What to charge and contracts... money is a good thing.

Ah yes, the age old question that you all have been wondering about for years, "what the hell do I charge?".

Well, the answer is far more basic than you might think. Here's a basic rundown for you to chew on:

What to charge for original music:

• Always charge per completed minute of music, NOT by the hour.
• If you have NO shipped titles, charge around $100 to $250 per completed minute
• If you have 1 to 2 shipped titles that were on a smaller platform such as the iPhone, charge between $300 and $400 per completed minute
• If you have 1 to shipped console titles, charge around $500 to $700 per completed minute
• If you're a game composing genius and have scored countless AAA console titles, you can easily get away with charge $1000 to $1500 per completed minute.

I usually like to stay right around $700 to $800 to be competitive. Even though you think your music is marketable, you've gotta keep your prices competitive to find work. Overcrowditation is the cause of this (see previous rant for info on that). The glorious thing about this charging structure is that it may take you two hours to do a minute of music, or it may take you 15 minutes if you're simply laying down some beats and a bassline. Regardless, the producers DO NOT have to know how long it takes you to get a piece done. That said, don't procrastinate... always be timely but at the same time giving yourself a little extra time just in case.

You can also get away with charging for revisions. Especially if you've got a few shipped titles and have cut your rates down to nothing (i.e. - doing a favor for a start up or a friend). If this is the case, DO NOT let them push you around and make you do revisions unless you're getting paid extra. Tons of people are perfectionists and will have you doing far too many revisions if you're not careful... especially if they're a musician too. If it's a small company and you don't want to lose the gig by charging for revisions, put a "revision" clause in your contract which lists how many revisions you'd be willing to do, then charge if you go over that amount. 4 or 5 revisions is usually enough to get it right.. anything past that is just the game developer (in most cases) being far too picky. Talking about revisions and contracts, here's some info on that.

Contracts:

Track down a lawyer (doesn't have to be an entertainment lawyer, but that helps) and have him or her draw up a basic contract which you can use for every gig. You've GOT to protect yourself in this industry... not all, but some will certainly take advantage of you. Have the lawyer draft up the contract as a word document so that you can make changes to it at will (changing the name's involved and monetary amounts for example). This process usually takes about an hour or two and will run you between $500 and $1000 to complete. It's most definitely worth it... believe me, you'll definitely learn the hard way if you don't do this. Specific clauses you might include could be:

• Revision Clause - how many times you'll revise a piece of music
• Payment Clause - when and how the final payment is delivered. I usually like to receive half of the full payment up front and receive the other half after the client is happy with the final product. This way if the client backs out or the game falls through, you at least get something for your efforts.

Charging for sound design:

This is something that every sound designer / company seems to do differently. But I would suggest charging per group of completed sounds. Maybe in intervals of 25 to keep things simple. Depending on how intensive the sound design work is for said sounds... something close to $500 per 25 sounds would be alright depending on how much experience you've got. If you're mainly a composer and you get roped into doing audio for a project as well... don't charge that much or even do the sound work for free as a favor. You're sure to have that client request work from you again in the future that way.

Not too bad eh?