Tech Focus: Sports Music, Part 1 - Pandemic Spurs Greater Demand Augmented crowd sound opens new channel for suppliers By Dan Daley, Audio Editor
Thursday, May 6, 2021 - 10:17 am
Print This Story | Subscribe
Story Highlights
Production music - the vast well of styles, sounds, genres, and emotions underscoring televised sports - has been both a hotbed of legal turbulence (assertions of copyright infringements and DCMA takedowns abound over licensing issues) and a generically predictable process in which NBA shows reflexively get bassy hip-hop and baseball gets crunchy rock guitars. From the leading music houses that service the major leagues to the upstart indie-music mills whose home studios churn out some of the more fashion-forward (and royalty-free) sounds favored by online and margin sports, broadcasters and venue-sound specialists have literally millions of tracks, clips, and stems to choose from.
Then COVID-19 came along, bringing with it an entirely new conduit for sports sound in the form of augmented crowd sounds, cheers, and music. The production-music industry didn't miss a beat.
We found that sports was using a lot more [rerecorded] effects and music, both on the air and in the venue, says Peter Alexander, sales manager, Sound Ideas, which provides those sorts of sound bites to Georgia Tech, Wake Forest Athletics, Hofstra University, and other collegiate customers. The sounds are being picked up by the broadcast microphones, and they help the athletes and the viewers get more of a sense of normalcy. But we don't expect [demand for that] to last once people are back in the seats.
Last year, Whitney Arnold, VP, music services, Stephen Arnold Music, whose production-music arm The Vault has supplied production music for ESPN, the Denver Nuggets' Altitude Sports, and Golf Channel, told SVG, That's the big question right now: how do we re-engage the fanbase of sports, and how do we keep them engaged until sports does come back?
A year on, he says that the augmented crowd sounds, the faces on the MS Teams screens, and a production-music underscore for the NBA's Orlando bubble answered that question.
I think that was really powerful, he explains. The tie-in to production music is that, in-game/in-arena, the vibe is the same, or trying to be. The NBA had hip-hop beats playing during game play, and, with the virtual fans as a backdrop courtside, this made at least the broadcast feel normal and like there was fan engagement.
Baseball, he continues, was a little harder because there was no way to disguise the big empty ballparks. But I saw some great TV spots around the fan cardboard cutouts, and the music that was paired with these spots felt like a normal cross-channel promo. A lot of teams did fantastic work trying to keep fans involved. And, even when music isn't the primary driver of the message, it obviously always helps to set the tone and tell a story.
According to Matthew Gutknecht, director, sports entertainment, APM Music, the imminent lifting of pandemic restrictions on sports has unleashed pent-up demand for production music and licensed popular songs. That has been especially true of teams and leagues that have been much busier in recent years developing and distributing their own custom content, with music a common thread throughout their social-media initiatives.
We've been overwhelmed in the last few weeks, but in a good way, he says, noting demand for music from the WNBA, MLS, NHL, and other leagues. The market indicators suggest they're anticipating high demand for content in the next few months as everything comes together again.
The Rights Stuff Issues around rights management - or lack thereof - became more intense while sports was shut down and media mergers proliferated. Twitter and YouTube DCMA-based takedowns, which two years ago entangled NCAA and NBA teams, have moved increasingly from warning shots to litigation, underscoring the rising value of copyrights and concomitant costs of infringement. Most recently, the Arizona Cardinals reportedly struck a six-figure settlement with at least one record label over the issue.
Not surprisingly, Gutknecht says the solution is to look to the assurances offered by library-music firms like his for music that captures the essence of the hits the social-media clips like to use but without the potential for infringement, such as this APM clip that cleverly evokes HBO's Game of Thrones without inviting litigious decapitation.
The consequences [of infringement] have increased, he says, and now clients aren't just looking for music. They're seeking assurances about indemnification and about costs. This is also becoming more critical as teams and colleges move from just distributing their content locally to putting it up online globally.
Pro teams and colleges now are content factories, Gutknecht continues. As they distribute more content more widely, the potential for liability increases. It has made our ability to advise and provide support and services in addition to the music more important to those clients.
Other Trends That goes hand in hand with another notable trend in music in general in the last year: the massive uptick in music-catalog sales. Equity funds-backed companies, such as Hipgnosis and Iconic Artists Group, have made headline-grabbing, multibillion-dollar acquisitions of catalogs by such artists as Bob Dylan, the Beach Boys, Neil Young, Shakira, and Fleetwood Mac. This means that stadium-ready tracks like Mac's Don't Stop Thinking About Tomorrow have new availability and perhaps will become more affordable, as acquiring entities make more direct deals with broadcasters.
Similarly, Audio Network Limited, a UK-based supplier of production music, including thousands of sports clips such as team chants and other s
Most recent headlines
05/01/2027
Worlds first 802.15.4ab-UWB chip verified by Calterah and Rohde & Schwarz to be ...
04/08/2026
Dalet, a leading technology and service provider for media-rich organizations, t...
04/07/2026
April 7 2026, 19:00 (PDT) Detective Conan: Fallen Angel of the Highway Opens in...
01/06/2026
January 6 2026, 05:30 (PST) Dolby Sets the New Standard for Premium Entertainment at CES 2026
Throughout the week, Dolby brings to life the latest innovatio...
07/05/2026
Journalists reporting on Sudan are working in one of the most complex and fast-m...
07/05/2026
Multi-year partnership positions Victory+ as a free home for Dallas Cowboys orig...
07/05/2026
From sideline reporting to directing and producing, the talented sophomore is building a well-rounded foundation for a career in live sports production
In the ...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital has received two Future Best of Show awards at NAB Show 2026. The COBALT blueCORE platform was recognized by TV Tech, and the COBALT PACIFIC ULL-...
