"What I do is I play ‘cupid’ between game developers and composers," Rice explains. "Developers will tell me the style of music they want, their budget, and time frame. I then match their needs to qualified composers and have those composers submit audition CDs for the developer to scrutinize. The composers I submit will have credits for film, TV, and game projects they did that had the same style of music that the developer is looking for."

The same principles apply when Rice and the composers he represents see projects they think they would be right for. And once a composer is selected for a project, Rice negotiates the terms and conditions, and then stays in the loop to collect fees and handle any problems that arise.

For those composers wanting to work with an agent, Rice emphasizes the following, "it's understood that composers should never call an agent first and they should never hand deliver their package. Composers should first mail their CD demo, a credits sheet and a bio with a cover letter to agents, and a week or two later call the agent."

Crossing genres
Perhaps more so in music than in any other discipline, there is a considerable amount of crossover by composers between film, games, and television.

Pelfrey describes his "accidental" entry into the games business when "a fellow who was producing games for Strategic Simulations Incorporated (SSI) became aware of my work in other areas and asked me if I was interested in doing music for games. While I had never done it before, I thought I should give it a try. Basically, I stumbled into the gaming business."

While he may have "stumbled" in, Pelfrey has not counted on luck to stay in the business. "Getting your music in games is, fundamentally, about relationships. You need to align yourself with the creative team behind the games. Attending E3 and GDC are good ways to meet the right people."

In terms of how scoring for games differs from scoring for other mediums, Pelfrey finds games very similar to film. "A cinematic will play at the beginning of a game, introducing the characters and story. The music at this point sets the emotional mood. Depending on the scene, the music will also create elation or tension – this is identical to film.

The difference between the mediums, Pelfrey explains, is during gameplay when the player can take a certain action that takes a player in different directions. "With this in mind, the music for that must be created in a modular fashion which is then reassembled in real time depending on what the player is doing."

For Project Manager Amanda Wyatt of Soundelux DMG, crossing genres is a creative bonus. "We work on film, television, commercials, and games. It keeps us fresh. With the variety, we simply don’t get stale or in a creative rut." DMG’s film and game credits range from American Beauty to Quake II & III.

When asked what they saw as the future, virtually every composer cited increased use of live orchestras and increased production values. "Having spent my life in the music business, I am so happy to see that game developers, game publishers and the entire industry has recognized the enormous contribution that good music makes to making games better," says Rice. "The savvy management people in the game industry are hiring great composers and providing larger budgets to produce feature film score quality music. These increased budgets have enabled game music composers to use 60, 80, even 100 piece live orchestras that sound as great as any music found in blockbuster feature films."

As a possible harbinger of things to come, the people behind the Amuze/Sega developed title Headhunter recently announced what has been described as one of the most ambitious game soundtracks produced to date, utilizing an orchestra and a recording studio often used for feature film soundtracks. The forthcoming PS2 title features music composed, arranged, orchestrated and produced by composer Richard Jacques and recorded at Abbey Road Studios in London, England.

Jacques secured a budget for the 67-piece London Session Orchestra performing the Headhunter soundtrack, assembled especially for the project, and made up of some of the finest session musicians in Europe. Each member of the orchestra has either held a principal seat in one of the major London orchestras, or has enjoyed a successful soloist career on the concert platform. The orchestra’s long list of credits include the film soundtracks to The World Is Not Enough and The Mummy.

Breaking a band on game soundtracks
In a report last year on the future of games, Jupiter Media Metrix, new technology analysts, predicted that the music industry could gain the most in the near-term from steady growth in the connected console market. According to the Jupiter analysts, dynamic or user selectable music soundtracks will add replay value and excitement to gameplay. Publishers can extend a game's lifespan and gain cross-promotional partnerships by having musicians release special singles and remixes for use as game soundtracks. With the music industry suffering from one of its worst years ever, and as the industry becomes increasingly consolidated and controlled by a select number of big players, musicians are looking even more for other outlets for their music.

In June 2001, Midway Games announced that Island Gold Recording act Saliva would re-record the popular song "Theme From Peter Gunn," for the remake of SpyHunter. Saliva, along with bands such as Seven Channels, is also featured on the recently released soundtrack for the Jonny Moseley Mad Trix game. With bands reportedly making $10,000 to $20,000 when a song is included in a videogame, the indie band labels have taken notice, if a somewhat practical one.

"A couple of years ago we had a former artist’s track on the Tony Hawk Pro Skater game," says Mike Naylor, Vice President for independent label, Pinch Hit Records. "The game itself was a huge success and our track fit the game content perfectly." While Naylor, whose label had three bands showcased at SXSW, says the fans of the band were excited and the artist/label got a decent check for licensing the track, he believes the ability for the game to generate retail album sales for the artist is still questionable. "The games don’t advertise the music that’s playing in the background," he says. "They’d rather have the gamers spend their money on another game instead, which, of course, is understandable."

Andrew Lasky of Lasky Management, manager of the band The Pasties, sees gaming as a nice chance to promote a band’s material, "but no one has really figured out how to ‘break’ a band through gaming."

