Music in Video Games
It's not just a Game, it's a Business!
In the VIDEO GAME industry, the composers and songwriters routinely negotiate a contractual provision allowing them to receive performance royalties, which can be a significant revenue source.
Rather than assuming the old "Work for Hire" model, many songwriters and composers in the video game industry reserve the right to receive performance royalties and not simply an upfront payment. They recognize the potential use of the music (i.e., in television, film and commercial contexts) and the opportunity for recurring performance royalties in the future by contractually reserving the performance right.
Examples-
John Wall aka Jack Wall aka John V Wall was the composer/writer of music for Splinter Cell, Jade Empire and Mass Effect (among others) WALL JOHN V, IPI# 342173880, Current Affiliation: ASCAP
Tommy Tallarico- a cousin of Aerosmith frontman, Steven Tyler, has worked on more than 250 games, including the Earthworm Jim series, Color a Dinosaur, Treasures of the Deep, Messiah, MDK, Flip's Twisted World, Wild 9, Unreal, Cool Spot, Spot Goes to Hollywood, Spider-Man (2000), and RoboCop versus The Terminator.
Nobuo Uematsu, of the ASCAP affiliated foreign society JSRAC - Japan - composer of music for the video game Final Fantasy: FINAL FANTASY, Work ID: 361873136; ISWC: T9022458715
Trent Reznor - aka Michael Trent Reznor Jr. - Michael Trent Reznor IPI#129644264, Current Affiliation: ASCAP, composed the original music from id Software's 1996 video game Quake. It was credited to "Trent Reznor and Nine Inch Nails"; Reznor helped record sound effects and ambient audio, and the NIN logo appears on the nailgun ammunition boxes in the game. Reznor's association with id Software began with Reznor being a fan of the original Doom. He reunited with id Software in 2003 as the sound engineer for Doom 3, though due to "time, money and bad management", he had to abandon the project, and his audio work did not make it into the game's final release. In July 2012, it was announced that Reznor had composed and performed the theme song for Call of Duty: Black Ops.
Ramin Djawadi always dreamed of composing a film score, and the Berklee College of Music graduate has done plenty, including 2008’s “Iron Man.” But September 2012 saw the release of one of Djawadi’s most ambitious soundtracks to date — “Medal of Honor: Warfighter.” IPI# 349356239, Current Affiliation: ASCAP,
“The Dark Knight Rises” composer Hans Zimmer (ASCAP) has scored multiple games, “Shrek” composer Harry Gregson-Williams (ASCAP affiliated foreign society PRS) has contributed to the “Metal Gear Solid” series and Brian Tyler (BMI) recently worked on the action film “Battle: Los Angeles” and the action game “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3.”
Next time you play a video game, think of the business of music.
Here’s more on the topic:
https://www.berklee.edu/careers/roles/sound-designer-games
https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/07494460802663983
https://psycnet.apa.org/record/2006-05034-017
