2017 as 1992 Deluxe. The album talks about her journey growing up in the Bronx, her heritage and goth culture. Her 2018 EP, A Girl Cried Red, blends emo and goth culture with trap production.
The video for ‘I Like Him’ has a sci-fi plotline in which Princess Nokia uses virtual reality to find her ideal match, appearing as a cyborg, ordering up men on demand.
MIA
MIA became one of the most talked-about hip hop artists of the 2000s. The British-Sri Lankan’s music brings together elements from hip hop, world music, dance and electronic with political and philosophical commentary. She released her first album in 2005, Arular, and ‘Paper Planes’ from her second album, Kala, reached No. 4 in the Billboard Hot 100. She’s the first person of South Asian descent to be nominated for an Academy Award and a Grammy Award in the same year, and was named one of the defining artists of the decade by Rolling Stone.
‘Bad Girls’ is taken from her fourth studio album, Matangi. In 2012, the NME decided that the Romain Gavras-directed video was ‘the best video of the 21st Century’ after it won the top prize at the UK Music Video Awards. It’s got a bold, technicolour vibe, and has a political element – taking on Saudi Arabia’s ban on women driving.
Rapsody
Rapsody is one of only six females to be nominated for the Grammy’s Best Rap Album (alongside Lauryn Hill, Missy Elliott, Eve, Nicki Minaj, Iggy Azalea and Cardi B). She bridges the gap between old school female rapper (Queen Latifah features on her track ‘Hatshepsut’) and the newer kids on the block; when it dropped in 2017, Busta Rhymes said her album Laila’s Wisdom was probably the best album he’d heard in the past 10 years.
She’s got a style all her own – there aren’t many other artists who’d sample Herbie Hancock and Phil Collins – and her concept album Eve‘s tracks are each named after an iconic Black woman. Her lyrics cover everything from gender politics to Black women’s bodies, self-determination and the murder of Black men.
Lizzo
She may have appeared to shoot to fame from nowhere, but actually, Lizzo released her debut album Lizzobangers on a Minneapolis indie label back in 2013. You’d have to say Lizzo’s unique, though – she spans not only the hip hop press, but also ClassicFM.com, owing to the fact that she’s a professionally-trained flautist. She stormed the charts with Cuz I Love You in 2019, and was named Time‘s Entertainer of the Year. Not content with that, she boosted beginner flute sales while she was at it. (In an interview with FOX Business, the Flute Center of New York claimed they’d risen by 30%, owing to ‘the Lizzo effect’.)
Her infectious energy and messages of self-love, body positivity and self-care have made her a cultural icon, and her music marks her out as a total one-off, blending hip hop with soul, R&B and funk-pop. Want to feel instantly uplifted? Grab yourself some ‘Juice’ and dance around to Lizzo’s 80s-inspired aerobics workout.
Tierra Whack
For a rapper as super-fast as she’s supa fly (she’s been referred to as the Missy Elliott of her generation), turn to unique star Tierra Whack, whose album Whack World (2018) is full of witty songs that are under a minute long. With inspirations from Dr. Seuss and Sesame Street, her tracks have a cartoony feel, tackling topics like heartbreak with a sharp humour that really cuts through. Whack released each track on Instagram, accompanied by a short film.
Despite The Fader calling her, ‘the poster child of a kind of post-clout-era artist’, she’s hardly under the radar: she was Billboard‘s artist of the year, she made the Forbes 2020 ’30 under 30′ list, and this video for ‘Mumbo Jumbo’ received a Grammy nomination. It’s not the most reassuring depiction of dentistry for anyone with a phobia, but it definitely looks like absolutely no other video on our list, demonstrating Tierra Whack’s one-of-a-kind artistry and worldview.
Iggy Azalea
A white Australian who conquered US hip hop? Yes, it could be done. Azalea’s debut single, ‘Fancy’ saw her become only the fourth solo female rapper to top the Billboard Hot 100. Controversy followed in her wake, owing to Azalea’s appropriation of an accent that clearly wasn’t hers – rapper Jean Grae described it as ‘verbal blackface’. However, Azalea’s view (in a 2013 interview) was, ‘I don’t think the voice makes me fake; it makes me an artist. Voice is my medium. I should have creative rein to do whatever I want with it.’
She released her debut mixtape Ignorant Art in 2011, and her debut studio album was The New Classic in 2014. When it hit the top of the Billboard Top R&B/Hip Hop Albums chart, Azalea became the first non-American female rapper to reach the top of the chart.
Her videos are often comedic and she’s paid homage to cult films including Priscilla, Queen of the Desert in ‘Work’; Showgirls in ‘Change your Life’ and Kill Bill in ‘Black Widow’.
Lady Leshurr
Birmingham rapper Lady Leshurr may currently be hitting up reality TV (she was on the 2020 series of Celebrity Masterchef, and has most recently been seen learning to skate on ITV’s Dancing on Ice), but she’s widely considered to be one of the most successful female grime artists.
She started writing lyrics from the age of six, and released her first mixtape at fourteen. Best known for her Queen’s Speech series of freestyles (2016), she won a MOBO Award for Best Female Act that year. This video for ‘Queen’s Speech 4’ has clocked up over 62.5 million views and sees Lady L wandering down a fairly deserted road and offering a public service by reminding you to brush your teeth, amongst other things.
Eve
Coming up in the late 90s, you’d know Eve from her platinum buzz cut and paw-print tattoos on her chest. The choirgirl from west Philadelphia originally wanted to be a singer, but joined an all-female group called Dope Girl Posse and switched to rapping. She went to ‘hip hop bootcamp’ when she signed to the Bronx label Ruff Ryders, and her debut album, Let There Be Eve, hit No. 1 in the US in 1999.
Hits such as ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’, ‘Who’s That Girl’, ‘Gangsta Lovin” and ‘Tambourine’ earned her a Grammy Award, a BET Award and she’s also had a successful daytime chatshow in the States and appeared in films.
Revisit 2001 with ‘Let Me Blow Ya Mind’, which saw Eve teaming up with Gwen Stefani, and netted the pair a Grammy Award for Best Rap/Sung Collaboration. This video won the 2001 MTV Video Music Award for Best Female Video, as the two gals get stuck in at a stuffy club and cause some low-key mayhem before being arrested – then bailed out with a big bag of cash by a mate.
Tink
Tink made a name for herself as a teenager in the early 2010s with numerous mixtapes, leading to a contract with Timbaland’s label. She also featured on tracks by Future Brown, Sleigh Bells, Kelela and Timbaland and collaborated with singer and producer Jeremih on ‘Don’t Tell Nobody’.
Compared to Lauryn Hill, Ms. Jade and Da Brat, her second mixtape, Alter Ego, established her rapping skills, and lyrically, she’s taken on issues such as female empowerment and the Black Lives Matter movement.
Stefflon Don
Stephanie Victoria Allen is one of Britain’s biggest music exports, with nearly 6 billion streams globally and 1.4m subscribers on YouTube. She hit the scene with her debut mixtape, Real Ting, in 2016 and a year later was picked for the BBC’s newcomer list, Sound of 2017. Her breakout single, ‘Hurtin’ Me’, which featured US rapper French Montana, made the top 10 in the UK, and in 2018, she became the first British artist to make the legendary US hip hop magazine XXL‘s Freshman List.
90s Female Rappers
Lauryn Hill
Lil’ Kim
Missy Elliott
MC Lyte
Salt-N-Pepa
Queen Latifah
Foxy Brown
90s hip hop has been referred to as the genre’s golden age, with style, creativity and innovation by the bucket load. The top female rappers and MCs of the 90s showcased their confidence, sexuality and lyrics.
