Game musical composition in the USA

Hello everybody,

I am French and I am working on the creation of an independent video game for PC.
I'm going to need 17 background music for the game.
I thought I would find 4 French music composers to make them, but in our country, we unfortunately have a state organization called SACEM which automatically collects royalties for composers based on sales of the game. We can't do without them.
The 2 intrinsic problems is that it can quickly cost and we have no idea and no control over the final amount to pay.
Personally, after having contacted them for more information and precise figures, I have no further news from them.
It's not for lack of trying ...

So my idea now is to look at the USA! To my knowledge, there is not the same problem of royalty fees; companies in the sector generally work with composers on buy-out type contracts: where the author of the music assigns his rights in return for a fixed remuneration.
Can you confirm that this is the case?
Do you have some documentation on this or anecdotes?

Best regards,

Alex

.

3 hours ago, freeman said:

So my idea now is to look at the USA! To my knowledge, there is not the same problem of royalty fees; companies in the sector generally work with composers on buy-out type contracts: where the author of the music assigns his rights in return for a fixed remuneration.

Such organizations exist in America, and everywhere else as well.

Signing away rights is one thing composers should absolutely avoid unless you are offering a very large sum of money. Which, if you seek to avoid paying royalties, I suspect you aren't offering.

The deal that you should look to strike for indie games is that the music the composer makes is licensed to you for use in the game, but not exclusively. You pay them a fee per track to use in the game, but the composer retains 100% ownership and can re-use the tunes elsewhere; perhaps in music libraries that will generate royalties. Composers should also seek to do that with their back catalog as well.

You get a soundtrack for your game; they have insurance and longevity. 

Any other type of deal on an indie project is, frankly, getting screwed. You could be signing away rights to music for a game that never gets released and the music composed is unable to serve you much purpose and cannot generate any income; a totally wasted effort. Or, it does get released, explodes in popularity and the composer makes nothing beyond their initial payment while you guys bathe in money.

9 hours ago, AngelCityOutlaw said:

Any other type of deal on an indie project is, frankly, getting screwed. You could be signing away rights to music for a game that never gets released and the music composed is unable to serve you much purpose and cannot generate any income; a totally wasted effort. Or, it does get released, explodes in popularity and the composer makes nothing beyond their initial payment while you guys bathe in money.

maybe I should think more than 2 seconds before I say things lol.

Well I would have to ask, what is your budget like

Composers in the US can work under any number of contracts

It is possible to find people who will work for a lump sum and sign all

exclusive rights over to you.

It depends on the level of the game, generally 

you'll have to be upfront and find people who can work on your terms.

I'm not signing up for this, but I'll say something anyway.

14 hours ago, freeman said:

we unfortunately have a state organization called SACEM which automatically collects royalties for composers based on sales of the game.

I'm not French so I've never heard of SACEM, but I think it sounds like a wonderful idea. Imagine the composers getting paid for what they contributed to the game...

I think the way you have worded your post makes it seem like you don't want the composers to get money. Unfortunately, you'll have a hard time persuading anyone to write 17 pieces of music for something that they may never get financially recognised for.

Hello everybody,

I have no problem paying royalties for the composers who will work on my game. For me, good musics in a game is essential: these are the only elements that can transcend a video game. I'm thinking in particular of games like NFS: Underground.
The problem is that I do not know how much I will have to spend and therefore this constitutes a risk.
How can you trust an organization that is not transparent?
No longer having a response from SACEM, I even asked my French composers to contact it themselves for this response. Currently, none have come back to me with a cost estimation and I highly doubt that will happen. In France, there is a big disagreement between game creators and SACEM; I understand better why today.

What I would like to know is how it works in the USA; because there is a good chance that I will turn to the USA from now on.
How does it generally work between a music composer and a video game company in the USA ? Is it mostly buy-out type contracts? 

Can the composer claim royalties even if the contract does not allow it?
I saw that you also had SACEM equivalents like ASCAP and BMI.
How does it work in law?

Thank you for your enlightening responses.

Best regards,

Alex

8 hours ago, freeman said:

What I would like to know is how it works in the USA; because there is a good chance that I will turn to the USA from now on.
How does it generally work between a music composer and a video game company in the USA ? Is it mostly buy-out type contracts?

Generally on a rate per-minute of music. So let's say the rate was 500 per minute (many professional composers charge a lot more). If they wrote you a track that was 1: 57, that would cost around $930 or so. 

Whether this is under an exclusive-rights to the developer or not deal is entirely dependent on the deal in question. It is possible to licence music to a project and not have royalties collected on it. 

It is becoming increasingly the case that composers are, rightfully I will say, becoming reluctant to sign over the rights even on major video game projects. You must understand that, without your back-catalog of music continuously generating you income via royalties and/or licencing to many different types of media, it is extremely difficult to make a living as a composer. The video game industry has a long history of not agreeing to royalty payments and that is a big part of why film and tv gigs are still more coveted. Jobs in the business are tough to come by. Even Jason Graves, composer for Dead Space, Tomb Raider, etc. typically does not sign away his ownership rights to his music. The music for Dead Space has been used in even discovery channel documentaries on sunken ships... 

So, you are going to have a harder time finding people worth their salt who will agree to "buyout" deals, because unless the buyout is a BIG payday, it will negatively affect their ability to make a living long-term. 

Hello AngelCityOutlaw,

So it all depends on the agreement in question.
In France, you cannot sign a buy-out contract (fixed remuneration) with a French composer: it is illegal ; even if you have signed a contract to that effect or even if the composer is not registered with SACEM:  he can always ask to receive a royalty fee for their tracks / work.
So, if I let 4 French composers work on my video game, it may cost me a certain amount (which i don't know) ; USA is a good choice then.
I am outraged by the lack of transparency and flexibility of SACEM.
In any case, thank you so much for your return, I see more clearly now, and i think my english is improving a lot these days !

Au plaisir,

Alex

Something important you should consider is that perhaps SACEM will still infringe some sort of influence on your transaction, even if you hire someone from the US, as you're still hiring him/her while being a company based in France.