200 Songs Project

The goal is to make 200 songs split between 20 albums with 10 songs per album.

They are designed with game developers in mind and the deliverables reflect that in including things that interface with things like FMOD and Wwise seamlessly. Things like 16-32 bar loopable regions in stems to fade in and out different elements depending on the action state of the character or trigger points etc.

The 20 albums will have references for each album of what a successful track should sound similar to -- this gives composers something to aim for.

Each album will be guided by a project manager whose job it is to recruit composers for the album, guide them stylistically to ensure they create usable, focused, and cohesive pieces that blend with the products of the other composers in the album. Then to direct them in how to export deliverables specific to their genre in what is most useful. It is the project managers who are the first quality control check and may provide guidance into what the song needs to cross the line into an accepted song ready for delivery. This may include referring them to another composer who can replace VSTs with higher quality ones, or to a mixing engineer who needs to put all the pieces together in a well-produced mix.

These splits of the song's responsibilities are reflected in the royalty split section coming later.

The project managers are guided by the creative director who ensures the individual albums come together to create a cohesive piece among all of the different albums. They set the vision for the project and organize the plan for how to achieve it. Provides overall guidelines for creative content and deliverable requirements. Interfaces with project managers to ensure the content created is appropriate for the project as a whole.

Marketing/Accounting/Legal is responsible for finding platforms to sell the product, creating compelling marketing materials to sell it. Find content creators for the artwork that matches the creative vision. Uploads tracks to the sites. Writes the descriptions, metadata tagging, etc. Researches the needs of the market to create projects with high demand that will sell. And when appropriate for licensing deals, registers the songs with the PRO of the composer (BMI, ASCAP, etc.). They also divide out the payments to all of the composers for each payment period and issue tax forms as appropriate for money in excess of $500 or whatever the minimum is for a 1099 or equivalent based on country requirements.

The royalty splits will account for all of the work it takes to get a project of this size across the finish line, from the well-known parts to the never seen parts with everyone getting compensated fairly for their time.

It is similar to the 50/50 split seen in writer publishing deals where one half is involved in the creation of the song and the other half is involved in getting the song sold. But this model actually favors the creators as more than 50% of the songs profit is going toward the creation side. Whether that's the composing, the producing, or mixing/mastering.

Once the project is complete, it will be uploaded onto asset stores for game developers. The main compilation being sold as a deal, while the individual albums are sold at a premium specific to their individual niches.

Want to learn more, head over to the Video Game Composers Discord server.