Rate for Composing Original Music

[zircon]

Really depends on the details of the project... it's next to impossible to give good advice without knowing more about who's hiring you, what the nature of the project is, and how it will be distributed.

What I can say is that "$18k for 30 minutes of music" for a "low budget game" is wildly inaccurate unless by "low budget" you mean in the $500k-$1million range (which IS low budget relatively speaking, but not what most people think of.) Being in NYC/LA has absolutely no bearing on video game rates whatsoever. Game developers are really dispersed and so are the people who write music for them. Some of the top VGM composers live in places like North Carolina. Anyway, a "low-budget" game to me would be the countless indie titles on platforms like Xbox Indie Games, Steam, various websites... stuff that is basically bootstrapped. $600/min is more accurate for middle to upper tier premium downloadable games, which definitely have budgets well into the six figures, something that MOST indie developers can only dream of.

[mojobone]

You might want to keep in mind that video games don't pay royalties on a per copy basis and therefore tend to have higher upfront composer fees (and music budgets) than corporate training videos. Mazz is correct; even in a work for hire situation, you still own the underlying composer/publisher copyrights. You should learn all you can about the potential uses of the video when considering potential income. (and now's a good time to discuss these issues with a qualified and competent entertainment attorney)