About Us
Black Ribbon was founded on one simple idea: Professionally printed music should be convenient, affordable and available in whatever quantity you need.
Black Ribbon, CEO, Matt Franko is a professional musician and has done music preparation for hundreds of film scores.
Company founder Matt Franko has been in the music industry for the last two decades. Matt has prepared music for hundreds of Hollywood films and television, while performing in studio sessions and live performances.
In 1999, Matt co-founded a music publishing company called Increase Music. During his tenure with the company, he searched for a way to print smaller quantities of music at the highest quality, but nothing quite met his standards. Out of curiosity, necessity and the belief that other people were experiencing the same frustrations (described here), he decided to take matters into his own hands.
Through years of research and development, he perfected high-quality music printing and Black Ribbon was born. Initially designed to meet his own needs, Matt began offering short-run music printing when friends and clients saw it and begged for their own. Sensing an opportunity, in 2006 Matt began offering full printing services; today Black Ribbon stands as the premier company for music printing.
The Black Ribbon difference
We’re experts in Music
Our background is in performing music at the highest level, with over a decade of experience in both music publishing and music preparation. As professional musicians, we know what music is supposed to look like.
We’re experts in Printing
Before his professional music career took off, our CEO, Matt Franko, worked as a press operator for LTI, a manufacturing company based in Atlanta, GA. Matt’s foundation in the printing world combined with years of research and development at our publishing company enabled us to dial in the exact combination of materials, machines and processes required to print music at the highest level.
We feel your pain
We were fed up working with so-called “copy centers”—that cater to small businesses, but not professional musicians—and we had a feeling that we weren’t alone. We started Black Ribbon to scratch our own itch, but since our launch in 2006 the response from our clients has been overwhelmingly enthusiastic. Now you have access to the same printing techniques we’ve perfected for our own needs, made available to you to help you look your best.
We notice the details
As professional musicians, we’re trained to notice the details that other printers are oblivious to. Some examples of errors we have flagged customers have been 1) Bad page turns for parts, 2) Incorrect transpositions of parts, 3) Missing parts (by comparing the parts we have to the scores we are printing, we have found that the sets are incomplete and missing parts). You’ll have that extra peace-of-mind, working with a printer who understands your industry and cares about your success.
That’s a little bit about us. What about you? Tell us what you’re up to through the contact form and let us show you how we can help make your next project a success.