Hello

Few days ago I got a private message on IndieDB from person who was interested in making music for my game.

He/she stated in private message that he/she is interested in my game and looks for some working experience, thus is offering to produce some assets for me for free, while also sending me link to his/her showreel.

In my response, I included a question about licence on his music. What I could understood from his/her second answer is:

• He/she keeps a copyright on all created music and sound
• I do not pay upfront, but he/she gains royalties from sold copies of game (amount not stated)

Those terms seem fine for me, as I get solid background music without paying immediately as I don't have any money, while he/she gets rewarded for his/her work. However, as it's my first time dealing with such things, I wanted to hear thoughts from more experienced people.

Also, if we get to the deal, what is usually the correct procedure?

Thanks for your time.

Ask if they have legal write up for the agreement and ensure that there is a set deadline for material.

Double check the legal writing to ensure that not only is the music usable in the game, but game related material i.e. trailers and other promotional material.

Are you planning for a full retail release of your game?

• He/she keeps a copyright on all created music and sound
• I do not pay upfront, but he/she gains royalties from sold copies of game (amount not stated)

The points above are red flags for publishers when reviewing your application. You may dismiss this because you think you don't need nor want a publisher, but even so not owning the assets in your game may come back to bite you in the future if you decide to go that way.

If I was you, I would try and negotiate a price for (and for you to own the rights to) the sound assets

Wow, thank you for your answers. It was a good idea to ask here :)

If the final product ends looking well, I do plan for full release in order to earn some pocket money, hopefully enough that next time I can actually pay people for things I need (primarily art and music).

SotL, I appreciate the time you put in for such post. It was full of details I honestly overlooked and pointed some issues I need to watch about. After that, I'm not sure if I should enter into any such deals as that one... as it's my first game and hobby project and I'm not even sure if it will end well. One one hand he'll handle a huge amount of work, as I'd have to learn those skills by myself otherwise... on other hand, all those legal issues might be problematic for such small game.

I think Servant has the correct idea.

Be wary of people who "give" you things with conditions (royalties, retaining copyright). Everyone, particularly Servant, has given you sound advice, so I just want to remind you of one thing: This person contacted you unsolicited and wants to stack the deck. I'd steer clear.

But I'm grumpy and mean and expect the worst from everyone. Your Mileage May Vary!

Thank you all for your advices. I've sent him message with the proposition similar to what Servant suggested without stating any specifics. I'll see how he responds to that and see what to do next based on his response. After all, I can't lose anything, while I could gain much.

A couple comments on this great thread.

Be wary of people who "give" you things with conditions (royalties, retaining copyright). Everyone, particularly Servant, has given you sound advice, so I just want to remind you of one thing: This person contacted you unsolicited and wants to stack the deck. I'd steer clear.

I would respectfully disagree GoCatGo

It is not uncommon for a composer to negotiate a lower rate in exchange for keeping copyright, especially for a game without much of a budget. In fact, that is something I've often recommended that new composers do if they find themselves talking to an indy developer. Although most work in game music is work for hire (see this article from yesterday), the exception is indy games, where budget constraints leave room for more creative business arrangements.

If you're worried about a 'big publisher' deal down the road (as dsm or GoCatGo point out), then you can generally solve that pretty easily by seeing if they'll add a 'buyout' clause-- i.e. in exchange for $X, they agree to sign over all rights.

It comes down to this: When you hire someone, you can either just pay them and own everything, or pay them below market value and see if they want to share the risk with you. When a composer offers $0 upfront, but a percentage of sales, they aren't trying to be shady or greedy. They are recognizing your need to keep costs low, and are saying they are willing to share your risk. And part of sharing the risk is sharing the reward in the event the game becomes successful. Because usually when a composer does a game for $0 upfront + % of sales, the odds are they will make virtually nothing.

The one thing about Servent's proposal that i disagree with is that you are asking them to share the risk (i.e. they don't get paid unless you have some sales), but with no additional compensation for taking on that risk. If you're worried about paying them too much if the game becomes the next Angry Birds, then put a cap on royalty compensation. But the cap has to reflect the fact that they are sharing the risk; i.e. it should be quite a bit higher than if you had guaranteed them payment upfront. 3-4x would be reasonable.

Also, make the agreement based on sales, not on profits. The reason for that is that it is incredibly easy for you to provide sales #'s (iTunes, Steam, Google Play reports, etc.), but virtually impossible for you to provide objective profit #'s without giving them access to all your books. You probably don't want to do that.

(also $75/min is rather low for music, even for an indy game, but that's a whole other topic :)).

-Brian