One of the largest independent production music libraries in the world

Today, with more than 35 agents worldwide, SONOTON is one of the largest independent production music libraries in the world with a catalogue of over 1600 CDs and more than 150,000 tracks.

Hundreds of composers and producers from around the world contribute their talents to SONOTON, adding more than 60 new CDs to the catalogue every year in the most comprehensive and diverse musical and compositional styles imaginable.

Founders and owners Rotheide and Gerhard Narholz tirelessly manage a highly efficient and motivated team of professionals in the company's technology, sales, creative and logistics departments, and guarantee the highest results.

Gregor F. Narholz, rising star in the Hollywood film scoring business and already a veteran TV and library composer with numerous credits, ensures that the next generation of the Narholz legacy lends youth, vitality, vision and continuity to the ever-expanding company.

Rotheide and Gerhard Narholz establish SONOTON as a company in Munich, Germany. Gerhard Narholz, songwriter for artists such as Petula Clark, Bill Ramsey and Heidi Brühl, and composer for German feature films and television series, provides specific film and television music as background music, thus introducing and reinventing library music (WEINBERGER or CHAPPEL) in Germany.

Rotheide Narholz, originally trained in the travel and tourism industry, develops and grows the infrastructure of the young company. In the following years she supervises the development of data processing with proprietary software, devises the SONOfind music search programme (the first of its kind), initiates the SONOTON web site and introduces the HD MusicStation. Thanks to her enthusiasm and vision for technology and innovation, SONOTON develops into a pioneering full-service music company and a high-tech leader in the music library world.

1965 - 1970

SONOTON continues to develop the library business in Germany. The initial TV-specific music catalogue is expanded and is now comprised of a wide range of musical styles and application options. Leading German and foreign composers write and produce for SONOTON. The British BERRY MUSIC company publishes SONOTON productions worldwide on the library music labels CONROY, STUDIO ONE and PROGRAMME PRODUCTIONS. SONOTON invents the "underscore" (an alternative mix without lead instruments which otherwise may compete with voiceover), a practice that is now copied by music libraries all over the world. SONOTON produces Easy Listening Music for the Japanese market which is published on POLYDOR and KING RECORDS.

1970 - 1980

Using the pseudonym Norman Candler, Gerhard Narholz composes, arranges and conducts over 20 LPs with his large string orchestra, the MAGIC STRINGS, on the labels DECCA/TELEFUNKEN and KING RECORDS, and conquers the world! In 1971, Norman Candler receives the "3 Star Award" from BBC London for "Best Album of the Year". SONOTON produces Easy Listening Music for the INTERSOUND label with world-renowned musicians such as Nelson Riddle, Billy May, Ted Heath, Acker Bilk, Xavier Cugat, Horst Jankowski and Franck Pourcel. SONOTON continues to expand its territories to include 30 foreign representatives worldwide. In many countries where library music is unknown, SONOTON does pioneering work through its local agents.

1973

EMI buys BERRY MUSIC, the former SONOTON agent in the UK. This marks the birth of SONOTON's own record label. SONOTON raises the bar and sets new standards, musically, technologically, and creatively. The unicolored album covers for library music LPs are replaced with individually designed, full colour covers.

1975

 SONOTON becomes the market leader for library music in Germany and introduces the British KPM label to the German market. More international labels follow.

1981

SONOTON establishes its unique SAS ethno label (SONOTON AUTHENTIC SERIES) which publishes authentically produced and recorded music from more than 100 countries and cultures of the world.

1984

SONOTON is the first music library to recognize the revolution of the digital era and produces library music on CD.

1985

SONOTON becomes the agent for the Swedish DIGIFFECTS Sound Effects label and turns it into the most successful sound effects series in Germany.

1987

SONOTON establishes the CNS label (COMMERCIALS NON STOP) which publishes thousands of tracks especially produced for television and radio commercials and promos.

1991

SONOTON offers its worldwide customers the famous SONIA Classics, a huge collection of classical works on CD, for synchronization purposes.

1992

SONOTON is the first music library to present its own music search program, SONOfind, on floppy disk. Later, SONOfind is expanded for PC and MAC and also provides search functionality on a track-by-track basis (SONOfind PLUS).

1993

SONOTON establishes itself in the US market, and expands its visibility by licensing music in numerous, highly successful Hollywood film and television productions. The SONOTON representative in the USA, ASSOCIATED PRODUCTION MUSIC (APM), appoints Elisabeth Oei as special "SONOTON US Director" to support the German-based company on becoming the leading US brand. SONOTON commissions US producers and composers to create CDs specifically tailored to the needs and requirements of the growing US market.

1995

SONOTON begins operating its own music studio. Productions from all over the world can now be mixed at SONOTON's own facility, thus ensuring a state-of-the-art production of the highest quality.

1997

SONOTON creates its own sound effects series, SONOspheres, which focuses on longer atmospheric sounds and effects, fully recorded in Dolby Surround Technology.

1998

SONOTON is the first music library to introduce an online music search program and to make its entire repertoire accessible via the Internet. It will take other libraries years to develop online search programmes to compete with the success of SONOFIND.

2001

SONOTON opens a new digital 5.1 music studio and presents the first library DVD with 5.1 mixes of large orchestral recordings in a variety of styles and themes.

2005

SONOTON debuts EXCLUSIVE TRACKS, a set of 500 musical recordings which are offered online for a client's exclusive use in Germany and the USA, the first library to do so.

2006

With the HD MusicStation, SONOTON is the first music library to present its entire repertoire of more than 130,000 titles on a hard drive as an offline search program.

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