Music Issues?
by Mike Lentini · in General Discussion · 03/13/2006 (3:45 pm) · 10 replies
Will it be a problem using music from bands/rappers in my game, or am I supposed to get permission from the artist if I want to avoid legal issues?
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#2
An Intern at a T.V. station used two of my songs for station breaks and they ran them about 8 months. I was awarded well into the 6 figures after the settlement. If you need music, find a musician you can work with and have them write original music for you.
03/13/2006 (5:08 pm)
Let me put it to you this way...An Intern at a T.V. station used two of my songs for station breaks and they ran them about 8 months. I was awarded well into the 6 figures after the settlement. If you need music, find a musician you can work with and have them write original music for you.
#3
03/14/2006 (3:22 pm)
Alright, I can produce my own music, but there were some songs I wanted to use so I guess I'll just produce everything myself. 
#4
03/14/2006 (3:31 pm)
You can use BMG and ASCAP to contact the artists's production companies to see about negotiating rates. But it can get extremely expensive, extremely quickly. Especially if they have a "name".
#5
03/14/2006 (5:28 pm)
There are other ways to get royalty-free music - try googling for companies that help provide music for tv, commercials, etc. There are even companies that specialize in music for games. Look around, you'll find them. Of course, no matter what route you go (unless you compose your music yourself), you'll need to pay someone. People spend their whole lives to become musicians, and deserve to be paid for their art.
#6
04/04/2006 (7:46 pm)
Music artists from myspace and such are more than willing to write a song for your game. The more publicity they get the better it is for them, and your game.
#7
...for every copy of the game you make/sell. If it's an MMO, you pay royalties for every player in the game for each song each time that song is played in your game. So, if song A plays, and you have 1500 people in the game at that time, you owe royalties for 1500 "performances" of that song.
Sucks, don't it?
I learned all about this when the webcast station I run was approached by two diferent online game companies, wanting to stream the station into their games. The royalties are horrendous, and you have to track the IP of every player that heard each song and submit that with your payments.
03/24/2007 (9:57 pm)
Remember even if you perform it yourself, if you didn't WRITE the song yourself, the writer of the song gets royalties. If you use a pre-recorded song, both the performing artist AND the author gets royalties....for every copy of the game you make/sell. If it's an MMO, you pay royalties for every player in the game for each song each time that song is played in your game. So, if song A plays, and you have 1500 people in the game at that time, you owe royalties for 1500 "performances" of that song.
Sucks, don't it?
I learned all about this when the webcast station I run was approached by two diferent online game companies, wanting to stream the station into their games. The royalties are horrendous, and you have to track the IP of every player that heard each song and submit that with your payments.
#8
03/24/2007 (10:03 pm)
It sucks unless you're an artist who likes to make a living. Just like a game developer who likes to make a living. Really, I don't see any "sucks" to it unless it's from the publishing perspective. Which is the best reason to tap the indie music market, just like tapping the indie filmmaking and artist market.
#9
How about the fact that most of the smaller artists never see the money collected in their name? Just one instance- The RIAA owed Dolly Parton over $10 million in royalties, but had kept all the money saying that "they couldn't locate her." Now think of all the smaller artists that they've screwed.
Of course, you probably don't know any of this, because it hasn't impacted you personally. I do, and it has. We aren't talking about some piddling fee. We're talking over 100% of most netcaster's income (those that do it for profit) and the licensing would suck most of the income from an online game company that wanted to put historical or "period" music in their game.
Without the exposure that net radio has given indie artists, there's going to be far fewer that are known beyond the local gigs that they play. If you can find a good band in your hometown that can write and perform original songs for your game affordably, then God Bless you. There's going to be fewer of them that can make a profit and stay together, if the recording industry has any say on the matter.
03/24/2007 (11:09 pm)
How about "sucks" in that the music industry PAYS terrestrial stations to play their music, yet makes Net radio pay fees purposefully designed to be so onerous that the majority of stations will have to shut down? (like a recently passed retroactive $500 per station fee, and the fees escalate over 300% in the next three or four years?)How about the fact that most of the smaller artists never see the money collected in their name? Just one instance- The RIAA owed Dolly Parton over $10 million in royalties, but had kept all the money saying that "they couldn't locate her." Now think of all the smaller artists that they've screwed.
Of course, you probably don't know any of this, because it hasn't impacted you personally. I do, and it has. We aren't talking about some piddling fee. We're talking over 100% of most netcaster's income (those that do it for profit) and the licensing would suck most of the income from an online game company that wanted to put historical or "period" music in their game.
Without the exposure that net radio has given indie artists, there's going to be far fewer that are known beyond the local gigs that they play. If you can find a good band in your hometown that can write and perform original songs for your game affordably, then God Bless you. There's going to be fewer of them that can make a profit and stay together, if the recording industry has any say on the matter.
#10
But my point was not that distributors do not suck, which seems to be what you took from it. My point is that artists should get paid.
But if you're streaming the music, I can easily see it adding up quickly since you will be paying a distributer a usage fee for each access. But if you set up your licensing correctly and localize it rather than streaming it, youcan significantly dampen that cost since you will be paying for client usage and not pay-per-play usage. For the vast majority of games, there's no reason to pay broadcast licensing fees at all.
The nice thing about the last couple of years is that you don't have to search in your hometown for an artist that might make the cut. Community sites such as MySpace, LiveJournal, etc have created musician communities with some high-quality, talented individuals. There are a number of sites available for low-cost composition (but the cut for the artist is high in that it cuts out the fat). Sure, you're not going to get Metallica or Nelly into your game through these methods, but you can find some great artists who are willing to work with a project for exposure and a higher cut than they would get through traditional conduits.
03/25/2007 (8:02 am)
Actually, I've worked as a programmer for two small radio stations (which have since gone the conglomerate route because it is easier and they didn't want to die horribly from barely scraping by). I never want to go back to that. It was hell in the mid 90's and I'm sure it's gotten worse with the backlash against net radio and the Napster debacle and everything since. Broadcast distribution is a horrible game to be in, but it is completely different than licensing for a game or film. The only way that broadcast rules may apply is if you were streaming the content from the server to each client. But for the vast majority of games, MMO and on, usage and synchronization are the two licenses that you must be concerned with. The type of usage and quantity will determine the royalty (is it background music that constantly plays, it it only a minute of the song in the middle of a cut scene? Can the user select to play it at any time?) when licensing. The synchronization rights will come in if you are synchronizing it to video. Both are extremely different than broadcast radio licensing.But my point was not that distributors do not suck, which seems to be what you took from it. My point is that artists should get paid.
But if you're streaming the music, I can easily see it adding up quickly since you will be paying a distributer a usage fee for each access. But if you set up your licensing correctly and localize it rather than streaming it, youcan significantly dampen that cost since you will be paying for client usage and not pay-per-play usage. For the vast majority of games, there's no reason to pay broadcast licensing fees at all.
The nice thing about the last couple of years is that you don't have to search in your hometown for an artist that might make the cut. Community sites such as MySpace, LiveJournal, etc have created musician communities with some high-quality, talented individuals. There are a number of sites available for low-cost composition (but the cut for the artist is high in that it cuts out the fat). Sure, you're not going to get Metallica or Nelly into your game through these methods, but you can find some great artists who are willing to work with a project for exposure and a higher cut than they would get through traditional conduits.
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