Lauryn Hill
In terms of female hip hop artists of the 90s, Lauryn Hill became the first female rapper to have a No. 1 Billboard single with ‘Doo Wop (That Thing)’ in 1998. Her iconic album, The Miseducation of Lauryn Hill, won five Grammy Awards, was a global hit, and according to the Guardian, ‘channelled some precious learning for a generation or more of young women, black and white alike; one in which a ferociously talented artist preached self-determination and self-respect, self-knowledge and getting one’s due’ – they also acknowledge it as the ‘foremother’ to Beyoncé’s Lemonade and Janelle Monae’s Dirty Computer.
Lauryn Hill had previously driven the huge hits ‘Killing Me Softly’ and ‘Ready or Not’ with the Fugees on 1996 album The Score, making the trio into global stars – the album has been certified as seven times platinum, with an estimated 22 million copies sold worldwide. In 2020, it was ranked number 134 on Rolling Stone‘s list of the 500 Greatest Albums of All Time.
Lil’ Kim
Paving the way for Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion was the outrageous Lil’ Kim. She began rapping as a teenager, influenced by Diana Ross and fellow hip hop artists such as MC Lyte and The Lady of Rage.
She kick-started her career after meeting The Notorious B.I.G. and joining his group Junior M.A.F.I.A. in 1994. Lil’ Kim’s debut album, Hard Core (1996) was certified double platinum and ‘No Time’, ‘Not Tonight’ and ‘Crush on You’ were all No. 1 rap hits – she’s the only female rapper besides Missy Elliott to have three platinum albums.
The video for ‘Lady Marmalade’ brings together Missy Elliott, Lil’ Kim, Mya, P!nk and Christina Aguilera in a festival of feathers, fans, sequins, tons of bling and all the glamorous excess of the Moulin Rouge. Not to mention a killer rap from Kim. ‘Why spend mine, when I can spend yours?’ Well, exactly.
Missy Elliott
Missy launched her solo career in 1997 with debut album, Supa Dupa Fly, after a hugely successful career as a producer with her friend Timbaland. She’s now worth approximately $50 million, making her one of the richest female rappers in the world. Nominated 22 times, she’s won four Grammy awards, and sold over 30 million records worldwide; she’s also the first female hip hop artist to have been inducted into the Songwriters Hall of Fame.
Feeling like you’ve lost your fashion mojo after being stuck at home for so long? Channel some Missy and make a vast outfit out of black bin bags and you’re ready to take on the world. ‘The Rain (Supa Dupa Fly)’ features a quintessentially Missy look – futuristic, OTT and totally unlike anyone else.
MC Lyte
Lana Michelle Moorer, aka MC Lyte, began rapping at 12 and was the first solo female rapper to release a full album. Beyond influencing everyone from Lil’ Kim and Missy Elliott to Lauryn Hill and Eve, MC Lyte also collaborated with Sinead O’Connor, Janet Jackson, Brandy, P. Diddy, Will Smith and Beyoncé.
‘Ruffneck’ earned her the first gold certification by a female solo rap artist and was taken from her 1993 album, Ain’t No Other. The track was nominated for a Grammy for Best Rap Single – MC Lyte was also the first solo female rapper nominated for a Grammy.
Salt-N-Pepa
Cheryl James (Salt) and Sandra Denton (Pepa) formed their trio toward the beginning of the hip hop movement in 1985. One of the first all-female acts, they were initially accompanied by Latoya Hanson, but she was eventually replaced by Deidra Roper (DJ Spinderella).
‘Push It’ from their first album became a platinum single and earned their first Grammy nomination. Salt-N-Pepa went on to win the 1995 Grammy for Best Rap Performance by a Duo or Group for their track ‘None of Your Business’.
The video’s had over 123 million views and sees the three girls in full gold chains, hoops and oversized letterman jackets.
Queen Latifah
Queen Latifah signed with Tommy Boy Records and released her debut album in 1989 at the age of 19. A feminist from the start, she came out of the gate with the hit single ‘Ladies First’ and took a firm stance against misogyny with the Grammy-winning single ‘U.N.I.T.Y’, (from her 1993 album Black Reign), which slapped down the harassment of women.
She was the first female hip hop artist nominated for an Oscar (for Best Supporting Actress in her role as Matron ‘Mama’ Morton in Chicago) and counts a Grammy, a Golden Globe, two Screen Actors Guild Awards, two NAACP Image Awards, and an Emmy – not to mention a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame – amongst her haul of accolades.
Foxy Brown
Foxy Brown was discovered at a local talent show by the hitmaking production duo Trackmasters (then working on LL Cool J’s Mr Smith album). Released in 1996 on Def Jam a week after Lil’ Kim’s debut, Foxy Brown’s album, Ill Na Na looped R&B into hip hop, creating a genre-shifting sound. It spawned her highest-charting hit to date, ‘I’ll Be’, featuring none other than Jay-Z.
Her sex-positive image, confidence and lyrics set the standard for future artists such as Missy Elliott, Cardi B and Nicki Minaj. Minaj has said that without Foxy, she ‘may never even have started rapping’ and hailed Foxy as ‘the most influential female rapper.’ Havoc from Mobb Deep revealed that ‘Foxy was always passionate for what she did. She wanted to spit a hot rhyme. She wouldn’t just say anything; the bars had to be real hot. She was a little bit more savvy with her lyrics.’
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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‘Vlog music’is such a generic term because, ultimately, the type of music you choose depends on the kind of video you’re creating. Hence, we’ve sectioned our vlog music into seven distinct categories to help you find a track with ease. We know… we’re too good to you.
From prank vlogs to beauty vlogs, fitness vlogs to gamer vlogs, the internet is awash with different types of videos that educate, entertain and inspire. Find a selection of appropriate tracks for each type of vlog, below.
Reviews Vlog Music
We all love a review vlog – especially those that involve an unboxing – but, the question is, what kind of music do you edit into one? Well, it has to be something that keeps the viewers engaged during those show-them-what-they-came-here-for scenes, but it also has to be something that doesn’t distract from the product – or movie or book – you’re reviewing. So, here are the upbeat songs for vlogs we’re suggesting as a happy middle ground.
A prank vlog calls for a very specific type of music piece that complements the main attraction. It needs to be novel; it needs to be mischievous and, last but not least, it needs to be comedic. Naturally, we’ve selected three happy vlog music tracks that tick each of these boxes.
A travel vlog’s purpose is to open the viewer’s eyes to the awe-inspiring beauty of the world – to rouse the travel bug inside of the individual. Therefore, a travel vlog’s soundtrack needs to transport the viewer to destinations across the world. Find travel vlog musicinspired by the four corners of the world, here.
For the content creators hoping to influence the way others look and feel – AKA the beauty, fashion and fitness vloggers – we have a whole host of background music tracks to aid your content. Here are just three to help you get started.
From home interior tours to wholesome food tutorials, some of the most popular videos available on the web are lifestyle-centric vlogs. Make sure yours stands out with one of our vlog background music tracks.
Looking to score a winner with your latest gamer vlog? The key is to add a touch of captivating music (extra points if it’s aptly electronic). Immerse yourself in our carefully-collated pick of Youtube vlog background tracks below.
When we think of pop culture, we think of all of the things we love – from Marvel’s Cinematic Universe to Game of Thrones or Netflix’s Tiger King. Therefore, a pop culture vlog needs to incorporate tracks that are zestful and versatile. Fortunately, we have a range of upbeat songs for vlogsstored safely in our virtual catalogue.
