bgm_pick match tiers: strict, relaxed, widened, catalog_fallback
Sume's bgm_pick returns a match tier with every track. What strict, relaxed, widened and catalog_fallback mean, and what to do when you get the last one.
bgm_pick searches Sume's background-music catalog and tells you how hard it had to look. The tier is strict when every filter you gave matched, relaxed when it dropped some, widened when it opened the search further, and catalog_fallback when nothing fit and it returned a default. The result also lists matched_signals and relaxed_filters, so you can see which.
The catalog it searches
The catalog is version bgm_catalog_v3: 48 first-party Sume loops hosted on media.sume.com, plus licensed Kevin MacLeod beds with CC BY 4.0 attribution. Tracks are grouped into nine categories: corporate, acoustic, beauty, tech, cinematic, kpop, commerce, fashion and lofi.
Each track carries bpm, energy (calm, upbeat, dramatic or neutral), loopable, moods, genres, tags, video_genres, product_categories and locales. bgm_pick scores tracks against the fields you send.
Reading the tiers
| Tier | Meaning | What to do |
|---|---|---|
| strict | Every filter matched | Use the track |
| relaxed | Some filters were dropped; see relaxed_filters | Check that the dropped filter is not one you care about |
| widened | The search opened beyond your filters | Listen before using; the mood may be off |
| catalog_fallback | No fit; a default track came back | Narrow your request or generate music instead |
Using the extra fields
The response includes a score, the matched_signals that earned it, the relaxed_filters that were dropped, and a candidate_count. Read relaxed_filters first: if the filter that was dropped is the one you cared about, such as a locale few tracks list, treat the pick as a miss even though a track came back.
The same matching powers Assets, then BGM in the app, the bgm_list and bgm_get tools, and the Timeline soundtrack pick.
When catalog_fallback is the answer
Treat it as a signal, not a result. Loosen the one filter that matters least, or drop to the mood alone. If the brief is specific, such as a 96 BPM minor-key track with a marimba lead, the catalog may not have it. A Music Router take costs $0.125 and can be written to that brief. The choice is between a catalog track that approximately fits and a paid take that fits exactly.
A habit worth keeping
Log the tier with every pick. A pipeline that picks music for many videos can then flag any non-strict result for a human listen, and count how often catalog_fallback happens. A rising rate tells you the catalog is missing a style your videos need, which is the moment to generate a few beds instead.
Keep the track slug with the video so you can reproduce the pick later.
Related posts
More in Media tools
- Put a 4:5 AI image on a 9:16 canvas with blurred fill in Pillow
Fill the empty bands of a 9:16 canvas with a blurred, darkened copy of the same Sume image, and place the sharp 4:5 original over it. Code and blur settings.
- Burn captions: pick one of script_text, words, cues or segments
Sume video captions accepts one wording source per job: script_text, words, cues or segments. When each fits and which ones skip speech-to-text.
- Camera orbit and zoom transition prompts for Omni first and last frame
Google says Omni 1.1 Flash handles orbits, zoom transitions and loops between two keyframes. Prompt patterns and costs for the Sume API, from $0.19 per draft.
- Can a 1080x1080 square video be a 3-minute YouTube Short?
Yes: YouTube's help page says a Short can run up to 3 minutes if it is square or vertical. Render 1080x1080 in Sume Timeline 1.0 for $0.30 at 180 seconds.
Written by Sume