Hello, I’m wondering how many people here buy music for their projects as opposed to hiring composers and what sort of stuff they’re looking for in the music that they buy?
Absolutely, I’m not quite there yet in that stage of development but I plan to buy the majority of the sounds from the marketplace.
When it comes to music, I would rather hire someone to make it for me. Wouldn’t want to hear the same tracks in another game, music is quite “personal” for a game I think.
Sitrec is right. Every game should have a personal music so I would also hire someone to make it.
Depends on the track and its use. It also depends on the developer. People seem to be putting plenty of music packs on the marketplace, so I would assume it’s doing somewhat well.
I bought some sound pack that had music.
Problem with music is same as with characters, for game you need matching set of more than 2-3 songs (or characters), and it need match your game theme. So make focused sets of music, rather than one song for each collection.
And yes, music needs to be personalized for game, also sounds should match the music style. So hiring sound person is usually better than buying something from market, unless its set of matching songs and sounds.
I cannot afford to hire a composer on my budget, so, I’ve planned to buy music. What I’m really looking for is Modular Music. Songs separated into their individual instruments, sequences, melodies, rhythms etc, allowing me to mix the music dynamically in my game with MOODSAURUS Track Sequencer. This modular methodology would provide Devs and their Players a means to customize the music in-game. There are game studiesthat suggests music customization can emotionally influence the gameplay experience.
The truth is there is a massive amount of music available, and one really has to do something unique to stand out to sell. Perhaps, Modular Music could be the new paradigm for selling music in Marketplaces. I can do a little something in FLStudio, but, would prefer to team up with a composer to develop music for use with my MOODSAURUS Module.
I would pay for music I liked as long as I received all rights to the music and did not have to worry about others receiving the same or similar composure’s.
I have a Freelancer that I use … Karl Muller Music and Sound Design … the guy has done some awesome work for me and I would recommend him to anyone.
His name is Karl Muller … 8-}
The problem I have with music is I don’t know where to look for composers or musicians. I tried ScoreAScore, but quit after 2 days because the people who ran it kept pestering me with “Do you like it?” type questioning. The other thing is finding great music that can be looped. Trying to find a musician who can pull that off seems like a tough task. But I’d much rather find that perfect someone than use generic music off the Marketplace that odds are 5 other games will eventually use.
I buy songs off royalty free music web sites. Just be careful to read all the fine print, some make special exceptions for embedding into mobile phone apps if you’re going that route.
I totally agree, I would also hire somebody. I dont want that someone connects my game to another one cause’ both projects are using the same music. Having a nice and personal soundtrack makes your game to something special I think.
I am in the process of coming up with a happy-medium of soundtrack sets- full scores with recurring themes and consistent style that could make a game feel like the soundtrack was made for it, as content for the market here. I am trying to get ideas on what type of genre to start with (RPG, futuristic, etc). Also, if anyone needs a composer for specific games, I’m up for that too 
www.samostudios.com
Also agreeing with the crowd that music should be unique. Music is not expensive to do, as there are a lot of hobby DJ/producers, who would do it for relatively low price.
A 3 star sound pack is WAY better than no sound or bad sound…
Answering the OP, if you’re contemplating putting some effort into providing something for the Marketplace, I think the advice so far is a little one sided. There is plenty of space for non-custom tailored music. They can always opt to ask you to customize it a bit.
Tl;dr: A generic and forgettable but OK sound pack has a market. Something above losing customers or they turn it off, but less than a dedicated sound artist. Just understand who you’re targeting and what they expect. And key is the UE4 and game friendliness of your pack.
Don’t provide awesome and super unique. Provide something generic that is packaged for being used in a game.
Someone has to provide the music just so a game can ship with some sound. OK sound is great! Emphasis on the game can ship. Emphasis on OK sound. (player keeps sound on).
I don’t confuse music being associated with a bad game as bad music. Not related at all. We’ve all heard certain classic/older music re-used tons of times and i personally have not burned or smashed my computer up because i got offended by hearing Chopin or Debussy for tenth time. Why?, because sound is in a supporting role. All the blockbuster movies are re-using slightly tweaked scores by same folks. I did not storm out of the theater or my living room while punching everyone in arms reach…
Anyway, Nawrot had the best advice, make the sound pack game friendly if you wish to succeed. No track dumps. Show some effort/understanding of UE4/games. Presentation and packing is way more important than sound. The actual sound is very in the “Ear of the listener”… Unless it makes your ears bleed, or you clearly don’t want to listen to it after a couple of loops because of its mechanics.
A 3 star sound pack is WAY better than no sound or bad sound…
edit: just to clarify, the sound pack itself needs to be a 5 star overall because its easy to integrate, provides some BPs snippets or code, and has no glaring issues where user will turn it off but the sound being 3 star/generic is fine.