Audio Network makes things hassle-free by providing vloggers with high-quality, licensed tracks that they can simply add to their latest masterpiece.
By purchasing music from us, you can rest assured knowing that your vlog is free of any legal restrictions, as our tracks are pre-cleared for use on any – and we mean ANY – platform across the world. Find whatever you need from our catalogue of 200,000+ tracks, from ambient to urban, electronic to classical favourites, to suit any style, mood or genre.
Need Music for Your Project?
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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Vibrant and energetic, Nigerian music includes genres such as Afrobeat, highlife and Jùjú. But what is its history, who have been its most successful and influential musicians, and who are the best Nigerian artists to listen to?
When it comes to the history of Nigerian music, little is known about it prior to European contact – though bronze carvings dating back to the 16th century have been found, depicting musicians with their instruments.
Traditional music from Nigeria is almost always functional, to mark rituals such as weddings or funerals, together with work songs, sung in the fields, and by women, who use complex rhythms in tasks such as pounding yams.
Highlife
Highlife music originated in Ghana in the late 19th century, then spread to western Nigeria, where it flourished in the 1950s among the Igbo people. Originally primarily performed by brass bands along the Ghanaian coast, by the early 20th century, the bands had brought in a vocal component and stylistic elements of local music traditions and jazz.
In Nigeria, highlife was transformed with asymmetrical drum rhythms derived from the Yoruba people’s drumming, and combined with syncopated guitar melodies. The songs were sung in either Yoruba or English. After the civil war in the 1960s, Igbo musicians were forced out of Lagos and returned to their homeland, with the result that highlife ceased to be a major part of mainstream Nigerian music.
Jùjú music emerged from highlife to take over as the most popular style. However, Umu Obiligbo – Igbo highlife musicians and brothers Chukwuebuka Akunwafor and Ifeanyichukwu Okpuozor – are still singing highlife in its original Igbo style, whilst also featuring Afropop musicians on some of their tracks.
Jùjú Music
Jùjú is another style of Yoruba music – the name comes from the Yoruba word ‘juju’ or ‘jiju’, meaning ‘throwing’ or ‘something being thrown’ and the lead instrument is the lya Ilu, or talking drum.
In the 1930s, early Nigerian fusion Jùjú music originated in Lagos. Jùjú has similarities with rap, as it mainly focuses on talking about people and things – the first recordings were made by Yoruba musician Tunde King in 1929. It was informal music played at parties or for friends; artists such as Irewole Denge, Ojoge Daniel and Ebenezer Obey popularized it in the 1930s, playing at concerts.
A Pioneer of Modern World Music
King Sunny Adé, born in 1946, is one of the most popular Nigerian Jùjú music artists and has been hailed as a pioneer of modern world music and is highly influential – he was the first to introduce the pedal steel guitar to Nigerian pop, and pioneered the use of synths, vibraphone and tenor guitar in the Jùjú repertoire.
In the 70s and 80s, Sunny Adé toured America and Europe, where he played to mixed audiences. Trey Anastasio, an American guitarist, explained Adé’s musical approach, and why he admired his music so much:
‘Sunny Adé’s music is characterised by, among other instruments, the Talking drum – an instrument indigenous to his Yoruba roots, the guitar and his peculiar application to Jùjú music that would easily put him in the same class as guitar musicians like Santana. His music is in the age-old tradition of singing poetic lyrics, (“Ewi” in Yoruba) and praise of dignitaries as well components of “Jùjú” (traditional African belief) called the “Ogede”- “casting a spell”. Hence, Adé’s music constitutes a record of the oral tradition of his people for posterity.’
The release of Odu, a collection of traditional Yoruba songs, in 1998 saw Adé become the first African to be nominated twice for a Grammy, and in the 1980s, his music was featured in the Richard Gere film Breathless.
Afrobeat
Afrobeat is a fusion of jazz, funk, highlife, salsa, calypso, and traditional Nigerian Yoruba music, pioneered by Nigerian multi-instrumentalist and activist Fela Kuti (1938-1997).
Kuti was the son of Nigerian women’s rights activist Funmilayo Ransome-Kuti, and shot to stardom in Nigeria during the 1970s. He was known for his showmanship, but political meaning was always threaded through his music. In an interview in Hank Bordowitz’s Noise of the World, he stated, ‘Music is supposed to have an effect. If you’re playing music and people don’t feel something, you’re not doing shit. That’s what African music is about. When you hear something, you must move. I want to move people to dance, but also to think. Music wants to dictate a better life, against a bad life. When you’re listening to something that depicts having a better life, and you’re not having a better life, it must have an effect on you.’
‘Kannywood’
In the 1980s, Bollywood films began to be introduced to Nigeria, which were then translated and remade in the Hausa language, leading to a new music genre, wakokin fina-fina.
In the late 1990s, the Northern Nigerian film industry, known as Kannywood, developed and this style of music, also called Nanaye, became widespread. It involves a call-and-response structure, and features both male and female vocalists.
One of the most prolific female composers, Maryam A Baba, has written more than 5,000 songs, including tracks for the film industry.
The Nigerian Music Industry
The Nigerian music industry is going from strength to strength, with artists such as Burna Boy winning the Best World Music Album with Twice as Tall at the Grammys, and Wizkid hitting the Billboard Hot 100 four times to date – the most for an African artist.
Top 5 Nigerian Artists
Burna Boy
Wizkid
Davido
Tiwa Savage
Olamide
Burna Boy
Damini Ogulu – aka Burna Boy – is a singer, songwriter and record producer, who rose to fame in 2012 after releasing ‘Like to Party’ from his debut studio album L.I.F.E. He describes his music as Afro-fusion – a blend of Afrobeats, R&B, hip hop, dancehall and reggae.
Burna Boy won Best International Act at the 2019 BET Awards – he’s since become the first African artist to bag three nominations and win consecutively (in 2019, 2020 and 2021). His fourth studio album, African Giant, won Album of the Year at the 2019 All Africa Music Awards.
Fifth studio album Twice as Tall debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard World Albums chart and won Best World Music Album at the Grammy Awards, making him the first Nigerian artist with back-to-back nominations at the awards. He also won Best International Act at the MOBO Awards, where he was up against industry heavyweights including Drake, Megan Thee Stallion and Lil Baby.
Burna Boy is also known for his collabs – he’s featured on Justin Bieber’s ‘Loved by You’ and Sam Smith’s ‘My Oasis’ and appeared alongside Ed Sheeran on Stormzy’s single ‘Own It’ from his Heavy is the Head album.
WizKid
2022 was the first year that the Headies Awards are coming to America from Nigeria, marking the fact that Afrobeats is now truly global, and Wizkid is leading the charge, with ten nominations.
The Nigerian singer/songwriter became the first Afrobeats artist to feature in the Guinness World Records under ‘Most streamed song on Spotify’ for his contribution to the hit song ‘One Dance’ in the 2018 edition (as well as appearing on the track, he also co-wrote and co-produced it.) The track also set a record for being the first to reach a billion streams on Spotify.
In February 2021, Wizkid was the most-streamed artist of all time on Spotify, with over 3.4 billions streams across all credits. He also became the first Nigerian musician to have over a million followers on Twitter.
Davido
Davido broke through in Africa in 2011, with hit single ‘Dami Duro’ from his debut album Omo Baba Olowo. His 2019 album, A Good Time, has earned over a billion streams and his 2020 follow-up, A Better Time, featured everyone from Nicki Minaj to Nas, Lil Baby and Young Thug.
