Acquiring Music for Your Game...?

[Twelve]

Hello. I am recently new to programming my own ren'ai game, and I have been making plans for my project. Unfortunately, I am not certain what to do about the musical aspect of my game. I have no musical talent, and I doubt that I could compose a song that wouldn't be painful to listen to.

I've browsed through some of the posts on the forums, and a few questions popped into my head:

1 - Is it necessary to include background music in a game? How much of a detraction would it be to leave it out?

2 - For websites with "free music"...does that mean that you can just download them and toss them in your game? Or do you need to contact the artist first and go through all the legal procedures? Does anyone know what sort of legal issues are involved with using remixed/midi-forms of music that was written by someone else? (That is, is there a legal problem with putting a midi form of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in your game, even if you have the permission of the person who created the midi?)

3 - Is there a pool of musicians available on the forums who would offer their talents to a particular game?

[PyTom]

1 - Is it necessary to include background music in a game? How much of a detraction would it be to leave it out?

I would say music, or at least sound, makes the game feel more professional. While it may not be strictly necessary, it is strongly encouraged.

2 - For websites with "free music"...does that mean that you can just download them and toss them in your game? Or do you need to contact the artist first and go through all the legal procedures? Does anyone know what sort of legal issues are involved with using remixed/midi-forms of music that was written by someone else? (That is, is there a legal problem with putting a midi form of Beethoven's Symphony No. 9 in your game, even if you have the permission of the person who created the midi?)

There are two copyrights in music: One is on the original work, and one is on the peformance of that work. You have to deal with both copyright holders.

In the case of Beethoven, since he's been dead for a very long time, his copyrights have lapsed into the public domain. The guy who created the midi also has a copyright... but if he gives you permission to use it, you're good.

Now, take a similar case. Say you want to use "When I'm Sixty-Four" in your game, and you found someone who made a midi of it and gives you permission to use that midi. That's not enough, you'd also need to get permission from the copyright holder for the original song in order to use it.

Of course, I am not a lawyer. (But I have played Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney.)

[ShiraiJunichi]

Check out the resources thread-
http://lemmasoft.renai.us/forums/viewto ... 5276#15276

I just added a bunch of stuff for music

[monele]

You could also ask on these very forums for music once your project is globally done. Could inspire someone to make tunes for it ^^