Collecting Data for a Game Music Essay

[Dannthr]

Hey fellow Game Composers,

I am collecting data for a study on the ethics of pricing freelance compositional (creative) services in the game industry.

If you are a freelance composer (sorry sound designers) or have been a freelance composer (that is to say, if you have charged for freelance compositional services) for games, I would really appreciate you filling out my VERY quick survey.

There are 7 questions concerning your pricing practices and one question where you can voice an opinion about the ethics of freelancing creative services.

The data collected is anonymous so PLEASE only click the Submit button ONCE! There is no way for me to contact you to clarify any data and the data collected, in my opinion, falls in the realm of private business.

Please be honest, this is for research.

In the open field, I would like you to express your thoughts on how freelancing services fit in the game industry, or if you feel that you're under-valued, or what factors play into how you bid for a project.

I know how I work, what my methods are, and I have thoughts on where I'm going wrong, and I have spoken to friends about their pricing, but I'm really interested in massing a larger data set to inform my research into this ethical question.

Here is the survey:
Compositional Survey (http://www.musicianeer.com/temp/composition_survey.htm)

Feel free to assert public opinions here and if there's something serious bugging you that you don't want to post publicly, please take advantage of the anonymity of the survey, but please only use the survey once or it'll screw up the data set.

Feel free to forward this survey to friends who also freelance, if you're interested in forwarding my research on the subject.

Ideally, this could/would turn into an interesting white paper of some sort.

Cheers,

[peter5992]

Hi Dan: I'd be happy to pitch in but alas I'm too new at this - haven't sold a single piece of music yet (though I do have 4 Taxi forwards already, so hopefully that will change in the not too distant future).

The last, general question piqued my interest though: what do you mean by the "ethics of freelance services" - like is it good or bad in general (or should we be better off working for an employer), or do I feel like people are charging too little or too much for their music?

[Thomas Regin]

Filled out the survey! :)

Hope your research will be good!

/Tom.

[Dannthr]

Thanks Tom!

Peter, we live in a free-market global society. Our regional living wage can determine how we bid for projects, but that is not the same everywhere we go.

We are driven by a competitive market-place to lower our prices as much as we can bare, but at the same time, when we lower our own prices, we lower the market's prices. This ripples out into every corner of our marketplace.

Sometimes we try to distinguish the disparities between our pricings through our respective profiles in the industry. We say things like, oh yeah, he's cheap, but he's also just a student trying to figure stuff out and if you want a real pro go with me for x, etc.

What happens, however, is that the market place is flooded with low paying jobs and those kids who were making it at so little before can't get a living-wage job anymore because the development studios are so used to getting it cheap that they transform how they conduct business at every level of the development

Their budgets for audio shrink, their expectations for audio shrink, and what does that lead to?

Devalued audio services for everyone.

Part of my survey is designed to watermark the market with a consensus. The survey will be publicized and people just starting out can indicate or defer to the survey as an index or guidance for how they should go about pricing their services.

At the same time, the essay, which will come some time afterward, will discuss our responsibility to the market-place, to ourselves, and to eachother.

I hope that explains my intentions more clearly.

[peter5992]

Ah - I got you. Yes, I have seen discussions here and elsewhere about the downward spiralling effect of anyone and everyone entering this market and offering services for free or near free -- I think it is a good thing to try to do some kind of benchmarking to keep us all straight, or at least give some guidance in terms of what is fair to ask, and what people can expect. If nothing else it can also be helpful if you are negotiating with game producers or filmmakers or whoever about the price of your product - you can then refer to a report that was based on "industry standards". It makes the whole process much easier, even for filmmakers or game producers -- will give them some perspective as well. Understanding each other's business and where people are coming from is always very helpful in getting deals done (as I know from my previous life as a lawyer).

ps speaking about that previous life, when I negotiated mergers and acquisition, clients would often ask "what is normal"? in terms of how much warranties should a seller of a business give (or a buyer ask for), how long, and what should the maximum liability --- the answer to which would usually depend on my own anecdotal experience or recollection of the last few deals. Then, in 2004, a group of resourceful lawyers from a firm in Dallas actually did some research (based on published deals) and they put together a report based on the averages they found -- that was widely acclaimed and praised as an extremely useful initiative. So, yes, your essay is definitely a good initiative (even if I can't contribute much myself).

[Dannthr]

Thanks for the support, Peter!

Contribution is easy, even if you haven't provided paid musical services for games, you might know someone who has.

The accuracy of my data depends on massing as many respondants as possible. If you make them aware of this survey and what the value of this data is to our industry, that is a fantastic contribution! :D