Music licensing for indie developers

When I started thinking about creating the Bollywood Wannabe game , one of the first issues was music. I needed songs that, in combination with the appropriate graphics and gameplay, would recreate the thrill of watching Bollywood movies. When developing games, music is often ignored, but there can be no bad compositions in a musical game (rhythm game). Most of the songs in the Bollywood Wannabe are licensed - a rare case for an indie game. I was asked a bunch of questions on this topic, so I wrote a little instruction on licensing music for indie developers.

Why license music?

Today, indie developers have many different options. Many sites sell tracks under a royalty-free license; there is even free music of various styles. In addition, there are many composers who are ready to write original music for a small price. But sometimes this is not enough. If you need very specific songs or a soundtrack that sets your game apart from the rest, then licensing is right for you.

For Bollywood WannabeI needed very specific music. After a long search, I managed to find two songs for the game with a royalty-free license. But I needed ten. I did not know a single composer who could write the rest, and even if I found him, it would be too expensive. It was most optimal to find already released songs and convince their authors to sell me a license.

Song search

The first step on your path to licensed music is to find the right songs. Most likely, popular songs that are heard on radio / television / Internet, you will be financially inaccessible. Big record companies usually ask for huge amounts of pay-back, which few indie developers can afford. It's best to look for indie artists or small studios, and thanks to the Internet, today it's easier than ever to do it.

The first stop is an online music store such as iTunes or CD Baby . They sell many indie songs in different styles, and websites have convenient search functions. Look and listen to the sample fragments and save the ones you like. Another great way is to search YouTube videos. Many artists release videos and recordings of concerts. You can also search in more specialized online stores. It was pretty easy for me to find a few Indian stores selling music in the style of Bollywood Wannabe .

Specialized websites are another good source of information. Look for sites dedicated to your style of music: fan sites, online radio, news sites, blogs and forums. One of the best sources for me was a site dedicated to music in the style of "bhangra" and publishing information about songs and videos released by popular bhangra performers. Thanks to this site, I found half the songs for Bollywood Wannabe .

Contact Search

We found the song we want to license. The next step is to find someone with whom you need to agree on licensing. Most online stores have very little information about songwriters, but at least it is possible to find their names and / or the names of the studios that own the rights. Using this information you can find the official website of this artist / studio. It can be harder than it sounds. Google searches often provide links to news articles, interviews, and videos, and only then official websites, if they exist at all. The names of small studios often use ordinary words. Searching for such words leads to a heap of links to sites unrelated to these studios. If you are unable to find the official page, then try to search the page on Facebook. The About section usually has a link to the official website or contact information.

How to contact them

Now that we know who to contact, it's time to send a licensing request. The message should be concise, clear and professional. To ensure that the copyright holder does not accept it for spam, read it before sending it. After reading your first letter, the rights holder should understand:

• What do you want
• Who you are
• What game are you doing
• What should he do next if he is interested

The first line of the letter should explain why you contacted him. Tell us that you want to license a song for the game and write the name of the song. Add a line stating that if the owner is interested, you can send him an official offer. To make the deal look more attractive, it needs to be made clear that it takes very little effort.

If you are already a well-known developer, you can tell a little about yourself and your studio. Add links to your website and previous games. If you haven’t released any games yet, then a beautiful website and email address (not free) will help you look more professional.

The next step is a description of the game. Do not go into details, describe in a few sentences the type of game being created and its plot. Tell us how the composition will be used in the game and whether it will be available to the end user as a separate file. It must be specifically noted that you do not intend to alter the composition in any way and will not allow the player to do so. Think about aspects of the game that will be attractive to the copyright holder, and mention them. For example, if he writes children's songs, then mention how family-friendly this is the game. When communicating with the performers of the songs for Bollywood Wannabe, I always reported that the game will be about a team of unknown artists trying to make a Bollywood film. If you have a developer blog or project on Kickstarter , you can also mention them.

Contract preparation

Some indie artists may use their own contracts, but most will wait for you to prepare them. Therefore, it will be nice to write a contract in advance before sending a letter. The following points should be indicated in the contract:

• Your name and address
• Name and address of copyright holder
• Whether use will be exclusive
• License Area
• License term
• Song Title
• Description of all valid use cases for the composition
• Owner of the rights to the composition and terms of its mention
• Payment and royalties
• Signature and Dates

When writing a contract, do not forget about the following aspects:

• Exclusive use of a song will cost a lot more, so think twice.
• The performer must retain all rights to the composition and, if necessary, be mentioned. If you want to have the right to copy the composition, get ready to pay for it.
• Describe all acceptable uses for the composition. Will you distribute it as part of the game’s soundtrack? Will you use it to advertise a game or in a trailer? Are you going to use it in a free demo? Will you somehow change it?