Davido has always made a point of collaborating with up-and-coming African acts. His video for ‘La La’ features CKay and newer Nigerian musicians, such as Joeboy, Oxlade, and Blaqbonez.
In a recent Rolling Stone interview, he explained his take on collaborations is that, ‘You can’t just come and say, “Oh, I want to make a song with this guy because he’s going to get a million views in one day.” I don’t work like that. I work based on vibes. If I like the record, I’m probably going to do it. And that’s how me and CKay linked up, because I love his sound, and then he ended up having the biggest Afrobeats record ever.’
Tiwa Savage, aka The Queen of Afrobeats
The ‘Somebody’s Son’ singer recently received an honorary doctorate in music from the University of Kent in Canterbury. ‘Some call me queen, but it’s Dr. Savage from now on,’ she joked in her acceptance speech.
Savage started her music career at just sixteen and became the first African woman to win an MTV Europe Music Award. Over the course of her career, Tiwa has released four albums, 23 singles and was the first African woman to sell out the Indigo O2. She was also the first African woman to be a Pepsi brand ambassador, and appeared on the front cover of Billboard’s first issue devoted entirely to Africa.
The songwriter’s collaborations have received significant acclaim, and in 2010, her collaboration with Fantasia led to the artists receiving a Grammy nomination. As a solo artist, Tiwa has forged a path that draws from her musical beginnings of mainstream pop and R&B to develop a fusion heavily based on Afrobeats, typically switching between English and Yoruba in her lyrics. She’s said that, ‘There’s beauty in bringing both markets together and I had the ability to do it.’
Her 2020 album, Celia, features guest appearances from Davido, Sam Smith, Naira Marley and Stefflon Don.
Olamide
Nigerian rapper Olamide is one of Africa’s most influential artists, recording in both Yoruba and English, and with his own record label, YBNL Nation. He released debut studio album Rapsodi in 2011, with his twelfth album, UY Scuti, released in 2021.
He told Notion that, ‘the kind of music I make is really about moving ahead. Getting the people in a great mood, no matter what they’re going through. A lot of my albums from way back are centered around motivation, liberation and good music for people to vibe with. People are going through a lot, but they just want to be happy. For so long now, I’ve been giving people feel-good music that they can vibe with and just forget their sorrow.’
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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What is Afrobeats music? How did it begin? Which countries does it originate from? And what are some of the different variations within the genre? In this guide, we give you the skinny on all things Afrobeats-associated, plus share some of our current favourite Afrobeats artists, including Audio Network songwriting sensation Titi Lokei.
There’s a lot of confusion around the differences between Afrobeat and Afrobeats, so allow us to explain.
Afrobeat
Afrobeat’s earliest roots were laid in Ghana in the early 20th century with the birth of highlife, a musical style which blended West African folk sounds with elements from Western jazz and calypso. By the late 1950s, Nigerian musician Fela Kuti had begun exploring the possibilities of this new genre, adding elements from soul, jazz, R&B and soca into the mix.
In 1976, Fela and his band, Africa 70, released their debut LP Zombie, and with it established the classic Afrobeat sound, which embellished the aforementioned musical fusion with elements from funk, psychedelic rock and reggae. Under Fela’s guidance, political commentary became a key component of the Afrobeat genre, with artists seeking to inspire listeners to take action against government corruption and societal injustice.
Fela continued to spearhead the Afrobeat movement until his death in the late 90s, when his sons Seun and Femi took up the mantle. Meanwhile, Fela’s drummer Tony Allen further explored the possibilities of Afrobeat by pioneering a hip hop, dub and electronica-influenced sub-genre dubbed Afrofunk.
Afrobeats
The name Afrobeats was first coined in the early 00s as an umbrella term to describe a vibrant wave of pop music largely emerging from Nigeria and Ghana. Though undoubtedly influenced by Afrobeat, Afrobeats largely eschews political content in favour of more uplifting subject matter, and incorporates a dizzying range of musical styles, including dancehall, bashment, juju, Naija beats, soca, house, hip hop and R&B. There are also a plethora of subgenres, including Afropop, Afrobashment, Afrorave and Afroswing (a fusion of rap, grime, dancehall, trap and R&B pioneered by British-Gambian rapper J Hus).
Afrobeats’ meteoric rise can be attributed to several factors. Firstly, MTV Base Africa launching in 2005, broadcasting indigenous sounds globally. Secondly, the gradual dissolution of rigid genre boundaries, meaning that it’s now the norm for musicians to interpolate elements from disparate musical styles into their songwriting. As a result, the parameters of pop music are being rapidly redefined, with elements like driving, African-inspired drum rhythms becoming commonplace in modern pop.
Another key factor in Afrobeats’ rise in popularity is the fact that the US is home to a thriving West African diaspora. As Rolling Stone report, “Between 2000 and 2015, the African-immigrant population in just the United States more than doubled, exceeding 2 million.”
Key Characteristics of Afrobeats Music
So what does Afrobeats music sound like? There’s no foolproof formula but here are some of the common characteristics of the genre:
Uplifting melodies
Complex rhythms and heavy percussion
Hybrid languages
Digital production
Uplifting Melodies
Synonymous with celebrations, Afrobeats songs favour bright vocal melodies and party-ready rhythms.
Complex Rhythms & Heavy Percussion
Drawing on the rich history of West African drumming, Afrobeats productions usually foreground syncopated, dancefloor-designed rhythms.
Hybrid Languages
Afrobeats artists typically mix English with the West African languages, including Naijá (Pidgin English) in the case of Nigerian Afrobeats stars.
Digital Production
Where Afrobeat songs are largely created with analogue production – both by virtue of the instrumentation used and the era in which the bulk of tracks were made – Afrobeats records are generally digitally produced.
Afrobeats Artists You Need To Know
Tems
Titi Lokei
Rema
Amaarae
Obongjayar
Naira Marley
Beyond Grammy-approved behemoths like Burna Boy and Wizkid, where do you begin with Afrobeats? Below, we round up some of our current favourite Afrobeats artists.
Tems
Hailing from Lagos, Temilade Openiyi has enjoyed an abundance of high profile support since the release of her debut EP, For Broken Ears, back in 2020. A-list collaborations so far include work with Wizkid on his Grammy-nominated, US top 10 single ‘Essence’, as well as cameos on Drake’s sixth album Certified Lover Boy and on Future’s 2022 single ‘Wait For U’.
Titi Lokei
Audio Network artist Titi Lokei is a songwriting sensation. Drawing on her Nigerian heritage, the Chicago-born star fuses Afrobeats with influences from hip hop and pop, and has previously opened for acts including Jeremih, Wizkid, Davido and Twista.
Want to learn more about Titi? Check out her Talking Change episode:
Rema
Pioneer of the self-styled Afrobeats subgenre Afrorave – a phrase adapted from Benin City slang – Rema counts Selena Gomez, FKA Twigs, Skepta and Barack Obama amongst his high-profile fans. In addition, the Lagos-based star’s debut album Rave and Roses features collaborations with AJ Tracey, 6LACK and Chris Brown.
Amaarae
Born in New York and raised between Accra, Atlanta and Hackettstown, Amaarae’s cross-cultural experience is the driving force behind her deeply experimental ethos. Embraced and endorsed by the exciting melting pot of exuberant creativity that is Nigeria’s Alté scene, Amaarae is all about female empowerment and puts her West African heritage and influences at the core of everything she does, while challenging views on gender norms, female sexuality, artistic self-expression and more.
