The IndieBeat: Composer 2 Mello’s notes for starting a game-music career

Some of the most memorable game music have come from the indie scene — think the haunting resolve of Lena Raine‘s soundtrack for Celeste, Darren Korb‘s rousing guitars and driving beats in games like Pyre and Transistor, or Jim Guthrie‘s transcendental tunes in titles like Superbrothers: Sword & Sworcery EP. But when music producer and sound designer Matthew “2 Mello” Hopkins ran a poll late last month, the majority of people said that they think composers get paid shockingly low amounts for their creative work.

Out of the 2,800 folks who voted, 41 percent estimated $1,000 to $5,000 for two years of work and hundreds of hours of revisions. A close second, 38 percent, guessed $10,00 to $15,000. Hopkins was surprised by how low people went with their estimations, but he says that the voters were pretty much on point. For about 30 minutes of soundtrack with two years of occasional revisions and additional work, he would earn about $6,000.