If the “infinite music search death spiral of doom” sounds like something you’d rather avoid, then you should try building a music library that not only organizes your favorite tracks but also speeds up your workflow, which is a feature that PremiumBeat offers.
PremiumBeat is a highly recommended resource due to the quality of the songs, streamlined integration with YouTube, and price point, so definitely check out its library and see if it’s right for you. If you want to give PremiumBeat a try, you can use the exclusive code NFSPB to get a 15% discount on individual tracks and Unlimited Subscriptions.
Let’s go over some steps you can take to do just that.
There are plenty of templates out there that provide file structures for you to follow — usually based on genre. While that might be nice when you’re just starting out, it’s certainly not going to be catered to your specific needs. And that’s not efficient!
So, before you go with a template or even download a single track, ask yourself these questions:
While genre folders can be useful in some cases, you’ll want your folders to reflect your actual creative needs.
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So, if you’re not basing your file structure on genre, what should you base it on?
Here’s a better structure:
Pro Tip: Rename files with practical tags, like emotional_piano_doc_intro.wav so they’re searchable in Finder or within your NLE.
You don’t need 10 subscriptions—you just need the right one. Ideally, it would hit all of these marks:
One platform that hits all of these marks (and more) is PremiumBeat. With a subscription, you can “like” and “favorite” tracks. You can create and curate your own playlists and music libraries. You can organize them based on mood, genre, tempo, or virtually anything you want. This feature alone makes PremiumBeat ideal for filmmakers who not only want to find the right music for their projects but also want to optimize their workflow to make editing more efficient.
Now comes the (kinda) hard part: building your file structure. There are so many ways to do this and, honestly, there is no right way, but keep this in mind when building yours: Make sure your file structure reflects how your brain thinks when you’re in editing-mode.
Here’s a good example of a file structure based on that:
Nice! You’ve created your file structure and started throwing all your tracks in folders. Hold up! Don’t forget to tag those tracks. “They’re already in organized folders. Why do I need to tag them?”
Because you will forget why you downloaded some of them. You’ll be going through your “Mood/Hopeful” folder and see some tracks in there, and not remember what made it so special that you decided to download it.
So, tag your tracks with the specific reason it caught your eye, like “great for car chases,” “perfect for a sad death scene,” or “client wants something like this.”
If you’re a music gremlin who tends to go overboard with track downloads, first of all, same, but second — this is going to make your life so much harder because the fewer choices you have, the faster your decisions will tend to be.
Declutter every few months. Archive tracks you haven’t used in the last year. Keep only what you’re most likely going to use.
Finding the perfect tracks for your project isn’t the hard part — it’s actually keeping those tracks organized and accessible. All those hours of searching will do you no good if your music library is a digital junk drawer!
This is why using PremiumBeat to curate and organize your music library is a great idea, because a lot of these features are already baked in.
PremiumBeat is a highly recommended resource due to the quality of the songs, streamlined integration with YouTube, and price point, so definitely check out its library and see if it’s right for you. If you want to give PremiumBeat a try, you can use the exclusive code NFSPB to get a 15% discount on individual tracks and Unlimited Subscriptions.
