5 Alarm Music

What 5 Alarm Music does

5 Alarm Music is an independent production music library founded in 2002 and headquartered in Pasadena, California. The company supplies pre-cleared music for use in film, television, and radio productions, operating with a small team (11–50 employees) under co-founders Maddie Madsen and Cassie Lord (President, Executive Producer & Co-Founder). Its core product is a proprietary catalog of production music tracks built over more than two decades, which is licensed to media producers requiring cleared music for broadcast and digital use.

The company's primary distribution channel is its featured placement on Slipstream Music's licensing platform, a 1M+ track, 300k+ sound effect catalog used by major brands including Riot Games, McCann, Condé Nast, Kroger, NBC, Amazon, Apple, Paramount, J.P. Morgan, L'Oreal, PlayStation, and Ubisoft. Through Slipstream, 5 Alarm Music's catalog reaches enterprise buyers via tiered plans (Creator, Teams, Enterprise), while the firm itself also historically licenses directly to film, TV, and radio clients.

5 Alarm Music operates as a private, for-profit company with no disclosed funding rounds, no parent company, and no public financials. Its revenue model is licensing-based: catalog tracks are licensed for use in productions, typically on a per-use or subscription basis through distribution partners like Slipstream. No technology stack, AI capabilities, or proprietary platform has been disclosed for 5 Alarm Music specifically; its offering is fundamentally a curated, rights-cleared music catalog rather than a technology product.

Name

5 Alarm Music

Legal name

5 Alarm Music

Website

https://5alarmmusic.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2002

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

11–50 employees

Short description

5 Alarm Music is an independent production music library, founded in 2002 and based in Pasadena, CA, supplying pre-cleared music for film, television, and radio. Its catalog is distributed through platforms including Slipstream Music, reaching enterprise media buyers.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Production Music Library

NAICS

Music Publishers (512230), Music Publishers (51223)

akta.pro primary industry

Production Music Libraries (Library Music, Trailer Music, Stock Cues) (MPAIABAH)

akta.pro secondary industry

Production Music Libraries (Catalogs) (MPAIALAC)

Keywords

• Production music library
• Music licensing services
• Soundtrack music
• Film television music
• Independent music catalog

Headquarters

HQ city

Pasadena

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Services

Cost components

Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Core offering

5 Alarm Music is an independent production music library founded in 2002 that supplies original music and soundtracks for licensing to film, television, and radio productions. The catalog is distributed to professional media buyers through the Slipstream Music licensing platform under its label/artist profile.

Product overview

5 Alarm Music is an artist/label featured on Slipstream Music's music licensing platform, which offers over 1 million songs and sound effects for licensing. The company provides music licensing services through this partnership with Slipstream Music.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Products and services

• 5 Alarm Music Production Music Catalog

Ideal customer profiles1 record

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

Partnerships

One partnership is on record.

• Slipstream MusicprimaryTechnology or Integration5 Alarm Music is featured as a prominent artist/label on the Slipstream Music licensing platform. Their music is available for licensing through Slipstream's catalog of over 1 million tracks. 5 Alarm Music appears in the 'Featured artists and labels' section of Slipstream's website, indicating a direct content partnership where 5 Alarm Music's catalog is made available on the Slipstream platform for licensing to brands, businesses, and content creators.

Recent moves2 records

Expansion highlights1 record

Direct peers

• Musicbed: Musicbed is an independent production music licensing platform curating high-quality music for film, TV, and brand content, directly comparable to 5 Alarm Music's positioning as a curated independent library for sync use.
• Artlist: Artlist is a subscription-based music and SFX licensing platform serving creators, brands, and filmmakers, overlapping with 5 Alarm Music's production music and licensing focus for film, TV, and digital content.
• Epidemic Sound: Epidemic Sound is a major production music and sound effects licensing platform built for content creators, brands, and media companies, competing in the same sync and production music space as 5 Alarm Music.
• APM Music: APM Music (Associated Production Music) is one of the largest independent production music libraries licensing music for film, television, advertising, and radio, directly comparable to 5 Alarm Music's core offering.
• Audio Network: Audio Network is an independent production music library providing pre-cleared music for film, television, advertising, and digital media, mirroring 5 Alarm Music's focus on sync-ready production music.
• PremiumBeat: PremiumBeat is a curated royalty-free production music library (owned by Shutterstock) licensing tracks for film, TV, advertising, and online video, comparable in catalog model to 5 Alarm Music.
• Music Vine: Music Vine is a curated production music licensing platform serving filmmakers, brands, and content creators with hand-picked tracks for film, TV, and advertising use, a direct niche peer to 5 Alarm Music.

Broad incumbents

• Universal Production Music: Universal Production Music is one of the world's largest production music catalogs, operating as a major-label-backed broad incumbent offering music for film, TV, advertising, and digital content — comparable category but far larger scale than 5 Alarm Music.
• Warner Chappell Production Music: Warner Chappell Production Music is a global production music library operated by a major music publisher, offering sync-ready music across film, TV, advertising, and gaming — competing in the same space as 5 Alarm Music but at significantly greater scale.

Emerging players

• SONNISS: SONNISS is an independent production music and game audio resource distributing royalty-free music packs and licensing catalogs, comparable to 5 Alarm Music as an indie production music library with overlap in film, TV, and game audio licensing.

Market position

Strengths4 records

Weaknesses4 records

Competitive moat2 records

Key risks5 records

Key highlights4 records

Customer concentration

• Xx.com/5alarmmusic
• Facebookfacebook.com/5alarmmusic
• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/5-alarm-music

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles2 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds

Investors

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about 5 Alarm Music