Music!

When I released my last game, my old high school friend Aileen contacted me.  She said that her husband is a musician that has been trying to break into the video game business, and to let her know if I make another game.  I’ve met her husband once at our high school reunion, and knew that he did actual music for actual TV shows.  Way out of my league.

Anyways, now that I’m actually getting some work done and getting closer to creating a finished product, I emailed Aileen.  I made no bones about what kind of project this is (amateur), and exactly how much I was willing to pay ($0).  There’s plenty of “good enough” music out there that can be had for free.  And I’m all about “good enough”.  Really, the only reason he’d want to participate is if he wanted to be able to tell someone “I made music for a game that a couple hundred people played.”  A pretty raw deal, for sure.

Aileen forwarded the email to her husband, who we’ll call “Jim” (because that’s his name).  He wrote back and said that composing music was his sole source of income, and he wasn’t able to provide any original music for free.  Totally expected.  He normally does paid work for TV shows and commercials and stuff.  Fine, I fully understand.  No worries.  But then he goes and says “But here’s my WHOLE CATALOG OF 28 HOURS worth of music of all kinds of genres… go ahead and choose whatever you want for your game and use it for free.”

Dude.

DUDE!

I’ve only had the chance to peruse a bit, but I don’t think I’ll have any problems finding some great stuff.  I’ve already downloaded some likely choices and used them as stand-in music, and it’s great.  It’s amazing how music can really set the mood of a scene.

So, a bit thank you to my new best friend Jim.