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[Alistair Aitcheson]

Hi everyone. I'm considering getting a dedicated composer to compose bespoke music for Greedy Bankers, which currently uses creative commons music. I'm currently in discussions with a composer who's sent me a 30-second draft of his proposed new main theme for the game, which I'm very impressed with. I don't have experience with working with external composers and I wanted some advice and/or some standard practices.

I don't really have the budget to pay a flat fee so I expect it will be done by royalties. I don't know what standard royalty rate for composers - what would you usually expect?

Are there any issues I should be aware of regarding collaborations from your experience? Anything I should have in place before anything's made official?

[TeeGee]

Royalty-based deals for composers are a pretty rare thing. Composers usually just do the required music for a flat fee and that's it. They don't have to continuously work on the game like the main developer, and their workload is not as big as that of a graphic artist in most games (even if music is very important).

If you can't pay a high flat fee, consider some tiered bonus system. Ask the composer if he/she would be comfortable with getting a low initial payment for their work and some set bonuses on certain sales tiers. For example: $50/min of music now, and an additional $50/min when the game reaches 500, 1000, 2000 and 5000 sales (adjust the numbers to fit your own case). Try to balance it so that the initial fee is as low as possible, the most likely sales tier gives the composer something around their normal rate, and anything more makes it more worthwhile for him/her than an average commission.

If a royalty deal is the only option, set the percentage so that at the most likely projected sales number, the composer gets something around his/her normal rates. I would also consider setting a time limit. There's nothing more annoying than having to pay someone a percentage from these few bucks the game makes 5-10 years after its release.

Hope it helps.

[richicon]

I would definately advise not to do a royalty deal for music, perhaps a small flat fee and additional promotion for the composer? i.e. do a press release about the composer and the fact they are writing the music, that sort of thing.

[Alistair Aitcheson]

Thanks for the advice so far, this is really helpful