Obongjayar
Calabar-born, London-based singer Steven Umoh released his brilliant debut album Some Nights I Dream Of Doors back in May of 2022 to widespread acclaim. A chameleonic talent blending Afrobeats with an eclectic array of other influences, you might also recognise his distinctive vocals from his work with Little Simz, Giggs, Danny Brown, Pa Salieu and Moses Boyd.
Naira Marley
Known for his outspoken, anti-authoritarian outlook, Lagos-raised star Naira Marley creates Afrobeats music that draws on Caribbean dancehall as well as UK road rap. A viral sensation in his native Nigeria, he also runs the wildly successful record label Marlian Music.
Last Last…
Enjoyed learning about Afrobeats, and want to find out more about other musical styles? Head over to our blog, The Edit, which offers a veritable wealth of inspiration, expertise and news.
Looking to license music for TV, film or advertising? You’ve come to the right place. At Audio Network we offer an exhaustive selection of original music, pre-cleared globally, forever. Discover the best new albums, learn more about your licensing options and browse curated collections and themed playlists, including Kick Ass Women.
Need Music for Your Project?
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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How to License Music for Commercial Use
Thousands of people worldwide utilise our high-quality production music every day, and many use our licensable music for commercial use. But how do you purchase music for commercial use? And what do we mean by ‘commercial use’? It’s music used by for-profit businesses – projects that aim to financially benefit them in some way, shape or form.
From rock and pop to hip hop, every type of music is suited to commercial use, when placed in the right project. Below we highlight a selection of our best-loved commercial music offerings, right after we answer all of your most-searched questions surrounding the topic.
Music For Commercial Use
What is Commercial Use?
How Can I Use a Song For Commercial Use?
How to Use Commercial Music on YouTube
Can You Buy Music For Commercial Use?
Where to Get Music For Commercial Use
How to Download Music For Commercial Use on Audio Network
Why Do You Need A Licence?
Why The Right Music Matters
Choose Your Track By Instrument
Choose Your Track By Genre
Choose Your Track By Topic Playlist
What is Commercial Use?
The term ‘commercial use’ alludes to an individual or business using something to enhance a project that intends to make money, such as commercial music libraries. That being said, the term ‘commercial use music’ makes reference to usable songs that can be added to anything from a radio ad to a short film to help the producers financially better themselves.
How Can I Use a Song For Commercial Use?
If you want to use a song for commercial use, you must first make sure you can obtain a licence for the song. Next, you must consider if the track is appropriate for your production (in every way thinkable). Finally, you must consider how much of the song you plan on using and the section of the song you intend to use.
There are many reasons why you may want to get your hands on commercial music, one of which being that you plan on using the song to soundtrack a YouTube video.
All a YouTuber must do to use commercial music on YouTube is download some licensed music onto their device and add the song(s) to the platform when uploading a new video.
Find out how to use our music on YouTube here:
Can You Buy Music For Commercial Use?
Of course. Once you’ve purchased a piece of music and obtained a licence to use the song in commercial projects (commercial music license), you can use the song in everything from films to podcasts to radio shows. As for the commercial music license cost, it will differ depending on the song you’re purchasing and the place you’re purchasing it from. Which neatly leads us on to our next question…
Where to Get Music For Commercial Use
Music for commercial use is available right here at Audio Network. And, fortunately for you, we have over 250,000 production music tracks at your disposal.
Using a song without a licence means that you’re infringing copyright law – one put into place to protect the work of an artist or author. If you fail to obtain a licence, there will be consequences, the worst being imprisonment Needless to say, it’s never worth the risk.
At Audio Network we make licensing music simple. All that is required from you is to choose between our licensing options.
Find out more about music licensing in our guide:
Why The Right Music Matters
As mentioned previously, the purpose of commercial-use music is to enhance a project in the hopes that it’ll encourage more people to spend their hard-earned money on your creation, whatever that may be. By choosing memorable, high-quality tracks (like those found in our catalogue) over poor, generic music choices, you have a better chance of people interacting with your project.
Choose Your Track By Instrument
Piano
A piano can evoke an abundance of emotions, meaning there’s a piano-led track to suit every vibe. Check out our top piano tracks.
Recommendation: Stefano Civetta’s romantic piano song ‘Evening Breeze’ is reflective and optimistic – it asks you to learn from the past, cherish the present and look forward to the future.
Electric Guitar
An electric guitar track will shake up your world if you let it. Work your way through our electric guitar playlist to discover the many sides of the powerful rock instrument.
Recommendation: Barrie Gledden and Kes Loy’s ‘Just Believe It’ is an uplifting track that reminds the listener of good times spent outdoors during the height of summer.
Acoustic Guitar
There’s something reassuring about the sound of an acoustic guitar. Ergo, no matter what the listener is going through, an acoustic guitar song is sure to prove comforting.
Recommendation: Chaplin, Frederick and Jones’ ‘Caught in the Light’ is warm and homely, yet still a little mysterious. It reminds listeners that there’s always more to things than meets the eye.
Drums
A lot can be said about the sound of drums: percussion-led rhythms can communicate all kinds of messages to a listener. Check out how versatile drums really are by sampling the songs in our solo percussion playlist.
Recommendation: William Davies’ ‘Imago’ is a Latin-inspired drum track packed with flavour. It’s simultaneously sweet, spicy, zesty and tangy.
Choose Your Track By Genre
R&B
R&B is just the genre you need to put some soul into your project. Sample songs from our R&B playlist to hear sultry vocals, smooth piano and funky beats.
Recommendation: Hunte and Smith’s ‘Heal Me’ is a triumphant track led by a silky female vocal. It wraps its arms around the listener – metaphorically, of course.
Hip Hop
Our hip hop tracks are a dose of energy – a collection of tracks that force the listener to bop their heads, tap their feet and loosen their shoulders.
Recommendation: Joe Milburn’s ‘Fairytale Ending’ is hip hop with a twist. The quirky, addictive track is sleek, chic and sophisticated but still has a little edge.
Dance
If you want listeners to lose themselves within the world you’re presenting them with, you’ll want to check out our dance playlist. Expect intoxicating hooks and catchy lyrics.
Recommendation: Bradley, Henson and Beck’s ‘Bad Luck’ is the kind of track that makes us want to get up and dance like nobody’s watching.
Rock
Our rock music is unconventional and rebellious. It’s music that keeps the listener on their toes and, most importantly, interested.
Recommendation: Cahir O’Doherty’s ‘Bully Boy’ takes no prisoners. From the vey beginning, the US punk rock song is a rush of passion and excitement.
Epic Orchestral
Our collection of epic orchestral music, and epic orchestral music in general, is designed to humble the listener – it reminds them that there’s a whole universe out there waiting to be explored.
Recommendation: Speaking of the universe, one of our favourite epic orchestral tracks right now is Terry Devine-King’s ‘Solar Orbiter’. It’s a grand space adventure that lasts just over three minutes.
Pop
None of the above genres appeal to you? Looks like your best move is to choose a song from our pop playlist. Everyone knows there’s no going wrong with pop.
Recommendation: K-Pop is all the rage, which is just one of many reasons why we’re recommending Hardy, Jordan and Gustavsson’s ‘You Are My Number One’.
Choose Your Track By Topic Playlist
Fashion
Explore our voguish fashion playlist to discover stylish tracks you can pair with your projects. Talk about a hero accessory.
Recommendation: Smith and Henson’s ‘Obvious Youth’ is catwalk chic. It’s poised, steady and tasteful, just like Kate, Naomi, Gigi and Bella.
Comedy
Whatever your idea of humour is – whether that be dry humour, slapstick humour or surreal humour – you’d be silly not to soundtrack your rib-tickling production with one of our comedy songs.
