There are also a lot of music producers that post their music on services like spotify or soundcloud. It's all quite well organised so you could first ask from them if they could provide the music for free (.... say for promotion) and then you could buy some tracks or have them compose some for you.

I wouldn't advise NOT asking for free music (for promotion) as it's hardly an even trade off. And in many cases it might just come off as rude or upset the artist that spent time, energy and money making that song. Approach producers and ask to license their tracks. In some cases, they might be quite affordable. 

But spotify and such often feature producers that are making music that may not always work for games - i.e. music with lyrics in some cases - or it may not have the ability to be made interactive. Also the more commercialized you get on things like Spotify, the higher the chances that you'll have to go through a record label instead of just through an artist and that adds higher cost and more complexity. 

10 hours ago, nsmadsen said:

I wouldn't advise NOT asking for free music (for promotion) as it's hardly an even trade off. And in many cases it might just come off as rude or upset the artist that spent time, energy and money making that song.

and somehow, despite that, there are a shocking number of people who just give stuff away.

And I think that's a mistake on their part. It devalues the whole audio industry when someone gives away stuff for free. Famous writer and screenwrite, Harlan Ellison, put it best in this clip: (warning some rough language).

Well, I was agreeing that it's a mistake

Gotcha!

8 hours ago, nsmadsen said:

And I think that's a mistake on their part. It devalues the whole audio industry when someone gives away stuff for free. Famous writer and screenwrite, Harlan Ellison, put it best in this clip: (warning some rough language).

 

Haha what a great guy!

On 7/10/2018 at 11:09 PM, nsmadsen said:

If you need just one track - you could go with a library online. There are literally tons of options if you google "royalty free music" or "stock music." If you're wanting more customized, branded stuff that can have the same, unique personality spread across an entire OST, then you're best bet is hiring a composer. 

Thanks for sharing that options.

There are a lot of Royalty-Free music options that are great for very low budget indie games and "first timers". They are especially good for Mobile, Retro, and Platformers that use mostly 1 or 2 songs through the whole game. I agree with mr_tawan that the benefit of hiring a composer is that they bring a lot of specialized experience to your project and help the finished game have a polished appearance that will be taken more seriously.

If you plan to make money off of the game or want to be able to sell the soundtrack, you could negotiate a percentage of the sales to pay the composer after the game. In my opinion, the best option is to try to find some composers that you really like their music and try to get to know them. That way if your game is particularly interesting to them, maybe they will do some discounted music. As a composer, I will cater a lot more to a Game Developer that is new to the field and making something unique that I will really enjoy. But to reiterate, asking for free music from a composer is going to offend a good composer.

Please don't necro. Locking thread.