[font=arial][size=2]One thing to note is there may be royalties. I am not well verse with royalties on games personally but if a composer is a professional, most likely he or she would be a registered member of a performance rights organization like ASCAP etc. If so, any works within their catalogue is applicable to royalty collection. This is a note to consider when hiring or purchasing music for your projects. Of course a good option is to purchase royalty free tracks. Again you should check with the library you will be purchasing with if they are completely royalty free as well as some libraries do sell music from composers that are members of a PRO so they are royalty free to a certain usage and may not be worldwide which I assume is important if your game or app is distributed worldwide. I am writing from http://www.jewelbeat.com/ and we have a good size library of 35,000 tracks at $0.99. This could be an option as it is a ready-made collection so there are no surprises (hopefully pleasant ones if any) on what you will receive unlike custom commissioned music. There are many factors to deciding where you should source for music and none are wrong or better but I suppose what is most important is something that is suitable and that fits your project requirements. Cheers.[/font]

What is the usual course of action when a musician has produced a piece of music for a client, and that client decides he or she doesn't like it? Is it typically "take it or leave it," and you'd have to pay for the musician's time if you wanted any changes to the music? Or is the deal not made (and the musician not paid) until the client is 100% happy with the results?

This is something you should sort out in your negotiations with the musician/composer before they start to work, and in my experience different people handle it differently.

It seems common that most composers will be happy to make a few small changes before a piece is considered final, but that larger (and therefore harder and more time-consuming) changes will often attract additional costs.

If you end up deciding you don't want the piece at all then the right thing to do is to still pay for the composer's time -- and they could potentially take you to court for breaching a contract if you do not. If you're genuinely unhappy with the work and it isn't what you were expecting to get you should talk to the composer and try to reach an agreeable way of breaking off the agreement.


What I normally do when planning to work with a composer is to ask them up-front what their workflow and process for hand-over of the completed works is -- this way there should be no surprises when it comes to dealing with these things, and if their terms are not suitable for my needs I can either negotiate further or thank them for their time and continue looking someone else. Always know in advance what you'll be expected to pay and what (if any) terms and conditions are attached. If you're looking at spending a reasonable amount of money or seriously going into business then legal advice is also well worth your time.

Royalty-free production music would probably be your most cost-effective option for background music for a video game. You would pay a one-time flat fee for non-exclusive usage of the music. There are a number of production music libraries to choose from. You might t[font="Arial"]ry MusicRevolution.com [/font][font="Arial"]https://www.musicrevolution.com[/font][font="Arial"] , an innovative online marketplace for royalty-free music. The MusicRevolution.com production music library has over 14,000 tracks of affordable, high-quality royalty-free production music suitable for film, video, TV, radio, website, games, background music, legal music for YouTube, on hold music and other business music applications. New music is being added every day. Single tracks start at just $9.99. Most tracks are priced at $49.99 for a Standard rights license. See http://www.musicrevolution.com/license_terms/ for a summary of our license terms. I am the co-founder. [/font][font="Arial"][/font]

What is the usual course of action when a musician has produced a piece of music for a client, and that client decides he or she doesn't like it? Is it typically "take it or leave it," and you'd have to pay for the musician's time if you wanted any changes to the music? Or is the deal not made (and the musician not paid) until the client is 100% happy with the results?

Good question! What I offer is three full revisions with the quoted cost of the song. A "full" revision is a drastic, "let's go back to square one" type of change. For example let's say the client originally wanted polka for a level but then after starting on the song the client changed their mind and wanted death metal. I'll make that sort of drastic change up to three times. After that, further revisions cost extra. This does two things:

1) Make the client really consider if the revision is needed or not. I've found if a client feels they have unlimited, free revisions some will make a bunch of changes just because. Just to see what will happen. Iteration just for the sake of iteration usually doesn't offer good results nor does it keep a project on schedule.

2) It sets up a system where the composer has a safety net if song X ends up taking 5 times longer than first expected.

Most composers will want to work with clients - myself included. A VERY helpful way to avoid ugly situations is to keep close contact throughout production. I get as much info on the project and the client's vision of the game (including audio) as possible before starting work. I ask for references to other games/films/CDs which have music that the client feels could also fit their game. Then during production I usually give the client "previews" every 30-45 seconds of music completed or so. This helps avoid showing a fully finished piece which could potentially be way off the mark. So far it's worked well for me.