Recommendation: ‘Grooty McGruesome’ by James Brett is a pompous and quirky orchestral track that reminds the listener to never take anything too seriously.
Children
There’s nothing purer than a child exploring their imagination. Encourage children to think outside of the box by adding one of our children’s songs to your production.
Recommendation: David Edward Holden’s ‘You Can Count On Me’ is magical and uplifting. It asks you to believe in a world past the visible one.
Corporate
Sometimes a straightforward corporate song is all you require for your commercial project. Discover some of the best corporate background tracks available by scrolling through our corporate playlist.
Recommendation: ‘Drift Together’ by Kaczmarski and Acroleo proves that corporate music needn’t be dull. In fact, this particular track is giving Ibiza.
Entertainment
For a commercial project to be successful, it’s got to be entertaining. One of the ways you can make your project enjoyable is by featuring one of the songs from our entertainment playlist.
Recommendation: The ultimate form of entertainment allows you to escape from the everyday. Hence, our ultimate entertainment song is ‘Sunshine Beach’ by Terry Devine-King and Adam Drake.
Drama
We live for drama, and whether you like to admit it or not, so do you. And nothing makes us all want to get our popcorn out quite like a dramatic piece of music (like those found in our drama playlist).
Recommendation: Michael Levine, Bijan Olia and Charles Sicouri’s ‘Highlands’ makes one wonder what just happened and what’s going to happen next. It’s the kind of track that wouldn’t sound out of place in the finale of a juicy ITV drama.
Documentary
Our assemblage of documentary music tracks is rather impressive, even if we do say so ourselves, whisking listeners away to landscapes as diverse as the Arctic and the Amazon.
Recommendation: ‘Glacial’ by George Georgia is an icy, atmospheric experience for the ears that’s defined by its glistening, plucked instruments and imposing choral textures.
Sports
Sports music puts the listener right in the middle of the action. It’s music that makes you feel empowered – music reminds the listener that they’re the real winner.
Recommendation: Alex Arcoleo’s ‘Endorphin’ is a fast-paced, underground house track that’s ideal for contemporary sports projects.
Need Music for Your Project?
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
If you’re going to produce a documentary, you’re going to need some documentary music, as it'll take an immersive experience to convince audiences to educate themselves in their free time. Think about it: the reason why documentaries such as BBC’s Planet Earth and National Geographic’s The Lost Tomb of Alexander the Great are so popular is that they transport you to the centre of the action via spectacular shots, captivating narration and cinematic music.
Keep reading to discover the answer to all of your music for documentaries questions – from ‘Why is music used in documentaries?’ to ‘How do I find music for documentaries?’, as well as a selection of playlists we’d recommend for anyone seeking good documentary music.
Music For Documentaries:
What is a documentary?
What types of documentaries are there?
Nature documentaries
Historical documentaries
Music documentaries
Science documentaries
True crime documentaries
Sports documentaries
Why is music used in documentaries?
How can music help to improve your documentary?
How do I find music for a documentary?
What types of documentary music are there?
Sad documentary music
Dramatic documentary music
Mysterious documentary music
Romantic documentary music
Historical documentary music
Nature documentary music
What Is a Documentary?
Documentaries are non-fictional television programmes and films with one primary aim: to inform. Of course, the most successful documentaries also set out to entertain their audiences by forming an intriguing narrative around the collated facts, findings and footage.
What Types of Documentaries Are There?
Nature documentaries
Historical documentaries
Music documentaries
Science documentaries
True Crime documentaries
Sports documentaries
Almost anything can be the topic of a documentary – the subject may be as broad as the universe (see National Geographic’s Journey to the Edge of the Universe) or as specific as rapper-cum-designer Kanye West (see Netflix’s Jeen-yuhs). Here are six of the most popular documentary genres:
Nature Documentaries
Nature documentaries explore different aspects of Earth, from the canyons of North America to the wildlife of the Amazon rainforest. And in a world where billions live in urban jungles, this documentary genre is immensely popular as the masses yearn to reconnect with nature.
One of the standout nature documentaries of recent years is Our Planet, Netflix’s answer to a David Attenborough-narrated animal world extravaganza.
Historical Documentaries
No matter if you saw your first historical documentary at school or home, you’ve most likely been watching films and television series about the past from a young age. And a desire to learn about history rarely disappears with age; hence, historical documentaries are loved by all family members.
Looking for a historical documentary like no other? We’d recommend Netflix’s Age of Samurai: Battle of Japan. It really packs a punch.
Music Documentaries
Music documentaries are popular as they help industry outsiders to appreciate the genius of their favourite music artists. They’ve also been known to inspire future generations of musicians by providing them with proof that there’s hope for those who follow their dreams.
Some of the most lauded music documentaries capture the zeitgeist of a particular era. Take Summer of Soul, for instance – Hulu’s Oscar-winning documentary film that takes viewers back in time to the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival.
Science Documentaries
It's said that curiosity is a sign of intelligence, which makes sense considering those intrigued by the explanations of the universe spend their downtime soaking in information from science documentaries. And the inquisitive will never run out of content to consume as there's an abundance of science documentaries out there, each of which aims to detangle the theories around a different facet of the universe.
We love a good science doc, and our favourite to debut over the last couple of years is Cosmos: Possible World. Described by Disney+ as ‘a wonder-filled voyage through humanity's past, present and future, transporting viewers to lost worlds and worlds yet to be revealed by science’, the National Geographic doc will have you holding onto the armchair of your sofa as you zip through space.
True Crime Documentaries
These days, an affinity for true crime docs is considered a personality trait – the type of attribute that people place on their dating profiles, discuss in interviews (yes, really) and boast about in social situations. So why do people love them? Because they’re scandalous. And, more often than not, they offer insight into human psychology.
The Tinder Swindler – a Netflix show about a scam artist who used the dating app as a tool to defraud innocent women – became an international talking point when it was released in February 2022. And if you’ve not watched it yet, its 97% rating on Rotten Tomatoes is surely nudging you to give it a go.
Sports Documentaries
Whether you’re a sports fan or not, there’s a high chance that you enjoy sports docs as these kinds of documentaries are usually concerned with passionate people – from star players to lionised managers to dream teams – rather than the game itself.
A fine example of a sports documentary? Netflix’s The Last Dance springs to mind. The basketball-centric miniseries follows the Chicago Bulls’ journey up to the 1997-98 NBA Season, Micheal Jordan’s final season with the team.
Why Is Music Used in Documentaries?
Music in the ribbon around the gift of knowledge that a documentary hands over to its audience. An embellishment that transforms the ordinary into the sensational. Without a soundtrack, many documentaries would fail to capture the attention of its audience, as good documentary music is the vehicle that drives the viewer to the centre of the story.
How Can Music Help to Improve Your Documentary?
To add dramatic music to a suspenseful section of your documentary is to elicit anxiety; to add romantic music to a scene featuring more than one individual is to tease a relationship; to add mysterious music to an eerie moment is to hint at horrific or supernatural happenings. Our point? Music is used in a multitude of ways to evoke different responses, but the goal is always to make the audience feel something.
How Do I Find Music for a Documentary?
Looking for good documentary music? Fortunately for you, we have over 300,000 tracks in our catalogue. Discover all of the documentary soundtracks you need over on our documentary page, and then find the right music licensing subscription for you by looking at the infographics on our music licensing page.
What Types of Documentary Music Are There?
