Porter's World

Music Sources

Every great flash game needs top notch music in order to fully succeed. If you’re reading this, I’m sure at one point or another, if not now, you’ve wondered where you can go to get great music for your flash games. There are tons of sources, some free, some not. Some are widely known, while others are known only by myself and a few others, up until now. I’ve mentioned the importance of game music numerous times, by utilizing the below sources, you can take those teachings, and apply them to your games.

Let’s take a look at some of the more well known sources. Somatones Interactive Audio may be a bit on the more expensive side for audio, but there isn’t a chance in the world that you’ll walk away feeling like you didn’t get your money’s worth. These guys know what they’re doing, and they do it flawlessly. They have more experience working with music than anyone else in the flash game industry, and it shows. They’ve worked with companies such as Disney, Konami, Nickelodeon, Sony, Ubisoft, and plenty more. Keep in mind that the work they do for you is exclusive to you, meaning your game will have custom music that no other in the world has. Visit Somatones and check out their work and customer feedback, if you can afford their rates, it’s definitely worth it.

Another great source for music is ibaudio. These guys have a huge library of royalty free music for a very reasonable price. You can purchase music for any genre and feel you desire, some for as low as $10 a loop. Music is purchased using credits which you buy from the site, buying in bulk can save you up to 40%. In addition, you can purchase a 1 year subscription for a one time payment of $213.69; this allows unlimited downloads, which is definitely worth it for anyone pumping out multiple successful titles in a single year. On top of that, any music downloaded during your year subscription may be used by you in the future, even after your subscription is up. Keep in mind the music can be used by you, and only you, any abuse to this system is of course illegal. If you are somehow not finding exactly what you need throughout there massive library, you can also request custom music, they’ll work closely with you to negotiate pricing and get the exact music you’re looking for.

Another great source, despite being less catered towards game music, is Stockmusic. They have an expansive library of music, most tracks being in the $30 range. All music is of excellent sound quality and very professionally done. The site as I said doesn’t exactly target game music, but they offer an amazing search tool that will let you find exactly what you’re looking for. You can also legally alter the music in order to create loops, add echo, or any other reason you may find, so despite the music not being perfect for games right off, it shouldn’t be an issue with anyone who knows how to do basic audio editing. Stockmusic also offers custom music. If you chose to do this, you will be working closely with a composer who fits your genre best, and are supplied demos of the works as they progress, allowing you to suggest changes and customize the music to your liking. I haven’t had any direct experience with these guys, but they definitely look like they know what they’re doing.

Audiosparx is an ideal source for anyone looking to find quality game music. I suggest filtering to search for loops as they’re much more suited for games, but that’s up to you. Rates definitely vary on this site, but the quality is consistently high. Be sure to view “B” rates, these rates pertain to the license you’ll be using in order to legally put the music into your games, distribute them, and profit. These guys have experience with the big guys in the industry, with music in games by companies such as Midway, Atari, EA, and more.

MusicLoops is another great place to find royalty free loops for your game development needs. All tracks are in the form of a loop, so little to no editing will be needed on your part. With a large variety of genres, there’s not a feel you won’t be able to find. The majority of music is roughly $20-$40, which isn’t much for a fitting piece of quality music. A clean design, variety of music, and affordable rates, make this an excellent addition to any list of sites to search when looking for affordable audio for your projects.

Now we’ll take a look at another company I actually have experience with. Partners In Rhyme is an excellent source for virtually all genre’s of music, including seasonal genre’s such as Halloween and Christmas. Each package includes various tracks, each with an incredible assortment of loops, track edits, multiple duration cuts, and the occasional stingers. Some packages will even come with bonus content, including various additional loops and sound effects, some of which you may find even more useful than the original content you purchased. Packages are places at various prices, most resting between $80-$90, which is well worth what you’ll be getting from these guys.

Another site that caters directly to flash games, is Twune. The music is of decent quality, and all packages go for a flat rate of $75. The convenient part of buying from Twune, is that all the editing is entirely done for you. Each package includes multiple loops cut from the same track, allowing you to have multiple loops throughout your game, all with a similar sound. The selection is a bit smaller than some sites, but they’re still growing. Overall, the convenience of multiple loops coming in a single package is convenient, and definitely worth checking out.

In addition to many of the large companies, there is an endless source of freelance musicians just dying to have their music heard by the world. These musicians are incredibly talented, and for the most part, unknown to everyone other than their friends and family. Despite their lack of popularity, these musicians have incredible talent, and will likely be known for it in the future. For the time being however, they lack exposure and are eagerly awaiting to hop on board a project.