It is best to hire a lawyer to write the contract. But if you do not want to do this and do not want to write a contract from scratch, then download the free template and tweak to your requirements. You can also read this excellent article about sound contracts in games .

Conversation

If the owner of the copying rights agrees to your terms, then the work is done. Both of you can sign the contract and send each other a copy by fax / e-mail or paper mail. However, do not forget that most will want to change the conditions. Some performers will want to receive a one-time payment instead of a percentage deduction. Others will ask you to pay in advance or a larger percentage of income. Still others will simply want to replace the word in the contract or to defend their rights more strongly.

Evaluate each of the proposals and if you agree, then send a new, amended contract. If you do not agree with the requirements of the copyright holders, then write a polite letter explaining your position and make a counter offer. Stay professional, don't complain and play the "I'm a poor indie developer" card.

History of Bollywood Wannabe

There is nothing better than a life example, so I’ll talk about my experience with Bollywood Wannabe . At first I wanted to find a composer who wants to write music for Bollywood and is willing to work for low pay to gain experience. Unfortunately, I had no contacts in this industry and I did not know where to look for them. In addition, I did not live in India and there was no Indian community nearby. I searched the forum or online community of composers, but did not find anything useful. The only composers I could find were professionals unattainable for my budget, or amateurs with obvious musical problems. I would not have enough money to hire a professional and had no contacts and knowledge to find a talented lover. The time has come for Plan B.

Then I realized that the only way to get music suitable for the game is licensing indie music. In this case, I had a couple of problems:

• Although I previously worked in the gaming industry, this was my first game as an indie developer.
• I was the same “poor indie developer” and I didn’t have the money to make a big advance or pay.
• I knew little about Bollywood and Indian music in general, so I had no idea where to look for Indian indie artists.
• I had no contacts in the world of music, as well as experience in licensing.
• I needed authentic Indian music, preferably with Hindi or Punjabi lyrics, but I did not know these languages. This was especially problematic because I needed songs that at least conditionally fit into the plot of the game.

Finding good songs was the first test. Soon I found a CD Babyand a site specializing in bhangra music where you could search for new releases. Having found some songs I liked, I ran into another problem: the lyrics were incomprehensible to me. Although I realized that most likely I would not be able to find songs that fully described the plot of the game, I wanted the text to at least slightly correspond to the theme of the level. In addition, I wanted to avoid controversial texts. This became a problem because most of the songs I liked were in Punjabi, and I did not know this language. Sometimes the songs were accompanied by descriptions, but most did not have them. Google translate didn’t help either, because there was no punjabi in its list of languages. In the end, I found an online dictionary with which I could translate enough words to understand the song, at least when I had the lyrics. Sometimes I had only the name of the song and a few words that I could already distinguish. Most of the songs were shot videos and partially used English words, so I could more or less understand the general meaning.

The next problem was the search for contacts of copyright holders. I wrote above how to find them, but I did not realize how difficult this step would be. Sometimes it took an hour or two to find the right information. At least twice I had to refuse the song, because I could not find a way to contact the owner. Finally, finding contacts, I wrote short messages, and then waited a long time for an answer. I sent at least five letters to different artists, until finally one of them decided that it was probably worth his time. Unfortunately, the lack of my experience quickly became apparent. I did not have a ready-made contract and I did not know what to offer and where to start. I decided to be honest, and it turned out to be a mistake: I did not wait for an answer. After sending about ten letters, I changed the wording and with each letter I looked more and more professional. Finally, I managed to find a small company that became interested in the deal and signed my first contract. Later, I created my own template for the contract and mentioned in the first letter that I had already prepared an official proposal. This small change doubled the number of responses.

It was a very long process - it took me almost two years to find ten songs for the game. Of course, my requests were very specific and I spent a lot of time first of all searching for songs. However, anyway, licensing a song, from the first version of the contract to the signed contract, usually took about a month. But in the end, the work paid off. I could not find and buy music for Bollywood Wannabe in any other way.

conclusions

In general, the licensing process is quite simple, but I can give some advice to indie developers who want to go this route.

First, be patient. The contractor can answer you in one to two weeks. Do not forget, they are all indie too, they do not have secretaries and assistants in doing business. If they are on tour, and this often happens, then perhaps your letter will have to wait for their return home. After the dialogue begins, wait for long negotiations and discussions.

Secondly, do not expect everyone to accept your terms. About half of the performers never respond. If you did not receive a response from the contractor in two weeks, then it is safe to say that the proposal did not interest him. Half of the respondents will not be interested, because they will understand that they will not be able to receive a sufficiently large advance payment. If you cannot pay in advance, then just write about it.

And finally: take enough time to find the right tracks. Licensing tracks for an indie game is a simple process, but it can take a long time. If your game needs an original and unique soundtrack, then you should go this way.

[Note transl.: I found this article interesting because it talks about the not very often discussed aspect of game development. If you have had similar stories, please share them in the comments.]