What to charge for Arcade Music

[Tree]

Hi gang! I may be getting an offer on some of our songs for an arcade game. I have no idea what to charge, hundreds, thousands? Does anyone have experience with this? Also don't even know what questions to ask to get a good quote. I'm thinking, how many units produced, nationwide or worldwide, exclusive/non, anything else?

The back story is that my uncle created an arcade game and used our music in the prototypes (2-4 songs). A big game company bought it and is manufacturing the game and decided they like our music and want to keep it, yay! Word is I should be expecting a call from them and as long as our music is reasonably priced they'll use our music.

Thanks for any advice!
Theresa

[mojobone]

For more specific info, you might look for a game composer's forum, but arcade games are likely a bit different from the console and computer varieties, which are budgeted somewhat like a film; you can figure music for up to twenty percent of the production budget, twenty-five, if you're Bernard Herrmann. (used to be less than five percent, 'til the industry as a whole started out-grossing films; in fact, ad budgets can now rival those of major motion pictures) but arcade games are a much smaller slice of the entertainment pie than they once were. There's also a manufacturing aspect to an arcade game, involving transportation, materials, labor; a substantially greater unit cost than software, which comes on a hunk of plastic that costs a dollar. With a software product, you pay voice actors, animators, artists, and musicians the twenty, twenty five percent of what's left after manufacturing and distribution are covered, and the rest is split roughly evenly between promotion and a variety of computer-related specialties I'll refer to as simply 'coding'. (arcade games don't have anywhere near that kind of advertising budget; their target is shopping centers and entertainment districts)

You might want to try to get a sense of the scale of the project, so find out whatever you can about it; your uncle is probably your best resource, here, but don't overlook the obvious, such as googling any names you hear of that are connected to the project. Some things that'd be handy to know?

• What's the unit cost?

• How many units will they be building?

• Will the rollout be regional or national?

• Are the investors pioneering a new technology, 3D imaging, flatscreens?

• Are they Disneycorp?

• Have they successfully done this sort of thing before, and to what extent?

Some thoughts: You want to get your money on the front end, cuz unless lightning strikes, there will be no back end money. (in the event that it's a runaway hit, spawning sequels and a movie franchise, it might be wise to make sure you reserve all other rights when you license your tracks, if possible) To the guy that writes the checks, you're just another item on a long list of expenses, so looking at it from his angle, I think I'd be thrilled to pay $1000 per track, if I were building a thousand units; it costs out to a buck per song per unit. (looks very manageable on paper, and easily justified, particularly when expressed as a percentage of unit cost) I also think that if they're making 10,000 to 100,000 units, the price moves toward $4k/track, particularly if I have a track record or some indie cred. Be sure and factor in that unit cost, if you can find it; some arcade machines can run $20k-$65k and are more a ride than a game, a new pinball machine is likely in four-digit territory. (unless it licensed tracks from KISS, that'd bump it to five, heh) Try to get a sense for what they want to pay, cuz you want them to come back for more music, yes? Others will have more to offer; I haven't done one of these kinds of deals, as yet, I jes used to know some folks that owned an arcade, heh.

[mazz]

This is an interesting question. My understanding of video game music is that it pays by the finished linear minute, but that's for the score. I would imagine that any songs that are used would pay a license fee, which is probably the case here with the arcade game.

I guess I have a couple of questions back to you:

1. Is this an exclusive deal? In that case, they are taking the songs off the market and that would warrant a much higher license fee. I doubt this is the case.

2. Would they be willing to put your website address on the splash screen of the game? If this thing is everywhere, then you'd certainly want a nice visible credit. This, IMO, would be a good negotiation point.

I would venture to guess that a minimum of 1 to 2K per song would be reasonable, much more if it's an exclusive buyout. I would try to get them to tell you what their budget is before you throw out a figure. Don't sell yourself short, but try to get them to throw out a figure first just to see what's in their mind.

I also suggest navigating over to the G.A.N.G. forum and searching to see if there's anyone on there that has experience with this type of arrangement.

Good luck and congratulations on the placement!

Mazz

[Tree]

Thanks so much guys for the in depth answers! Thanks for the questions to ask, that will help a lot in guiding me. And the initial figures you were thinking, seems about what we were thinking as well. I'll do my best to get them to start the bidding (if you will). Now, I wait for that magical phone call...

[mojobone]

And I'll second Mazz on the congratulations and good luck!