Hi Nigel, here are my answers to your question.
Compensation - there is no pay since the podcast will not be a paid program. It will be free to everyone and I'm hoping to release it on mid-May or earlier. The name of the music composer will be mentioned at the end of each podcast though (as well as his or her website if he or she wants to).
Description of the song - the song is about a singer describing himself or herself what he or she does in a fantasy (actually, video game) world.
Description of the podcast - It is about a boy who is transported into a video game world that he's familiar of.
As for the basic tune issue, forget about it. When I was writing the lyrics, I had a tune in my head. And when I was looking for a (male or female) singer, I asked them to just sing my lyrics with their own tune. I narrowed my selection to two females and their tunes sounded better than what I had in my head. Actually, after giving it some more thought, I came to the conclusion that the tune that I had, was designed more for a male singer.
So, now, I want the music composer to compose the music based on my female singer's tune. I have an open mind about the tunes so if the composer thinks that the stanza or chorus parts needs to have a different tune than the one that my singer have, then maybe I'll pick the composer's tune.
I hope these answers your questions. If you have anymore, then just let me know.:)