The Indie Game Developer's Guide to Working with a Composer

The Indie Game Developer's Guide to Working with a Composer

Greetings everyone --I've been trolling around GG since about April of this year and have really had a great time following many a .plan here. It's really great to be here over a matter of months and see projects come to completion.

One thing I've noticed, however, is that most of the folks who post their .plans are either programmers or artists. Not there is anything wrong with this, of course -- but I thought I'd chip in as a resident sound designer and composer. To lend some credibility to my statements, I should mention that I've worked on a few GG projects, including Wildlife Tycoon: Venture Africa and Basic Bob.

What I'm going to try to do, over the course of a few .plans is to lay out the process of working with a composer in getting original music created for your game. I welcome your comments and feedback!

Step 1: Do you need original music?
Well? Do you? Although this seems crazy for me to say, especially since I'm in this business, going with original music is not always the smartest move. For example, if you consider yourself to be incredibly picky and are terrified of the unknown and demand absolute control, you should probably skip on original music. You should also skip if you are extremely tight on funds. However, that rule comes with a caveat. There are many composers out there who may gladly score your game for next to nothing (or maybe nothing). I have seen many folks, including those in the forums here at GG, attest that those who are doing things for free are probably not worth paying, and thus can only work for free. Although this may certainly be true for some, for others, they may be experienced composers, but are just trying to get started. After all, you can produce x, y, and z, but if you have no credits it is hard to get that initial gig.

Given this, it might be worth taking a chance on these folks, especially if they are willing to offer you a free, speculative demo with no strings attached. In other words, "here's my demo, try and do an in-game level music". They come back to you and it, well, sucks.

At this point, you could bow out and say, thanks but no, and off you go. Some folks may be willing to do this for you. Those who really want to work with you will do this gladly, especially if it looks like you have a great project.

So, you're not overly controlling and you have some money (or are willing to take on someone with little or no experience for next to nothing). Now what?

Step 2: The Rates
"You charge HOW?"
This is by far my most commonly asked question. The most common way in the professional industry is to charge by the finished minute. What does this mean?

By finished, I mean just that -- done. All edits, changes, modifications, rounded up to the nearest minute, usually with a one minute minimum. This price, of course, can range anywhere from $150-$1,500+. No composer will quote you a flat rate (unless its very high already) as there is room for negotiation in most cases. Possible negotiating points include:
- Total amount of music
- How attractive your game looks to the composer (not really your call -- but the composer WILL figure this in, just the same)
- Royalties
- Non-exclusive rights

This last point is worth some explaining. In most cases, the composer will only license their music to you, NOT sell it outright. What this means is that you can only use this music for the purposes established in your contract. Nothing more. The composer may grant you exclusive use for this format. (i.e. "game") Common examples of this include using it for SKU's related to Mac and PC versions of this game. This protects a composer's interests if, for example, your game is a HUGE hit and you get a console deal on it. You will need to renegotiate with the composer for the console title as well.

Some composers will offer to sell you non-exclusive rights, which should be cheaper. This means, that you can use it in your game, but they will add the music to a library CD they might be creating and 2 years from now the music in YOUR game may end up in someone else's as well! Depending on where you are with a particular project, your career, etc., you may or may not care about this.

Tune in next .plan as we continue the saga!
We'll cover topics such as "how to decide about placement" for music and sound effects and how to determine track length, style and other hard-to-discuss-with-your-composer decisions.