I'm an award-winning composer but know nothing about the video game music industry. Could someone help me out here? How does it all work? Are there places to submit samples of your music? Do game companies ever take music that has already been composed and use it in their games or does the music have to be written from scratch to fit the game? What are composers getting paid these days? Any info anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated. Thanks so much.

There are no clear cut definite answers to give you as general statistics show incongruities from composer to composer. Award winning or no, just put your stuff out for people to hear, try to get involved and you'll figure it all out soon enough. ;)

Sometimes, the best way to learn is to jump in.

From what I gather, you should have a personal website dedicated to showcasing your music and capabilities (usually with listenable/downloadable demos) and information on how to contact you. I don’t think game companies accept very many demo cds. You have to start small and work your way up, building a name for yourself in the process.

Put together a wide variety of "mood setting" music (that would sound good in different game genres such as first-person shooters, real-time strategy, etc.) and get them out there on the web. You could probably find a decent web design template to use to design your site for about $30 to $100. Here's an example.

Your music should be in a wide range of formats that are used in games. This could be in MOD, Ogg Vorbis and, of course, MP3. Perhaps you can even put together a few "throw away" tracks that you can put up for free just to generate some interest... but that's just a suggestion.

After that, you just have to market yourself to the right people and hope for the best. Good luck! =)

Quote: Original post by calaf5
I'm an award-winning composer but know nothing about the video game music industry. Could someone help me out here? How does it all work? Are there places to submit samples of your music? Do game companies ever take music that has already been composed and use it in their games or does the music have to be written from scratch to fit the game? What are composers getting paid these days? Any info anyone could give me would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks so much.

I would mosey over to gamasutra.com and see the articles they have on the subject at this link:

Sound of click

There are a few books on it out there:

Books on Game Audio Design at Amazon

This should get you started.

Good luck,
Adventuredesign