The problem isn’t letting others know what kind of music you can make. The problem is selling it through the right channels. Without the backing of a label, many artists find it hard to earn money through the music they create. With the help of video game licensing, however, that can all change. The video games industry is one of the most lucrative businesses today, and independent musicians from all over the world can take a slice of that success for themselves.
Today, the most popular and successful video game genre has to be slot machines. Slots were first created in the 1800s but they’re still very lucrative today, making up at least 70% of a casino’s income. InterCasino, the world’s first online casino that opened in the 90s, is still in operation thanks to its wide variety of games that are constantly being enhanced not only by groundbreaking graphics but encouraging sounds as well.
There are two types of video game licensing: exclusive and non-exclusive. Exclusive is selling the rights of your music to a company. Think about the music you hear at the opening sequence of a video game. The opening music in video games is usually exclusive by contract so that no two games can have the same sounds at any time. Non-exclusive, on the other hand, gives a musician the right to distribute his or her music to anyone who wants to use them.
There are pros and cons to exclusive and non-exclusive. Usually, exclusive contracts pay a higher price since the gaming company is buying the music in its entirety. On the other hand, non-exclusive deals allow artists to sell to a lot of interested parties but the pay isn’t usually very high. Musicians who are planning to sell their music online should definitely go for non-exclusive contracts. However, those who want to earn big from video game licensing deals should go for an exclusive contract.
There’s a game called “Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe,” which is the spiritual successor of the PC game “Frets on Fire” that was released a few years back. Indie musicians can benefit a lot from games like these since developers of upstart gaming companies usually look for freelancers instead of international superstars. Rockband and Guitar Hero are for established bands, but Super Crazy Guitar Maniac Deluxe and Frets on Fire are stepping stones for fledgling musicians.