Naylor agrees that games are "a great opportunity for artists and labels in the sense that it becomes a great imaging tool. It’s nice press fodder. And the fans seem to get extremely excited, if it’s a good game. And, importantly, there’s a bit of money involved. Indie labels usually don’t see a lot of that."

For developers wanting to license music for their games, Jay Powell of Octagon Entertainment advises leaving the music licensing to the publisher unless you have an excellent contact source in the music industry. "If you are planning to compose music, there are several game musicians in the industry and an in-house person will work as well," says Powell. "If you want to license certain songs, I would approach the publisher with ideas or examples of music you would like to license. The bigger publishers will have a better chance of getting these songs for your game."

G.A.N.G.
Those looking to get into the games music business, as well as stay in it for that matter, may finally find more support courtesy the recently launched Game Audio Network Guild (G.A.N.G.). The organization is focused on the advancement of interactive audio and the surrounding community. Established by leading audio professionals in the video game industry, G.A.N.G. is a non-profit organization established to raise awareness of interactive audio by providing information, instruction, resources, guidance and enlightenment not only to its members, but to content providers and listeners throughout the world. G.A.N.G.'s mission is to empower its members by providing resources for education, business, technical issues, community, publicity and recognition.

One of the main focuses and goals of G.A.N.G. is to encourage and promote excellence in interactive audio, which in turn will advance the interactive industries by helping produce more competitive and entertaining products. G.A.N.G. also supports career development and education for aspiring game audio professionals, publishers, developers and students.

"G.A.N.G. isn't just about audio people. This is an organization that will educate the gaming industry about the importance of audio in interactive entertainment and how to create a superior sound experience," says Tommy Tallarico, President of Tommy Tallarico Studios, Inc. and Founder/President of G.A.N.G. "It's time that game audio is recognized and respected as more than just 'bleeps' and 'bloops.'"

Promoting recognition and contribution to audio quality in the interactive industry, G.A.N.G. is also establishing a variety of programs including annual G.A.N.G. Awards, the G.A.N.G. Seal of Approval, and various membership levels.

"By banding together and providing one voice, members will be able to better articulate, discuss and confront issues inside the interactive entertainment community," says Clint Bajakian, President of the Sound Department and Vice-President of G.A.N.G.

Tools
In terms of key pieces of hardware and software any aspiring game musician should have, composer Danny Pelfrey recommends a computer with music sequencing software and the right sound generating devices. "It is important to produce the highest quality sound possible," he says. "People have surround sound on their computers, and listeners are becoming more discerning."

Citing the ever increasing demand for movie-like game audio environments, Robert Cole of Musicandsfx.com says his studio has ramped up their game audio production services to include surround sound mixing and encoding. " Stereo just isn’t cutting it anymore" says Cole. "Most DVD movies have 5.1 audio, and most hardcore gamers expect nothing less from the games that they buy... so why not give it to them?"

For those composers looking to break into the industry, Mikael Sandgren, composer for Soundelux DMG suggests making sure you can work with a computer-based MIDI and audio recording software which can also create professional score layouts. The top three in this category are Emagic's Logic, Steinberg's Cubase, and MOTU's Digital Performer.

Mike Verrette of Wicked Noise notes that while virtually any composer might have the ability to write some music for a video game, to be a contender in the market place you have to have a means of getting that music recorded and implemented into a variety of file formats that might be required by the developer. "If the developer or publisher is not local, then you need to be able to move that digital information from your studio to theirs," says Verrette. "That might require a high bandwidth internet connection, etc. These are all things that are certainly achievable for someone working out of a home studio, but they really need to be in place to seriously compete in this market."

Wrap-up
So, what does it take to get your music into games? You need to work hard, maybe even work for free, build your reel, and start networking. Build a database and then use it. And make sure you’ve got the right tools.

In short, for those wanting to break into the game industry, Jamie Lendino advises immersing yourself in your work, not just the audio but in networking, promotion, and marketing. "None of it is magic," he says. "Just be yourself, talk to a lot of people, check out their websites, and let them know how interested you are in their work. Heck, it's all about games, how cool is that? If you find yourself having to fake it, you're in the wrong industry."

Vegas DeMilo
The band's music is described as a mix of 80s New Wave and 21st Century Electronica. The Cars meet The Clash. Music Connection magazine named them one of the top 100 indie bands in the country. A special sports-remix of the band’s song "Payback" has hit some sports arenas and stadiums.

Meg Lee Chin
Best known for her involvement with industrial supergroup Pigface, London-based electronics whiz Meg Lee Chin mixes electronica, punk, hip-hop and dub and has been praised by the Los Angeles Times for her "star potential.,. her forceful, clear voice and an unaffectedly dynamic presence", while the Chicago Tribune has noted that "her singing has enough attitude to make Courtney Love envious." Meg's been on TV's "Queer as Folk" and "Witchblade". While plotting our SXSW plan of attack at the Shady Grove, our waiter advised "you gotta see Meg Lee Chin."

Pinwheel
Pinwheel recalls Everclear, The Replacements, Frank Black and Foo Fighters. "Scratchy vocals and crunchy, distorted revved-up guitar that made bands like Husker Du and the Replacements indie gods."-The OC Weekly