At GBM Music we have a simple principle – good background music should stand up on its own.

If we don’t personally enjoy listening to the music we create, when we’re travelling on the train, while we’re sipping a coffee on a Sunday morning, or while we’re reading a good book, then we don’t release it.

Good background music needs to be treated as part art, part business. While the music we create is often commissioned to fulfil certain purposes, it has to have a special something to it, if it’s really going to resonate with listeners.

People who regularly download good background music can instantly tell the difference between good songs and shoddy songs. Ones that have been crafted with care and attention to detail, and those that have been churned out simply to hit a brief. If it doesn’t have heart, it won’t be good background music.

So how do we approach this problem, and overcome it? Well, firstly, we treat every song as if it is a genuine, creative creation. Just as a musician moulds his or her songs from experiences, or something inside themselves, our creative team do the same.

This personal ingredient – hitting on an idea, a feeling or an emotion, is what gives our music its heart.

Then, we exercise our free reign. Who cares if emotional moments usually have soaring strings – if we feel something else fits, we like to try it out, and hopefully create something fresh, new and interesting.

Of course, when working directly with clients, we listen to all feedback and aim to create a shared vision. What we don’t do is compromise on our vision for our music.

So if we feel we’re being asked to do something we don’t want to, we don’t accept the project – it’s that simple.

We hope that these processes help to keep GBM Music as one of the best spots on the web to find cheap, but good, background music.