What is a decent price to ask for a music track?

Hi

As a developer i also compose my own music.

I have been writing music for more then 15 years.

Never have i created a music piece for someone else's game.

So who better to ask then u guys what a decent price would be to tag on a custom made music track.

In other words, when u don't think (it should be free), then what price should it be?

This question is not about selling to the masses.

Rather one project at a time, keeping the art where it should be.

And the price for it decent in general.

It depends! Depending on the situation, look up music licensing.

Are they getting full exclusive ownership of the track and the ability to use it however they please? For example, could they use it for a game and then use it for something totally unrelated a year later. If so, charge more. I've charged well over $100 for a lengthy track in this case (~2 minute track).

Or are you retaining ownership of the track and licensing it to them? Basically you write up a contract and say, "You can use this song for these projects/uses over the next X years". You can charge less (but don't have to) in this case since you still own the song and could potentially license it again once the contract is up.

Bear in mind, I've written stuff for friends and just charged them a flat rate. A buddy just asked for a death and game over jingle and I'm doing $50 flat since it'll take me an hour or two tops.

From the perspective of someone who was recently looking for a composer (Found someone last month), I think the fact that you have a music background will help if you want to charge higher prices, but (And again, this is from the perspective of me only) I would recommend staying on the lower end until you get game soundtracks specifically under your belt. People will be more willing to take a risk on you that way, and it's not really too big of a risk since you have the music background already. It'll get you a lot of interested people I think.

For exclusive music, I've seen prices range from $60-90 per minute of music. Non exclusive is usually around half that. These were for some fairly experienced composers with over 5 game soundtracks done. I felt it was reasonable, but at the same time, as someone making a game that I won't be profiting from, I was hoping for something cheaper. I eventually found someone who, like you, has a music background, but was looking to work on their first game soundtrack. He charges less than half of what the experienced composers do, so I was a lot more willing to take the risk (Which, again, didn't feel like a big one since he has a solid background in music), and so far it has really paid off on my end. I think that once my game is complete and out there, it'll pay off for him as well so that he can point to his best tracks as examples for others to look at and therefore make more money than last time.

That is the route I recommend you go if you're just starting out in game music. It may not sound like an attractive prospect, but in the end, I think it would help put you on the map. That's probably how most experienced game composers started out. Cheap and/or free even.

Thanks to u both bclikesyou & Megabeard

As i do intent to create soundtracks that are completely royalty free to the developer i still think that the route Megabeard described is best suited for me.

Starting low budget, thus composer helping developer offering service at low price & developer helping composer through their game as example.

Thank u for the clarity

The Honorable normal guy way:

depends on the length of the track and the complexity of it.. and the work you have to do.. from scratch or an edited version.. and also your work time fee.. most people add their work time fee to the work finished product.. as the manufacturers in our daily lives .. others charges only the product price.. or their price/hour so if u spent around 2 hrs composing it.. wold make you a whooping honorable way ... 30/100 bucks if its less ... you can still be in that range... the end use or ur client wont ask u why is that price so hard... if so.. u can always find excuses.. but most people that are hobbyists dont have cash flying around... so id better stay at a lower price.. for helping them out.. and maybe getting some publicity and get another order

The Business Type of audio sales:

(its not accurate but more of a guide.. of what the actual licensing goes for audio products.. they might be a bit different but this is a simple rough shape of it )

you can also sell it as a non-exclusive license.. so you can resell it further on internet without any problems.. audiojungle for example .. also you can give a limited-exclusive license.. that gives 1-3 months of usage before you sell it further...

the basic is this...you can sell it .. as regular license (for hobbits non monetized products)

limited-personal license - you can use it for a longer period of time making cash with ur product using the audio in it.. but not reselling the audio..

Personal license -buyer gets to partially own it.. he can resell it/ and make cash out of its products with the content of audio inside up to some sort of number records (ex 1000 sales in steam etc ) while you can still sell your own

Business license - buyer is eligible for selling your audio further as a vendor

Custom licenses - charging fees per product hit.. example ( 1mix license ... buyer publish in one video /game etc u need 1 license 30 $ or what ever, 2 videos or games he needs to re-buy the license for each product he releases)

custom license mix - u can use the original soundtrack to derive a new version .. each remix adds more licenses

and so on

hope it helped you .. and i was on track of your post

Thank u —

Very insightful and helpful!

A lot to bend my head over

How about AudioJungle prices?

How about AudioJungle prices?

the only downside of the Audiojungle is that you have to sell your product there to gain up to 70% other then that... i dont know.. really im not selling audio.. i just had some research done before on some music tracks.. and was a pain ... to license it.. i was sent from a company to another to some artist.. and from there back to the first studio... and then again loop goes on... however in the process learned a few things... and those are listed above.. they not accurate... but more of an ideea of how songs and music files are sold.. or how you can sell them the only problem is .. that you have to register your audio.. and claim ownership.. if youd only make it post it on internet.. no1 will know is yours... outside the people that took it from you

Well, that's where I buy stuff, on Envato market

After going through all the info i made up my mind

I am going for the route where i sell the audio piece with full ownership to only one developer.

Am not going to bother with licencing because in the end that takes the fun away for me.

Keeps it easy for me and highly recommendable for a developer.

They get a one of a kind music piece, and i get to say "that is what i created" to other developers who are in need of royalty free music.

And on the plus side i can keep it at a low price that way.

After going through all the info i made up my mind

I am going for the route where i sell the audio piece with full ownership to only one developer.

Am not going to bother with licencing because in the end that takes the fun away for me.

Keeps it easy and for me and highly recommendable for a developer.

They get a one of a kind music piece, and i get to say "that is what i created" to other developers who are in need of royalty free music.

And on the plus side i can keep it at a low price that way.

i think thats the best choice

I think that is a very good call.

Later, once you establish yourself in the market and you have a decent track record and you could call composing your job, I'd recommend you looking into registering to a composers rights organization that will take care of the royalty mess for you. They will track all the mechanical royalties, performance royalties, sales profits and what not.