custom music
Custom Music & Sound Identity
Music written for your project, with a rights position you own from day one.
In short
Commissioned music is composed and produced specifically for one project. Because it is created under a commission agreement, the usage rights are defined at the outset instead of being negotiated against a pre-existing catalogue. It is the right route when the work needs exclusivity, an exact duration, a specific instrumentation, or a sound that has to belong to one brand.
ASRcreative composes and produces original music on commission: scores for film and audiovisual work, campaign music, sound identities for brands and spaces, and material written to a specific edit. The work is written for the project, so its rights position is unambiguous from the start.
Outcomes
What you get out of it
- Music that fits the edit, the space or the identity exactly
- Rights defined in the commission agreement, before production starts
- Exclusivity where the project requires it
- A sonic system that can extend to future work rather than a one-off track
Deliverables
- Final master in the specification your delivery requires
- Alternate durations and edits cut to your timings
- Stems and instrumental versions for mixing and re-versioning
- Loopable beds for spaces, installations and product interfaces
- A short written note on structure and usage so future teams can re-version correctly
Process
How the work runs
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01
Brief and direction
We agree what the music has to do — the emotional job, not just the genre. References are read as direction, never as material to copy.
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02
Scope and rights
Deliverables, versions, timings, exclusivity and usage are written down before composition starts. This is where a commission avoids the ambiguity of a rushed licence.
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03
Sketch
A short sketch establishes tone, palette and movement early, when direction is still cheap to change.
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04
Production
Full arrangement and production against the approved direction, cut to the real edit or the real space.
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05
Revision
A defined number of revision rounds, agreed in the scope, so feedback has a structure instead of drifting.
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06
Delivery
Masters, versions, stems and documentation delivered in the agreed formats.
When commissioning beats licensing
Licensing is faster and often cheaper when the right work already exists. Commissioning wins in four situations, and they are easy to recognise.
When the music has to hit specific frames, a commission is written to the edit instead of the edit being re-cut to the music. When a brand needs a sound that no competitor can also license, exclusivity has to be built in, not requested afterwards. When a space, installation or product interface needs material that loops for hours without fatigue, that is a compositional requirement, not a catalogue search. And when the work is the beginning of a system — a sonic identity that will extend into future campaigns — it needs to be designed as a system from the first note.
Sound identity is a system, not a logo
A sound identity is a set of rules: a core motif, a palette of instruments and textures, rules for how it shortens to a three-second sting and how it extends to a two-minute film, and rules for how it behaves in a store, in an app and in a video.
Delivered as a system, it stays coherent when other teams use it later. Delivered as a single track, it degrades the first time someone needs a version nobody planned for.
How rights are handled
Commissioned work is scoped with the rights position written down: what you may use, where, for how long, and whether anyone else may use it.
Nothing about the rights position is published on this site for any specific project unless the parties involved have authorised it. Rights are contractual, not marketing.
Before you write
What we need from you
- What the music is for, and what it has to make the audience feel or do
- The edit, script, storyboard or space it has to work with
- Durations and delivery formats
- References that describe the direction — and the ones you want to avoid
- Whether exclusivity is required, and in which categories
- Deadline, including any intermediate review dates
You do not need all of it to make contact. Anything you can answer makes the reply more useful; anything you cannot is part of what gets worked out together.
Commission original musicFAQ
Questions people actually ask
Should I licence an existing track or commission original music?
Licence when a suitable work already exists and your usage is straightforward: it is faster and usually cheaper. Commission when the music has to hit specific frames, when you need exclusivity a catalogue work cannot offer, when a space or product needs material that loops for hours, or when the piece is the start of a sound identity that will extend into future work.
Who owns commissioned music?
That is decided in the commission agreement, before production starts, and it is written down: what you may use, in which media and territories, for how long, and whether the work may be licensed to anyone else. Ownership and usage are contractual questions, so they are answered contractually rather than assumed.
What do you need from me to start?
The edit, script, storyboard or space the music has to work with; what the music has to make the audience feel or do; the durations and delivery formats; references that describe the direction you want and the ones you want to avoid; whether exclusivity is required; and the deadline, including intermediate review dates.
Next step
Commission original music
Describe the project and what it has to achieve. You get a written answer with scope and next steps, not an automated quote.