quick question folks... myself and 2 other musicians are creating music for free for a project (posted in the help wanted area) and several other projects outside of gamedev. what is the normal procedure for copyrighting it or any free music provided, and giving out rights? is there any kind of contract that any of you use for either free or paid music? what do you guys do when you provide music for a certain project, or for a commercial (this falls under paid work) what would a normal procedure be for maing this as painless and legal as possible (i do not want the work given out and then the user making money from it) thanks

You need to read the Complete Guide to Game Audio by Aaron Marks. And yes, it really does take nearly an entire book to answer all those questions to any degree of satisfaction. I'm poring over it myself for about the tenth time.

Brian

i read some quick blurbs about the book and it seems good... is there another book that is more recent than this one?

There are more newer books but none as comprehensive and useful as Marks' Guide.

The holy trinity of game audio books you should read are:

Complete Guide to Game Audio by Aaron Marks

Interviews, tech details, industry stories, negotiation examples...everything

The Fatman on Game Audio by the Fatman

The heart of Game Audio told by the man who's lived through it all. Some tech and plenty of insider stories, wholly entertaining and very insightful. A good glimpse of the industry.

Audio for Games: Planning, Process, and Production by Alexandor Brandon

Half tech, half management. Ok, some great insight too. Seemed geared more towards in-house audio directors and other full time employees versus freelancers.

There are more, but these y'all should own or at least read 10 times.

Tony

thanks man, its funny, all the books you listed are on my list of books to get. i just wanted another opinion on them before comitting.

is there a book that deals with the business aspect? for instance, let's say i am making custom music for a company, and they are gonna pay me...is there a guidline book that i can use for contracts and such.

ive looked at steve fishman's independent contractor agreements book but it seems that it doesn't cover that.

thanks again

Yes, the reason I recommended the Aaron Marks book is because a great deal of the book does handle the business end of game audio quite extensively. It even includes several sample contracts that are public domain, so you're free to use them should you need to. The book also includes methods for determining your studio expenses, how much you should charge for services rendered, how to handle demo reels and getting your name out there, networking tips, etc. Basically it covers anything you'd need to know. It's a couple of years old, so the technology mentioned in the book may seem dated in a couple of cases, but the sound business practices in there aren't going away any time soon.

Brian

cool thanks

im rushing to learn all this because i have an offer to create custom music for $, so i want to make sure eveything is as good of an order as it can be with the short time frame im working in.

thanks again i will definately get these books and hit them hard