A well talented individual that falls into this category is Mike Taylor. I met Mike when living in the wonderful rolling hills of Moscow Idaho. After meeting him, I found out that he was incredibly talented at the piano, as well as doing his own compositions in various other genres. He can do a variety of music, such as techno, trance, ambient, classical, 8-bit, and so on. As far as the flash industry goes, his music can be heard in Dominus Void and Tower of Greed. Dominus Void features features various tracks from multiple artists, track two being Mikes, while Tower of Greed was composed entirely by Mike from scratch. As you can hear, it sounds very authentic to the days of the NES, so much in fact that it sounds as if it could have appeared in a popular title in the early 90’s. Mike is always looking for custom music work, and will listen to all of your ideas and suggestions to make sure the music fits your exact needs. He’s a huge perfectionist, so don’t be surprised when he scraps something you’re proud of and comes back the next day with something far more impressive. His rates are incredibly affordable and definitely worth what they add to your game. He’ll help decide a fair price with you depending on various factors, all of which you’ll both discuss and plan out beforehand.  If you’re interested in having Mike do some work with you, you can contact him via Newgrounds PM, or email him at miketaylorandhisimaginaryband@gmail.com; I know, it’s an awesome email address.

Another excellent, and unfortunately lesser known artist, is Yiannis Ioannides. I met Yiannis recently while browsing the forums over at Newgrounds. I listened to his music and felt a strong urge to get in contact with him and talk business, so that’s what I did. Yiannis is an incredibly skilled musician who is currently studying film scoring and jazz composition at Berklee College of Music over in Boston, MA. He’s passionate about composing game music, and specializes in music that consists of jazz, electronica, world, classical, ambient, soundscape etc. He’s looking for work and would be more than happy to compose for all sorts of games, from young, colorful, interactive games, to darker, serious, professional games. Rates vary from project to project, and will be negotiated prior to completion. Definitely give his music a listen and keep him in mind for future projects; he’s got a lot of talent just waiting to be put into your future works. You can reach Yiannis for questions and work by emailing him at yioannides@berklee.net.

If you’re looking for some music on the cheaper side of the spectrum, perhaps free, there’s always the Newgrounds Audio Portal. Contrary to popular belief, nearly all of the music on Newgrounds is free. There are a few things to keep in mind however. You must always contact the author of a piece you wish to use, let them know of your project, and always request permission. They’ll decide on the terms when responding to you, but 99% of the time artists are just looking to get some exposure, and are thrilled to hear that their music will be used in a game. They’ll generally ask that you mention them in the credits, as well as link to them on the credits page if possible, which is more than acceptable. The audio portal offers a lot of music in various genres, so you shouldn’t have any issues finding some good music. Seeing as it’s an audio portal run off of user submissions, you will have to filter through a lot of lower quality music in order to find what you’re looking for, but that’s the price you have to pay if you don’t feel like forking over some cash.

Another free source is Incompetech, a website run by Kevin MacLeod. Kevin has a large library of royalty free music that he has composed and recorded himself. You can search by genre, or by mood, giving you plenty to work with when it comes to getting the right feel for your project. Kevin doesn’t charge anything for his music under the creative commons license, but greatly appreciates donations as all artists do. The only thing actually required of you is to list his name in the credits, as well as the piece(s) used. If you like what you hear, Kevin can also compose custom music for you, rates are negotiated on a project by project basis.

As you can see, there’s plenty of sources to get amazing music out there. Until recently, I was one to just go out and get free music and do my best with it, which has never hurt, but after doing the research for this article, I can’t stress how important quality music is. I had always thought that I did a fantastic job selecting music for my games prior to this article, however looking back, I did great, but these services offer a quality that cannot be matched for free. If the above prices sound a bit high, consider the fact that the value great music will add to your game is far more than you’ll be paying. If you can’t afford exceptional music from the above services, perhaps land a sponsor, then point out some music you would like to add to the game; chances are they’ll pay you the amount needed up front (out of your sponsorship money, or in addition) to let you boost the value of the game. If you do find yourself using the above sources, or any for that matter, always check the license agreements for the music you are purchasing, this is extremely important and cannot be stressed enough. All in all, you now have an incredible list of sources to find excellent flash game music, all at varying prices that should be affordable to everyone. I definitely hope to hear an increase in the quality of music in all of your future games, don’t let me down.