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Level up on music, games and licensing
By Music Ally, Published in Sandbox on June 15, 2011
The games industry is bigger than Hollywood; and smartphone gamers spend more time playing games, and more money, than they do on music. If the monthly active users of Zynga’s CityVille were native to a real country, then its population would actually be bigger than the whole of the UK. But how do you get your music into this potentially lucrative space? We caught up with four experts.
Martin Hewett – Senior music supervisor, Sony Computer Entertainment Europe
Martin Hewett licenses music for the games developed in Sony Computer Entertainment’s worldwide studios. The games he’s licensed includes its biggest franchise SingStar, but any games that require music including Little Big Planet, Grand Turismo, Wipe Out, Motor Storm and lots of PlayStation Move controller games.
Connie Farr – Director, ThinkSync Music
Connie Farr set up independent UK publishing house ThinkSync music seven years ago. It represents an extensive catalogue of copyrights which can all be cleared one-stop, and in many it controls the rights 100% worldwide. Its repertoire is diverse, covers most genres and the principal focus is on exciting, up and coming independent acts.
Albin Serviant – CEO, MXP4/Bopler Games
Albin Serviant is the CEO of French social gaming developer MXP4. The company has developed popular social games for several artists including Nicole Scherzinger, David Guetta and Britney Spears. Recently it released Bopler Games in Beta, an application combining classic arcade games with popular tracks and social features.
Adam Rodgers – Director, Remote Location
Remote Location is an independent creative studio based in London. Run by Adam Rodgers & Neil Morton, it specialises in Art Direction, Interactive, Animation & more. Recently Remote Location have produced websites for the music & film label WARP, the Hollywood film composer Craig Armstrong, games for Hudson Mohawke & Harmonic 313, plus music packaging for Numbers, Hyperdub, Planet μ & fabric.
What are the most common licenses that occur within games?
Martin: Broadly, there's a big distinction between licensed music and commissioned music. Licensed music is used in games like SingStar, because you need songs that everyone knows so they can sing along as its part of the game. Then you have games which require music to be commissioned, for example, one of our games KillZone 2, which has a dynamic score created by Joris De Man which won an Ivor Novello Award. I'd say the licensing process for games is most similar to that of films, as often you'll have a narrative which the music will have to follow. For example, if we make a driving game such as Gran Turismo 5, it might be accompanied with fast paced music because that's what works for the gameplay and what the consumer might expect to hear.
Connie: There are numerous different variations of deals when licensing music in games, but the most common types are: a) buyout - rights holders receive a flat fee for their music being used, regardless of how many units of the games are sold. B) Royalties – rightsholders get a sync fee and a royalty per game sold. This very much depends on the game and how the track is used. And c) rolling buyout –rightsholders receive a fee up until a certain amount of units are sold, which triggers a further buyout fee. An independent artist will predominantly receive the first: a buyout.
As a smaller label or artist, how should you go about approaching a music supervisor? Who normally approaches who when choosing music for games?
Albin: In terms of choosing which music goes into the games, it’s a two way process. First you need frame work agreements with the publisher and the label; then you need the artist and his manager.
Martin: Mostly with games, it's a collaborative process between the licensing team, the team making the game and often the music industry. We might go to a music publisher and say “can we use this track”, then they'll turn round and say, “have you heard of this artist?” This starts a discussion and then we'll start the process of testing the music within the game. Some tracks you'd think would work within a game, but when tested, they don’t actually work with the game play.
Connie: In terms of pitching your catalogue, it’s probably best to start by doing plenty of research into a particular games production company in order to get an idea of what kind of games they produce, and the kind of music they might be looking for. A good place to start is by looking at soundtracks from previous games to get a feel for the type of artists they have licensed in the past. The games industry is particularly interesting for independent labels and publishers as there is a complete diversity of genres and such a large volume of tracks are placed in each game.
Once you have researched previous placements and the types of games that are being made you then contact the music supervisor. Most games production companies have their own in-house music team which can consist of both a team of composers and music supervisors. Only send over a selection of relevant tracks to be considered for games in development. The pitching process is relevant to your relationship with the supervisor, e.g., sourcing genre specific playlists from our catalogue, following feedback etc. It’s important to maintain a balance between making sure your best and most relevant material is sent across but not to inundate with too much!
How can labels meet music supervisors within games companies?
Martin: To some extent, it sounds cliché but work your catalogue and do the best you can for your label or your artist. If your artists are creating a buzz then people like me will probably come looking. Getting your music talked about in blogs or media, played through DJs and radio is equally important. Part of my job is looking for new music, so there are some crossovers with A&R in some respects. I’d also recommend going to games industry events, at things like that there will always be people like me and other music supervisors.
What are the main complications when licensing a track for a game? What can labels, artists and publishers do to simplify the licensing process?
Albin: The older the artist, the more difficult it is because the contracts are not up to date. Whenever you have some contract signed, you need to make sure that all the new business models are covered. That would be my first point, just make sure it’s up to date, in terms of syncing music and gaming. I recommend that the publishers and labels make sure they have some pre-cleared catalogue of songs for sync and gaming. My second point is about getting the right information on specific tracks: it is most of the time super difficult to get compelling information about the different publishers and the different mastering rights holders in some cases; all the more so with the details of any regional restrictions : in some cases, you have different publishers depending on the region.
Martin: I suppose one of the things that does cause a bit of delay is not having the contact details for all the interested parties available and not being able to clear tracks for the world, not having the sample splits sorted out before someone wants to license the track. If it’s too complex a process then some music supervisors will just move onto an alternative track. So these are things to bear in mind. It’s worth knowing if all authors on a song are up for licensing and not pitching a track if you only have a 10% share of the track and know the other parties are in dispute. If you do have co-writers and co-publishers try and have their info and contact details to hand. And also, ensure you are registered on PRS and other similar sites.
Connie: Games licensing is mainly trouble free in comparison to placing music in other visual media. The fees are usually reasonable and often a supervisor will license more than one track at once due to the sheer volume of tracks used in many games. However confidentiality is paramount. The games industry is highly competitive and until a game is actually released and the soundtrack announced publicly by the games manufacturer, then any announcements about tracks placed in games cannot be made by the artist, label or publisher. Many games manufacturers will ask you to sign a non disclosure agreement before even entering a conversation about upcoming games they are working on. It is crucial that these levels of confidentiality are adhered to.
And how about if you want to have your own branded game or application developed for your music? Is it out of the question for artists on a small budget?
Adam: No. [Adam met Flying Lotus at a festival a few years ago and they began bouncing around ideas for a game to accompany his music which resulted in the classic arcade style games Attack and Destroy. His advice for both smaller labels and independent artists would be to form a relationship with the developer] “The more personal you get with developers the easier it is to conceive new ideas and they will be more likely to give you a reasonable price … Research the developer thoroughly prior to approaching them. If you want a game which is similar to the normal sorts of things they produce then it won’t be as time consuming as an entirely new style of game and this could save you a bit of money.” Prices really vary depending on the amount of time it takes to create. Acts on a smaller budget shouldn’t rule out having a game made, especially if it’s fairly straightforward to produce.
More information:
www.musically.com
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