Hook Eliminates Tedious Music Searches

Toronto and NYC-based Pirate recently helped develop and launch an expansive, easy-to-use online music search application tailored to meet the demands of professionals in film, TV, and other media. The innovative service, called Hook Music, allows clients to instantly sift through the thousands of songs, pre-cleared for licensing, on its comprehensive database, compare them side by side, and share them with remote colleagues. To make the process of song selection simpler, faster, and more efficient than ever before, Hook's team has exhaustively analyzed their entire music library and identified each track's hook, saving clients the tedium of having to listen to endless songs from start to finish.

"Hook fills a major gap in the industry," noted Pirate Partner/CEO/Director Tom Eymundson. "Finding the perfect track that both complements your footage and speaks to the messaging of your clients has always been a laborious, time-consuming task. With Hook, you can instantly sort music by category and listen to the tracks in rapid sequence. You can literally listen to 10 hooks in 10 seconds, transforming what was a tiresome, never-ending process into something simple and, honestly, really fun."

Hook features a navigation screen with a simple, attractive layout offering multiple search options: "tone" (ranging from upbeat to more subdued), "texture" (more or less complex instrumentation), or keyword. To further refine the search, "tags" may be chosen one at a time, including instrumentation (dominant instruments in a track), vocals (by gender or special characteristics), mood, flavor (genre), vibe (sort by qualities of song, like "electronic," "organic acoustic," or "clean and bright"), and seasonal ("holiday," or "summer," for example). The number of matching tracks instantly appears on screen, and Hook rapidly synthesizes them into a playlist.

Clients can listen to the playlist by full-length tracks or by hook only, in nonstop sequence or one by one on demand. Users can generate and store multiple playlists through a simple click-and-drag setup as well as add comments which can then be easily shared via email. Recipients will have access to playlists with a fully functional Hook site, sans only the ability to search for new tracks. Songs can then be downloaded as high-quality mp3s - even the license inquiry is done on-line. Hook's intuitive layout, comprehensive database, and simplification of a formerly cumbersome process have earned glowing reviews from some of the industry's most respected figures. LCBO's Jim Fitzpatrick called Hook "a Henry Ford moment for the information age"; "...awesome ...amazingly executed," said Crushcuts' Kim Knight ; "...Unreal," exclaimed School Editing's Tasha Litt; "I absolutely LOVE it!" gushed Due North Communications' Dave Pigeon. But Traffik's Brian Noon summed up the overall sentiment when he wrote that, "I think that this is one of the best tools/ideas to come out of the industry since the Internet Web thingy."

"Pirate knows music as well as anyone, and we also know how difficult it can sometimes be to seek out and narrow down the perfect sound for your project," stated Pirate COO Tag Gross. "When helping to develop Hook, we put a premium on making it simple, intuitive, comprehensive, and easily accessible. The various settings allow for almost limitless song selection possibilities without overwhelming the user with useless tracks. We look forward to meeting our new clients and plan to continually perfect the system to add new music and further simplify and enhance the site."

Hook is fully compatible with Mac or PC computers. To sign up for the Hook Music app, or for more information, visit www.hookmusic.tv.

About Pirate:

NYC and Toronto-based Pirate is a full-service, award-winning, creative-driven audio agency that creates original music, radio, mixing, and sound design for commercials, radio, TV, film, web, and branded content. Pirate also provides a brand-based audio identity system, working with client brand managers. The agency's tireless staff harnesses a unique combination of creative excellence and technical prowess to produce sonically superior work. Pirate's 9 state-of-the-art 5.1 digital HD recording studios, staff of 30 composers, 12 track directors, US and Canadian casting departments, 5 senior copywriters, 8 senior mixers and an in-house creative department, make the agency arguably the largest and most well-equipped sound studio in North America and set it well apart from its nearest competitors.