Producers Find Film’s Music on the Web

The producers of Paramount Classics’ forthcoming film “Company Man” have figured out what millions of Webheads have known for years--there’s plenty of good music available on the Net.

“Company Man,” starring Doug McGrath, Sigourney Weaver and John Turturro, is about a high school teacher who becomes a CIA spy in Cuba and tries to overthrow Fidel Castro. Music supervisor Karen Morrow found two Latin tracks for the film on the Web at LicenseMusic.com, a site that has amassed an online library of 25,000 songs that can be licensed for entertainment productions.

By searching San Francisco-based LicenseMusic.com’s online music database and handling the licensing through the company’s automated system, Morrow said she reduced a process that often takes weeks into a one-hour affair.

The tracks in LicenseMusic.com’s library come primarily from independent labels and unsigned artists. Some customers find songs on the Web site and arrange the license over the phone, but in the future users will handle the entire transaction online, said Frank Sabella, LicenseMusic.com’s chief financial officer. The “Company Man” deal is the first example of a high-profile film licensing music online.