In 1990, Ron Mendelsohn and J.C. Dwyer founded “MEGATRAX,” which is currently the largest independent company in the sector in the USA.
In 1995, VideoHelper, a publisher specializing in trailer music (TV commercials), was founded in New York by Joe Saba and Stuart Winter.
In 1995, BMG Music Group acquired Atmosphere Music and Match Music, a Swedish company founded by Steve Martin. In 1996, Jean-Michel Gallois-Montbrun sold his stake in Koka-Media to BMG and founded Kapagama. Like Zomba, BMG’s strategy, under the leadership of its president Nick Firth, was designed to meet the growing demand for music in audiovisual productions and the financial potential this evolution represents.
After the fall of the Berlin Wall in 1989, in Poland, Jean-Jacques and Krystyna Bled launched the first production music company in a former Eastern Bloc country: Paris Music.
In Turkey, Muzikotek, led by Daghan Baydur, introduced production music to the country.
In 1998, in the UK, a newcomer stood out from the establishment and disrupted the image of production music with its irreverent attitude: Extreme Music, the “bad boys of production music.” Founded by Mark and Paul Levinson, and driven by Russell Emanuel and Dolph Taylor, Extreme Music is now a member of the Sony Music Group and is managed by Dan Pounder.
By the late 1990s, a structured profession began to take shape. Its players were both original publishers of their own catalogs and representatives of foreign companies, known as “sub-publishers.” Among them: Encore Merci/Music Shop in France, Konga Music and Vimusica in Spain, Upright Music and Aux Music in Scandinavia, Five Alarm in the USA, Music Director in the Netherlands (now BMG Production Music), and Intermède Music and Nightingale Music Library in Canada.
In Japan, where copyright was established after World War II, the activity is more focused on representing foreign catalogs than creating a national repertoire. Sakura Notes, founded by Yoshiaki Nozaki and Mike Duer, became a major independent player alongside multinationals like Nichion Inc, a publisher affiliated with the Tokyo Broadcasting System television network.
In Australia and New Zealand, the market in the 1980s and 1990s was dominated by the EMI Group. The first independent company was Fable Music, founded by John McDonald.