07/05/2026
ESPN analyst Mina Kimes will host the televised semifinals and finals of the 202...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI, the global film streaming platform, has selected Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner. Bitmovin's encoding infrastru...
07/05/2026
NBCUniversal Telemundo Enterprises and the U.S. Soccer Federation have announced...
07/05/2026
Angel City Football Club (ACFC) and Victory have announced a regional broadcast partnership bringing live match coverage to fans across the greater Los Angeles...
07/05/2026
Spiideo has announced the launch of AI Highlights inside Spiideo Play, its automated sports production platform. AI Highlights combines video, event data, audio...
07/05/2026
Leostream Corporation has announced a unified remote access ecosystem for high-p...
07/05/2026
The Atlanta Dream has partnered with Victory to stream all locally broadcast Dream games for free, expanding the team's digital distribution strategy and g...
07/05/2026
Riedel Communications has announced the appointment of Marc Engroff as Chief Fin...
07/05/2026
SES and ARD, Germany's largest public broadcasting network, have announced a long-term extension of their satellite distribution partnership through 2039. U...
07/05/2026
UpLight Technologies delivers a flexible video and lighting system for a new televised sportLaunching the Pro Cheer League required more than creating a compell...
07/05/2026
Full Day Productions and GSE Worldwide have announced Spikes Under the Lights, a...
07/05/2026
Seit dem Start im Jahr 2023 hat DJ (Beta) das personalisierte H rerlebnis von 94...
07/05/2026
Da quando stata presentata nel 2023, DJ (beta) ha aiutato a definire un'esperienza d'ascolto pi personalizzata per 94 milioni di utenti Spotify Premi...
07/05/2026
Since launching in 2023, DJ (beta) has helped shape a more personalized listenin...
07/05/2026
Desde o lan amento em 2023, o DJ (beta) j ajudou a deixar a experi ncia de ouvi...
07/05/2026
From our earliest days, Spotify has been built on a simple principle: Great audio should be easy to reach. It's what's driven us to expand from music to...
07/05/2026
Asian and Pacific Islander artists continue to shape the global soundscape, pushing creative boundaries and connecting with fans worldwide. This Asian & Pacific...
07/05/2026
Company announce long-requested choir instrument
In the latest expansion of their Symphonic Elements series, UJAM have introduced an all-new vocal instrumen...
07/05/2026
Modular-inspired sound generation with digital control
Buchla have introduced Ziggy, a new compact synthesizer built around the company's complex oscill...
07/05/2026
Combines analogue voices with digital synthesis and sequencing
Polyend have announced Drums, a new hybrid analogue and digital drum machine that combines sy...
07/05/2026
Control surface now officially supports four DAWs
When Nektar launched the Panorama CS12 control surface, it worked exclusively with Apple's Logic Pro, ...
07/05/2026
In the first quarter 2026, SGL Carbon generated consolidated sales of 184.5 million, which was 49.8 million, or 21.3%, lower than in the prior year (Q1 2025: ...
07/05/2026
Rohde & Schwarz and Greenerwave achieve precise and fast ESA antenna characteriz...
07/05/2026
Two multi-role L3Harris products - the Red Wolf launched effects vehicle and SK...
07/05/2026
L3Harris will be developing key features of a secure and resilient digital infra...
07/05/2026
Alysa Liu and Shohei Ohtani Help Drive Viewership as 91 of the Top 100 Broadcast...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
Cobalt Digital Wins Two Future Best of Show Awards at 2026 NAB Show
Manufacturer Recognized by TV Tech and TVBEurope for Innovation in signal processing
Cobal...
07/05/2026
Software and hardware platforms, AI power and user-friendliness on show...
07/05/2026
Intinor will demonstrate its latest technical enhancements for the Direkt series at BroadcastAsia 2026. With a continued focus on reliable contribution and remo...
07/05/2026
Bitmovin has announced that MUBI has chosen Bitmovin as its cloud VOD encoding partner, replacing MUBI's legacy on premises encoding setup to improve scalab...
07/05/2026
Meet Graduates from Berklees Class of 2026 Members of this years graduating class reflect on their proudest moments at Berklee and look ahead to whats next.
...
07/05/2026
Share
Copy link
Facebook
X
Linkedin
Bluesky
Email...
07/05/2026
At BroadcastAsia 2026, Interra Systems will demonstrate its latest innovations in automated quality control (QC), real-time monitoring, and captioning. The comp...
07/05/2026
At this year's Broadcast Asia, PlayBox Neo is set to unveil recent innovations across its PlayBox Neo Suite and integrated range of broadcast media solution...
07/05/2026
Strategic three-year partnership marks delivery phase of BFBS' next-generation media vision
Media organisation and military charity BFBS (British Forces Br...
07/05/2026
Amagi, the agentic industry cloud platform for unified broadcast, streaming, and monetization, today announced the availability of its In-Content Ads offering v...
07/05/2026
Lightware Visual Engineering has developed Rack Taurus for rack-based environments such as education and corporate training spaces. It enables clean and simple ...
07/05/2026
Jigsaw24, the UK's leading media equipment supplier and systems integrator, will showcase its expanded end-to-end workflow capabilities at MPTS 2026, signal...
07/05/2026
Ease Live, an Evertz company, today announced that it has been granted a US Patent for its proprietary graphical overlay technology, the foundation for interact...
07/05/2026
Test & measurement innovator Leader Electronics of Europe will present an extensive range of Leader, PHABRIX and LeaderPhabrix test and measurement solutions at...
Tech Focus: Sports Music, Part 1 - Pandemic Spurs Greater Demand Augmented crowd sound opens new channel for suppliers By Dan Daley, Audio Editor 