Sad documentary music
Dramatic documentary music
Historical documentary music
Mysterious documentary music
Nature documentary music
As I’m sure you’re aware, there’s music to suit every mood and emotion. Therefore, it’s safe to say there’s music to suit every kind of documentary imaginable. Discover five of the most popular documentary music collections available in our catalogue below:
More often that not, there are moving moments during a documentary film or docuseries. Therefore, sad background music is often used by documentary creators to encourage viewers to feel pity for the people or animals in focus.
There’s a knack to being a documentary creator – you’ve got to be able to find drama in anything. And one of the ways you can instantly dial up the drama on a scene is by adding some dramatic music that will all but guarantee bums on seats and eyes on the screen.
When audiences watch a historical doc, they want to travel back in time. And one of the most effective ways documentary makers help them feel as though they’ve ventured into the past is by utilising historical background music.
It’s human nature to be interested in the unexplained, from the origins of the universe to paranormal activity. Ergo, audiences love it when a doc explores mystifying topics topped off with some mysterious production music.
As mentioned previously, nature documentaries are uber-popular in an age in which humans find themselves further from the natural world than ever. With a little help from nature background music, viewers escape to the world’s most beautiful settings from the comfort of their own homes.
Explore Our Music
As we’re sure you’re already aware, music for documentaries isn’t the only kind of music available in our collection. We’ve got music for all sorts of projects, including music for advertising, music for films and music for radio. So, no matter what creative journey you’re about to head on, you can rest assured knowing that we’ve got the perfect soundtrack.
Eager to start discovering our high-quality catalogue of licensable background music? Either head on over to our playlists page where you will find carefully curated, or check out our latest releases.
Need Music for Your Project?
At Audio Network we create original music, of the highest quality, for broadcasters, brands, creators, agencies and music fans everywhere. Through clear and simple licensing, we can offer you a huge variety of the best quality music across every conceivable mood and genre. Find out how we can connect you with the perfect collaborator today by clicking the button below!
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The thrill of disco. The outrage of punk. The excess of glam rock. The late 70s were one of the most exciting eras of music there’s ever been – and we’re still feeling its influence today. Whatever music ‘tribe’ you belonged to, there were a plethora of thrilling artists and tracks for you, and everywhere you looked, musicians and groups were experimenting – with both their sounds and their looks. So, what were the 70’s greatest hits, from iconic pop to punk anthems, the classic rock hits to the disco tracks that are still being sampled nearly 50 years later?
Rock ‘n’ roll was king in the 1960s, thanks to the ‘British Invasion’ of the Beatles and the Rolling Stones, which contrasted with the hippy vibes from Woodstock in 1969 and a raft of protest songs driven by the Civil Rights Movement and the Vietnam War. But by the 1970s, the excesses of rock superstardom gave rise to a number of different genres, making it an iconic era. When it comes to influential artists of the late 70s, many of them were playing rock music.
Traditional rock expanded – partly because car stereos became common. FM stereo radio, 8-track tapes, cassette tapes – the variety of music distribution channels, plus the fact that cassettes were portable, enabled more and more rock styles to break through. Think hard rock, prog rock and heavy metal, with everything from Pink Floyd’s psychedelic soundscapes and concept albums to Led Zeppelin’s thunderous riffs and epic anthems.
Glam rock was a self-consciously camp take on being a rock star – bands and artists including T-rex, Roxy Music, David Bowie and Queen embraced theatricality and grandeur.
‘What Are You Rebelling Against?’ ‘What Have You Got?’
However, if glam seemed too considered and arch – a bit posh and ‘art school’ – then the other ‘alternative’ rock ideology, built on the idea of a militantly DIY aesthetic, was punk, which exploded onto the scene in 1976.
In the UK, the late 70s were pretty depressing, with unemployment and inflation reaching new highs, the 3-day week and numerous industries striking for better pay. Teenagers have rebelled since the term was invented, but when the Sex Pistols’ ‘Anarchy in the UK’ hit the headlines, a revolution in attitude, music and fashion really blew up.
Punk informed design, fashion, clubs, artwork, writing and performance and an alternative media of independent labels and fanzines – punk’s attitude pushed boundaries across the board. The moral panic around the Sex Pistols’ ‘God Save the Queen’, released to coincide with the Jubilee in 1977, ensured that punk went overground and spread to the suburbs, spawning local scenes.
The Clash and X-Ray Spex criticized society and culture; Siouxsie and the Banshees, Wire and The Slits carved out a place for extreme otherness. Manchester’s Joy Division then moved punk on from anger to alienation.
Punk’s diversity led to 2-Tone and New Romanticism by the end of the 70s with new styles, the modernity and slick sound of synths and a whole new version of pop music that emerged largely from club subcultures.
Culturally, the 70s were characterized by a spirit of freedom and individuality, with everything from the Women’s Liberation Movement, the LGBTQIA+ Rights Movement and the Civil Rights Movement all continuing to gain momentum. You can clearly see the influence that flamboyant 70s stars like David Bowie, Elton John and Queen still have when you look at artists like Lady Gaga, Harry Styles and Sam Smith.
Yes Sir, I Can Boogie
Berry Gordy’s Motown hits of the 60s, such as the Supremes and Martha and the Vandellas, gave way to disco in the 1970s. Disco had its roots in R&B and funk, but it was also born out of New York’s gay culture. The massive success of Saturday Night Fever in 1977 catapulted disco to worldwide popularity (the soundtrack sold over 15 million copies), and hits by artists from Donna Summer to Gloria Gaynor and the Village People cornered the mainstream.
Era-Defining Tracks
Love to Love You Baby
Dancing Queen
I Will Survive
Here are some of the iconic 70s songs which defined the era – covering disco, punk, rock, funk and soul and pop.
Love to Love You Baby
The Queen of disco music in the late 70s was undoubtedly Donna Summer. With hits including ‘I Feel Love’ and ‘Last Dance’ with Georgio Moroder, she was a chart regular. But it was ‘Love to Love You Baby’ that really created a moment. Producers were concerned it was too risqué and might get banned when it came to radio airplay. But when it was given to DJs in discos, it was an immediate club hit, and radio stations were inundated with calls demanding they play the track. The label released it, and it hit No. 2 on the Billboard Hot 100 chart, and No. 4 on the UK Singles chart, despite the BBC’s initial refusal to play or promote it.
‘Love to Love You Baby’ was one of the first disco hits to be released in an extended form, and The Rock and Roll Hall of fame named it one of the 500 Songs that Shaped Rock and Roll.
Dancing Queen
Inducted into the Grammy Hall of Fame in 2015, ABBA’s disco classic reached No. 1 in 14 countries around the world. The Swedish quartet’s knack for creating songs that make you want to hit the dancefloor is pretty much unparalleled, and the massive success of their avatar-fronted live show, ABBA Voyage, is testament to their impact and longevity.
I Will Survive
An anthem for the broken-hearted everywhere and tapping into the female empowerment movement, Gloria Gaynor’s disco stomper netted a Grammy in 1979 for Best Disco Recording and Billboard ranked it among the 500 Best Pop Songs of All Time in October 2023.
The song was originally recorded as a B-side (to ‘Substitute’) in just 35 minutes. The power of the clubs was instrumental again in making it a hit, and among many other accolades, Pitchfork featured it as one of 50 Songs That Define the Last 50 Years of LGBTQ+ Pride:
‘I Will Survive’ probably would’ve been a gay anthem even without the spectre of AIDS. It has an undeniable flair for the dramatic… It was released as disco’s wave was beginning to break.’
Punk Rock Anthems From the Late 70s
Anarchy in the UK
Oh Bondage Up Yours!
Anarchy in the UK
Punk rock anthems don’t come much bigger or better than the Sex Pistols’ debut single, released on 26th November 1976. Their manager, Malcolm McLaren, considered it, ‘a call to arms to the kids who believe that rock and roll was taken away from them. It’s a statement of self-rule, of ultimate independence.’
