Think your YouTube video rivals Mad Men or 30 Rock? Well, your soundtrack can, at least. Thanks to Rumblefish.

If there’s one Portland startup that’s quietly having a substantial impact on the music scene, it’s Rumblefish. You might not hear much about them. But when you do, it’s usually something big.

Today is no different. You see, Rumblefish has just signed a deal with APM Music, a joint venture of EMI Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, the world’s largest production music library. That means, your YouTube video can have the same soundtrack as Hollywood productions.

“Hundreds of millions of people are producing user-generated video content and sharing it online. This partnership furthers APM’s social media efforts, making it even easier for consumers to access the same music used in their favorite films, TV shows, video games and commercials,” said APM Music president Adam Taylor, in a press release. “Making our music available through the Rumblefish API and Friendly Music consumer store expands our ability to have our library in personal use videos. Rumblefish has developed a real expertise in social media distribution and we are happy to be working with them to leverage our catalog.”

According to The Next Web, it’s almost like having a Hollywood-level music at your fingertips.

Now while you can’t expect to find any top-selling recording artists in the list, APM Music’s library of over 350,000 tracks opens up a world of music that has already been used by major networks and production companies in some of TV’s most popular shows and films, including Avatar, The Hangover, Mad Men, 30 Rock and Californication.

Why not just “borrow” the music you want? Well, that can get you in hot water quickly. Especially if your work starts gaining traction.

It’s not a novel idea to add sound to videos, of course, and users have been doing so for years. However, they often do so using copyrighted music without first procuring permission from the rights holder. There’s very little legal risk with that if the video is shown only to friends and family. However, when videos containing unlicensed content are posted on YouTube, Facebook or other popular sharing sites, the poster runs the risk of legal trouble.

A slap on the wrist from a rights owner could take days or even months, though, which amounts to aeons in the life of a viral video. For users unafraid of some legal trouble, Rumblefish says its offerings still provide an easier way of searching and cultivating soundtracks.

And that’s why going to Rumblefish is easier—and likely an easier way to find the music you want, anyway.

For more information, read the press release or visit Rumblefish.

Published by Rick Turoczy

More than mildly obsessed with the Portland startup community. Founder and editor at Silicon Florist. Cofounder and general manager at PIE. Follow me on Twitter: @turoczy View all posts by Rick Turoczy