Warner Chappell production music director talks opportunities for creators

Lina Tebbs, director of UK production music at Warner Chappell Music, has spoken to Headliner about her career in the sector and the increasing opportunities opening up for creators.

Since joining the company in early 2024, Tebbs has been driving the major's production music business forward and overseeing all aspects of its vast catalogue of almost half a million tracks.

What’s more, she has also been actively forming partnerships with organisations across the sector and working to educate the community on everything from music right to how best to enter the industry.

Here, Tebbs sits down with Headliner for an insightful look at the world of production music and her illustrious career so far…

How did you get into the world of production music?

To be honest, I didn’t know about it until I started working on it. I was born in Soviet Russia and a music career of any sort would have not been on my cards in any way. But my dad has been a touring musician since he was 13. We moved here when he was approaching his late 40s and he got a little break writing for production music for a library. I didn't know what that was, but I was like, ‘Hey, well done you! Great’. At the time (early 2000s), I - the classic music lover - was going to gigs a lot and promoting a club night at 93 Feet East, while trying to get a job with the record labels. I didn’t even know what I'd really do there [laughs].

It got to around 2004 and it seemed like nobody was going to hire me. But then this small company had opened an office in London and the founder was helping me out a little bit and I ended up doing some work experience. It seemed like something I could put on my CV, so I went in, didn't really know what I was doing or what they were doing, and then ended up staying there for 12 years! That small company was Audio Network and ended up being sold for £215 million in 2019. It kind of became a big one [laughs].

I started as a researcher, so somebody would create a brief and then I’d have to find the right music for that.And I loved it because I got to work with musicians and lots of people in the industry. It's like a secret society nobody knows about.

After that I worked for Felt, which was more on the licensing side, even though they have a production music library as well. And then I did some consultation work, and then eight months ago I arrived at Warner.

How have you found working on the production music side of a major label?

It’s been great. I realized quickly that they really understand sync and they really understand the value of it. They've been massively supportive. And they clearly see how production music has standalone value, but also how within the bigger company there are so many different avenues it can be incorporated within it. It's been lush!

What advice would you offer creators looking to break into the production music industry?

Look at the company. There's around 300-plus MCPS libraries, as well as others that work across different models. There's a huge amount of opportunity. I think on last count, BBC and the internal music box had seven million plus production music tracks. It's a huge, huge business. So do your research, look at the companies, see who you want to work with. That's step one.

These days, the reputation of production music is very different to what it was many years ago. People were like, ‘Oh God, it's only production music’. That reputation is long gone. The production values of what we do are incredible. We work with the best studios, the best musicians, the best producers.

And writing for production music is an art form. I often will get in a taxi and the driver will be like, ‘I have this album that I wrote when I was 16. Do you want it’? I'm like, ‘No, because it's probably not great [laughs]. But also because the way production music is written is different. It's not just like, here's a track and it's really great. It's not going to be played on the radio.

So there has to be some hit points. You might have to give enough room for monologue or for narration or whatever it might be.

Has there been a noticeable increase in the number of creators looking to break into this industry in recent years?

Definitely. And not just in production music, but in sync in general. For most artists, no matter how successful they are, sync in general is really important. It's a huge part of their income stream. And I think for production music especially is thought of as an additional bit of income. Think of it as your pension – there is such longevity with production music. We have catalogues that we bought that started in 1988. We have stuff from the ‘20s and all of that still gets used today.

Also, you have to commit to it. I don't think a single album in a niche style is going to make you millions of pounds. But if you write consistently and have a catalogue of works, like in any industry, it's a numbers game.There is a lot of content being made today that requires production music, and not just in the traditional TV space. We work with podcasts and we release music on DSPs as well. We can do a lot more, a lot quicker without relying on another partner, like a record label or the publisher to approve things for us.

Has there been an increase in the number of industry professionals looking to move into this sector at executive level?

I think it depends on the role itself. I've certainly known people who have gone from a major label to production music. But there are big differences. If you are an A&R you might look after a particular style or genre. In my role, I get to commission across every style of music. I do children's, I do orchestral, I do hip-hop, grime and everything in between.

On an executive level, the way you get to work with brands and huge production companies and broadcasters to negotiate really deep terms and really deep partnerships in lots of different commercial ways is really exciting. So, it just depends which bit of the business you're coming from and whether you want to do something slightly new.

What are your plans for the business in 2025?

Obviously, world domination! We have quite a few partnerships that we are working on. And I'm really hoping I'll be able to sign or at least talk about them before the new year. But it's that classic commercial sensitivity thing, so I can’t say much now but there are some really cool things incoming for us.