selling music for games

i got a mail today from a small game company who's developing games for iphone/ipad, asking me if i'd be willing to sell my music to them, to be used in their next title.

they also wanted to know how much i'd charge them for it. i seriously have no fucking clue about these things, so i've asked them to come up with a price per track etc.

i dunno, might've been kind of a strategy, but on the other hand it would be pretty cool to have your music in a potentially popular game (their last game was reviewed @ ign.com).

anyone have any experience with things like this?

Making a soundtrack for a game sounds awesome man, hope it works out.

Shit man thats dope. Whatever the price is thats shit is awesome. Best of luck! !! I always wanted to do this...

CONGRATULATIONS YOU ARE LIVING MY DREAM! Too bad you make me feel like about my life and accomplishments.

Dude, congrats!

That's awesome! I can totally imagine your music in games... seems like a perfect match.

Quite a few small game developers don't have publisher backing until the end phases of a project, and are not going to be able to shell out Aphex bux for tracks, so even if the figure seems really low(even on the order of $50 per licensed track or $100 for an original composition) it's probably not that they're trying to rip you off... that money is coming out of lunch the next week. Just make sure you ask for your artist name to be displayed somewhere prominent(credits, above all of the publisher/marketing BS), even better if you can get a link to your webpage/store/label/etc.

This can be nothing but beneficial to you. People will hear your track, say "that is a rad track, I must have it + more, who made it?". If the game is popular, Kotaku/etc. may post about it and mention your tunes. Having your music in a game, where it's looping over and over and ingraining itself in the player's mind, is like a marketing dream. Skipping out due to them offering too little money would be madness, especially in the current music market.

I'm super jelly.

I don't get paid for the tracks I make, and most of the world will probably never play the games we're making anyway. :(

  On 9/3/2010 at 6:58 AM, wahrk said:

I'm super jelly.

seriously, suicide ideation.

Start by offering $1,000, you just need to question how much you think you are worth. Do they want a license to existing work or are they commissioning original work?

För det första, grattis! Alltså, börja inte med att sälja dig lågt i hopp om att priset kommer öka, det gör det inte. Hur sker utbetalningen? Betalar dom skatt? Om inte, sätt ett timpris på 500kr, multiplicera med antal timmar du spenderat på låtarna. Ta inte mindre annars kommer din "timlön" efter skatt vara i stil med en städare. Att be dom att sätta priset är tyvärr att be om att bli knullad i röven. skaffa f-skattesedel så du kan fakturera dom eller gör det via www.frilans-finans.se

Om ni sköter det svart är det en annan femma.. men runt $800-$1600 per låt verkar vara vanligt.

(^swedish tax stuff)

Congrats. I've always been interested in doing video game music (I'm sure that goes for many here). Although it might be even cooler to do the little blippy sound effects that play when you scroll through menus.

I really don't know anything about this, but here's just a few things I'm thinking. You might be able to work out how much they can afford by looking into how well their previous things have done and who did their music before. They'll probably try and get you for as little as they think you'll accept, no matter how nice they are. Also there's handing over the tunes vs. licensing for the game, and will they want to use it in adverts etc too? Unless they're commissioning you to make some new music that they'll own? I just Googled up this, it has a little wizard where you explain how you use their music and it gives you a price, could give you an idea? http://www.beatpick.com

  On 9/3/2010 at 1:17 AM, data said:

i got a mail today from a small game company who's developing games for iphone/ipad, asking me if i'd be willing to sell my music to them, to be used in their next title.

they also wanted to know how much i'd charge them for it. i seriously have no fucking clue about these things, so i've asked them to come up with a price per track etc.

 

i dunno, might've been kind of a strategy, but on the other hand it would be pretty cool to have your music in a potentially popular game (their last game was reviewed @ ign.com).

 

anyone have any experience with things like this?

 

personally, i'd just ask for the credit. it's a good opportunity to get exposed and promoted to a new audience and create more offers like this.

  On 9/3/2010 at 8:03 PM, Adjective said:

personally, i'd just ask for the credit. it's a good opportunity to get exposed and promoted to a new audience and create more offers like this.

this is true, 'specially considering their limited budget. still though, i've just asked for $30 for any already finished track they'd like to use, and another $50 for each track produced exclusively.

i dunno, i'd feel dumb if they turned me down, im no the only musician they've been looking at either, oh well.

what is the name of the developer?

i'd rather not say atm. :)

charge by the minute of your music

I licensed a track recently for a few hundred. You're selling yourself seriously short if you charge less than $100.

If you're composing new music instead of licensing, charge per hour. Anywhere between $40-60/hr is pretty standard.

well, first of all, what adjective said. second, they're a small developer with limited funds.

also, it seems they still haven't quite decided if they're gonna go with me or someone else yet, soo, i'll just have to wait and see what happens.

anyway, thanks for all the tips and suggestions.

yeah its easy to sell yourself short to get them interested but then the next time they'll want the same price and you'll only be able to raise it a fraction.

oh and read the contract

  On 9/3/2010 at 8:03 PM, Adjective said:

  On 9/3/2010 at 1:17 AM, data said:

i got a mail today from a small game company who's developing games for iphone/ipad, asking me if i'd be willing to sell my music to them, to be used in their next title.

they also wanted to know how much i'd charge them for it. i seriously have no fucking clue about these things, so i've asked them to come up with a price per track etc.

 

i dunno, might've been kind of a strategy, but on the other hand it would be pretty cool to have your music in a potentially popular game (their last game was reviewed @ ign.com).

 

anyone have any experience with things like this?

 

personally, i'd just ask for the credit. it's a good opportunity to get exposed and promoted to a new audience and create more offers like this.

"Hey guys, have you heard about this artist? I really recommend you contact him, he does shit for free!"

  On 9/5/2010 at 1:31 AM, Braintree said:

I licensed a track recently for a few hundred. You're selling yourself seriously short if you charge less than $100.

 

If you're composing new music instead of licensing, charge per hour. Anywhere between $40-60/hr is pretty standard.

If he asked for a few hundred, got turned down, then didn't license his music at all and missed out on a huge marketing boost, THEN he'd be selling himself seriously short.

The difference between $30 and $250 is almost nothing, especially if you have a day job, but the difference between 0 new fans who will buy your future releases and 100 is huge.

That's cool man. Check out GANG for any industry related goodness you might need..

pretty sick video game tune

I'd say be humble about it, demand a few bucks and be happy about the exposure you're getting and the fact that it's out there.

On the other side, big bucks could be fucking sweet.