Music Royalties (advice needed)

[Analog-X64]

There is a developer that wants me to write them a 1 minute or less ambient track for a puzzle game.

They want to pay a one time fee to use the track in the game.

I haven't written the track yet.

What do I charge for this service? Any ideas?

[Chris Abbott]

Judging by today's economic climate, 25 Euros and a Jammy Dodger biscuit

If it's a small developer then they probably would balk at paying anything over 100 Euros, but I don't know whether they're small, medium or whatever. There's no hard and fast answer, really.

[Analog-X64]

Thanks Chris..

[Commie_User]

For the rest of us Chris, any idea on actual contractual and copyright stuff?

Do (or Can) game composers get a royalty every time a copy is sold for example?

[Analog-X64]

Commie brings up a good point, a quick scan/research showed a lot of people saying that in the game industry its expected that you just sell the music.

So if I do this, I'm giving up the rights to the track I've done?

[Chris Abbott]

Yeah, most developers would expect a buyout these days for original composed music. There are queues of people willing to do it, and few developers wants to deal with fiddly royalty payments down the line (subject as they are to deductions, definitions of profit, etc). That's not to say it doesn't happen (it might happen if the developer was broke and desperate), but it usually wouldn't. This would be a classic example of a "work-for-hire" contract situation.

[Commie_User]

Doesn't seem to be any different from the days of our favourite SID stars. Only these days, with no programming necessary and a full-furnished Internet to display your wares, it's a more crowded marketplace than ever before.

I remember a Games Machine article by Mel Croucher saying the early 80s-era schoolboy programmers were paid a one-off pittance for games by firms who got mildly rich on the profits. I wonder how much an equivalent of that still occurs.

[Doddsy]

It depends on how big the company is and how much of a name you are in the music biz. Well known artists can command a lot unknowns hardly anything. I'd wouldn't ask for much if you are relatively unknown do it for the publicity it could lead to something bigger. However, if the game goes on to sell in vast numbers then you will have lost out thats the gamble. There is a flip side however, because now you are well known your fee can go up considerably. I know a couple of mates of mine who were unknown but knew a remixer in the music biz and they did a commercial remix for an artist to be put on a cd single. They got paid £500 quid and that was a few years back.