If you are in the video game creation business you will need music, SFX and a soundtrack to accompany both the game play and the game’s promotional trailer. Attaining cool gaming music can be achieved in a number of ways:
- Compose the music yourself or have staff do it
- Hire a professional to compose the score
- License existing and appropriate music
If your company is on a larger scale, then you probably do the music in-house, or hire a composer to score the soundtrack for the game and possibly the trailer as well.
But either way, for gaming producers large and small, sync licensing existing music can be both a game changer and a time saver. It alleviates the headaches associated with actually creating the music and can often work out more cost-effective in the long term.
The Advantages of Licensing Existing Music
For a start you don’t have the delays of waiting for the music to be made. You simply search for the right music on one of the many music licensing websites out there and make a purchase. Music comes in all varieties of tones and moods, and the length varies from piece to piece. There is no doubt you will find music that is appropriate. There is so much quality music out there available for licensing.
The same goes for the game’s trailer. Generally you will only need one music track for this and I’ve personally heard so many pieces of music that would be a perfect fit for a game trailer in any genre.
Games can be a little trickier to score in a sense, as there is no set time frame for the action sequences. But this is quite easy to get around, even with licensing existing music. Simply select a track that at the very least has a section that is suitable to be looped over and over again for those gameplay sequences with no set timeframe. Then other music can be used once an objective is achieved or for the cut scenes.
Sound effects to emphasise certain parts of the game are no problem either, as there are loads of SFX available for sale or licensing as well.
Even with licensed music you will still require someone on staff (or an outside source) to piece the soundtrack together in conjunction with the visual action sequences.
Cool gaming music is in great abundance and so many music licensing sites specifically cater to this market.
There are two good ones that comes to mind:
- Musicbed
- Songtradr
Whichever one you choose to source your music from, you are bound to find exactly what you are looking for.
Musicbed has a close association with the film industry; particularly independent films and non-profit organisations. They have a highly curated selection of apt music and is worth a look.
My number one choice for all music licensing needs is Songtradr. Their website is easier to use for a start, they have a much larger selection of artists and music to choose from, and their search function is much more accurate than just about any other music licensing site out there on the web.
So give them a try for your cool gaming music. Just click on the logo below to be taken to their site so you can check out what’s on offer.
Hi Darren,
I am a music producer myself. I have heard of music licensing before and I would love to compose music for video games or movie scores!
Licensing existing music sure has a lot of advantages both for the gaming producers and the artist that composes the music.
As a music producer, it’s a great way to get exposure (and make some money) and for game designers, it’s the best way to find a variety of quality music without having to wait for the music to be composed.
Thanks for sharing,
Angélique
Thanks for reading, Angelique. Glad you found the article helpful. Best of luck with your music.