As a calling card and a statement of (rude) intent, you’re not going to get better than ‘Anarchy in the UK’ – as FarOut magazine succinctly puts it: ‘The Sex Pistols did exactly what they were supposed to, they made the people who were supposed to like them fall in love with them, and became hate figures for just about everybody else… Johnny Rotten immediately became the saviour of a generation, giving a voice to the voiceless.’
The UK music scene hadn’t encountered anything as overtly political and rebellious as the Sex Pistols before – it arguably hasn’t since, and sticking two fingers up at the establishment has never looked so thrilling.
Oh Bondage Up Yours!
Gloria Gaynor was offering up female empowerment in the form of ‘I Will Survive’, but if you want a more in-your-face rallying cry, then get X-Ray Spex, fronted by songwriter and lead vocalist Poly Styrene, on your Spotify playlist immediately.
The song takes on consumerism and disposability and Styrene described it as, ‘a call for liberation. It was saying: “Bondage – forget it! I’m not going to be bound by the laws of consumerism or bound by my own senses.”’ And in time-honoured fashion, the single was banned by the BBC, so didn’t trouble the charts, but has become one of punk rock’s defining moments.
Iconic Pop Songs of the Late 70s
Wuthering Heights
Cars
Mull of Kintyre
Wuthering Heights
Can you believe that Kate Bush wrote her eerie gothic tale of lost love and longing when she was just 18 years old? Inspired by a TV adaptation of Emily Bronte’s novel, the song’s written from the perspective of Cathy Earnshaw’s ghost, pleading with the brutal Heathcliff to let her soul into the house. It became a hit in early 1978 – the first single written and recorded by a female artist to top the British charts – and sounded utterly unique. As the NME dryly noted, ‘perhaps the reason so few pop songs are based on classic novels is that they’d have to live up to this.’
Bush’s vocal was apparently recorded in a single take, and as the Guardian’s Rebecca Nicholson notes, ‘Wuthering Heights’ turned Bush into a pop star, the rules of which she continues to bend to her own will: her individuality was set in stone from the very beginning.’
Cars
Gary Numan’s debut solo single might well be the polar opposite to ‘Wuthering Heights’ in terms of inspiration: he told the Sunday Times that ‘I really did write ‘Cars’ about me sitting in my car. Because of my Asperger’s, I’ve never been good with crowds of people, and I find cities very threatening. Somehow, as soon as I get in a car, all the panic goes away.’
This trailblazing electro pop song from the summer of 1979 sounded like the future, but its genesis was more straightforward – Numan explained to Rolling Stone that, ‘I’ve only written two songs on bass guitar and the first one was ‘Cars’. I’d just been to London to buy a bass and when I got home the first thing I played was that intro riff. In 10 minutes, I had the whole song. The quickest one I ever wrote. And the most famous one I’ve ever written. More people should learn from that!’
Mull of Kintyre
The biggest-selling single of the decade was Wings’ ‘Mull of Kintyre’. Released in November 1977, the song became the Christmas No. 1 – and the first single ever to sell more than 2 million copies in the UK. It held the record for being the UK’s best-selling single of all time, until it was overtaken by Band Aid’s ‘Do They Know It’s Christmas?’ in 1984.
Paul McCartney was living in the area and, ‘it was a love song, really, about how I enjoyed being there and imagining I was travelling away and wanting to get back there.’ The song featured Great Highland bagpipes played by the Campbeltown Pipe Band – quite an unusual addition to a pop song.
Classic Rock Hits of the Late 70s
Comfortably Numb
Bohemian Rhapsody
Comfortably Numb
Pink Floyd were one of the 70s’ biggest rock bands, and this track captures all the facets of their distinctive sound, from ethereal to dynamic. It featured on their eleventh studio album, the concept/rock opera, The Wall, in 1979. The six-minute song boasts a legendary guitar solo and the lyrics are about Pink, the album’s character, in a drug-induced state.
Roger Waters drew on a personal experience from 1977 for the lyrics – he was suffering from hepatitis when a doctor injected him with a tranquiliser before a show. He told Rolling Stone that, ‘that was the longest two hours of my life, trying to do a show when you can hardly lift your arm.’
Bohemian Rhapsody
The 70s were a time of excess: long hair, massive flares and tracks that redefined the word ‘epic’. You can’t talk about songs from the 70s and leave out Queen’s most celebrated track. It’s got an intro, a ballad segment, an operatic bit, a hard rock part and a reflective coda. Freddie Mercury referred to it as a ‘mock opera’ and it’s regularly voted one of the greatest songs of all time (it still claims the title of the UK’s third best-selling single.) Plus, after the release of the 2018 biopic, it became the most streamed song from the 20th century.
Queen were certainly no one-take wonder – the entire piece took three weeks to record, with some sections featuring 180 separate overdubs, and Freddie, Brian May and Roger Taylor reportedly singing their vocal parts continuously for 10-12 hours a day.
‘Bohemian Rhapsody’ has been classified as everything from prog rock to hard rock, art rock to progressive pop. One of the many things that makes it unique is that it’s got no chorus, and the band have never fully explained the lyrics. Freddie Mercury simply said, ‘It’s one of those songs which has such a fantasy feel about it. I think people should just listen to it think about it, and then make up their own minds as to what it says to them…’
Record execs thought the track was far too long to be a hit, but typical late 70s rebellion won out. The band gave the single to outrageous DJ and comedian Kenny Everett, who played it 14 times over two days on his radio show; fans across both sides of the Pond clamoured for its release and it stayed at No. 1 for nine weeks.
And let’s not forget that video, which many have credited with launching the MTV age:
Funk and Soul Tracks of the Late 70s
One Nation Under a Groove
As
One Nation Under a Groove
George Clinton’s sci-fi funk collective, Funkadelic, turned dry protest songs on their head with this track, which encapsulated their philosophy of ‘moving towards freedom through the freedom of movement.’ Come and join the party, for a ridiculously empowering good time!
It’s a track that’s been sampled almost 100 times – by artists from Snoop Dogg and Ice Cube to Queen Latifah and Janet Jackson. Daring and playful, irreverent and carefree, Funkadelic brought humour and inclusivity and challenged many people’s perceptions about Black music. George Clinton has been feted by not only the hip hop fraternity, but also rock acts like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers.
As
Stevie Wonder’s Songs in the Key of Life album was released in 1976, melding soul, funk, reggae, R&B, Latin, jazz and pop. ‘As’ was inspired by spending time in Ghana, where he gained a new perspective on life, and he recruited jazz-funk firebrand Herbie Hancock to record a separate track on a Fender Rhodes piano.
Numerous acts have covered ‘As’ since its original release, including Sister Sledge, Michael Bolton and, of course, George Michael and Mary J Blige in 1999.
70s Influences
These timeless hits, alongside the rest of the music of the late 70s, have had a lasting impact on subsequent decades and genres. You can see it in everything from Lana Del Rey’s vintage sound to Florence Welch’s Kate Bush/glam rock-style dress sense and theatricality; Harry Styles’ flamboyant jumpsuits and disco-inspired beats from Tame Impala, Daft Punk and The Weeknd.
If you fancy revisiting 70s sounds, then we’ve got some perfect albums for you – try vintage rock with plenty of swagger on 70s Rock Fest, or go psychedelic with Classic and Prog Rock; get down to some up-tempo funk courtesy of Show Stoppers, or pull on your sequined jumpsuit and platform boots for Glam Rock.
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