Royalty-free production music would probably be your most cost-effective option for background music for a video game. You would pay a one-time flat fee for non-exclusive usage of the music. There are a number of production music libraries to choose from. You might t[font="Arial"]ry MusicRevolution.com [/font][font="Arial"]https://www.musicrevolution.com[/font][font="Arial"] , an innovative online marketplace for royalty-free music. The MusicRevolution.com production music library has over 14,000 tracks of affordable, high-quality royalty-free production music suitable for film, video, TV, radio, website, games, background music, legal music for YouTube, on hold music and other business music applications. New music is being added every day. Single tracks start at just $9.99. Most tracks are priced at $49.99 for a Standard rights license. See http://www.musicrevo.../license_terms/ for a summary of our license terms. I am the co-founder. [/font]

Library music certainly works well... but only works in some situations though. In highly original, unique projects canned license music may not work as well. It could be a situation where the requested instrumentation is very unusual and/or uncommon and the library music doesn't fit that need. In addition some games don't want to have music that is easily accessible by other projects and media. Then when you consider thematic material - where a game has a reoccurring theme (or themes) throughout a soundtrack - library music wont work as well. Unless you offer packs of licensable music that uses the same melody which from my experience isn't super common with canned library music. Finally, if you wanted to have highly interactive music (i.e. various stems being called or not) then canned library music may not be a good fit there. So while the costs may be very low - the developer can be limited by going this route.

1. If paying the musician once, what would you consider a fair payment for a piece? Let's say background music at around 5 minutes length. $100? $500?
2. [....]
3. How long does a musician usually take to produce a song? Days? A week? Or maybe closer to a month?

Hehe... I made this 6 Minutes Track in 2 Days:
http://soundcloud.com/fastel/plasma

And this 3 minutes-track took much more than 2 Weeks and lots of beer
http://soundcloud.com/fastel/squeeze

It takes one day to realize a backgroundmusic, soundscapes and ambients... but sometimes you really can get problems when you try to copy that old Nintendo 90s Music.
Its not the length. My price depends on the quality somebody wants.
"You just give 100$ für 10 minutes orchestra-music?... well no problem I have 4 chords left" *loop*

And the creative process is one thing you cant really plan. If you want something special - it could take 1 Month just to get the great idea you know? ;o)
That is MY big problem in working with a client. I love it to have time to think about the composition, to make a sheet and correct it with billions of pencil-lines

The process of production, of making your ideas to sound can take hours, days, or weeks. I had a really big composition laying on my HD half a year before I "finished" it - and I still find details to update it evertime I hear it.... well I think I wouldnd sell that piece at all

It takes one day to realize a backgroundmusic, soundscapes and ambients... but sometimes you really can get problems when you try to copy that old Nintendo 90s Music.
Its not the length. My price depends on the quality somebody wants.
"You just give 100$ für 10 minutes orchestra-music?... well no problem I have 4 chords left" *loop*

Well, here's a point of view I don't share - for me every track is special and unique and sure, the more money I get the more time I can spend on it, but I try not to make the creative part suffer.
Maybe I'll give the client something I've written before which wasn't made to measure for the project simply because there won't be enough time - every musician builds up his own "library" - but I try to keep it at the same quality throughout. This can, in some cases, also mean that I spend a lot more time on soundscapes and ambients than on the actual themes because they require a lot of post-production.

[color=#1C2837][size=2]And the creative process is one thing you cant really plan. If you want something special - it could take 1 Month just to get the great idea you know? ;o)you[color=#1C2837][size=2]That is MY big problem in working with a client. I love it to have time to think about the composition, to make a sheet and correct it with billions of pencil-lines [/quote]
[color=#1C2837][size=2]I share your love for details, brain work and good old penciled sheets. But offering my services as a pro implies me making music without a "day job" interfering and also the ability to lock myself in the studio for a week to present at least a first draft afterwards. Of course, good compensation helps to pay the rent for that time, but really that's all I want to do anyway.

Well, here's a point of view I don't share - for me every track is special and unique and sure, the more money I get the more time I can spend on it, but I try not to make the creative part suffer.

Well ok exaggeration with this 4 chord thing. But it goes a little bit like this...
High paid = high quality
Low paid = lets see whats I can do without spending days

[color="#1C2837"]But offering my services as a pro implies me making music without a "day job" interfering and also the ability to lock myself in the studio for a week to present at least a first draft afterwards. Of course, good compensation helps to pay the rent for that time, but really that's all I want to do anyway.[/quote]
If you are a full time composer who can make a life on the money. But I think they're rare....

Naja tschüs dann ;)

If you are a full time composer who can make a life on the money. But I think they're rare....

Well, I've got a few private students and some live gigs here and there - depends on what kind of life you want to make, I guess.

Naja tschüs dann ;)[/quote]
Jo - schöne Grüße aus Hamburg.