procedure of the music licensing

You should have a lawyer draw up a proper licence and/or transfer of rights. I assume since you're willing to pay for your music that you're planning to make money from the project; that means you're doing business, and you should therefore endeavour to do things properly to avoid any potential problems later on. It's commonly said that if you can't afford a lawyer to do things properly then you can't afford to do business. Obscure.co.uk has a list of lawyers who specialise in the type of law you would require.

Barring that, you could try getting The Game Attorney's GameDevKit and using the paperwork provided in that, although without actually consulting a lawyer you won't be sure the paperwork is 100% applicable, particularly considering you're working with someone outside of the U.S.

Also see the topic "How Do Indie Game Composers Get Paid" in the Music & Sound forum.



All that being said, and emphasising that you really should do things properly, if you're not going to do that you should write up the terms you are agreeing to in plain English and make sure that you both agree to them; if possible, you should both sign your plain-English agreement. Keep a copy of your agreement and copies of all the relevant emails in case you require them in future; although not proper legal documents, these should provide you with some defence should you have to go to court in future.


Normally when working in this way you would make one or more smaller payments as the work is done -- usually you will get samples along the way to ensure work is actually being done and to allow you to give feedback and ask for any changes you might need. Once the work is finished you would make a final payment, after which you will be given the final high-quality copies of the audio. Different composers will have different ways of working, and most will be willing to accommodate your needs if you need to do things slightly differently -- be sure to figure this out and agree how things will be done before any payments are made and before any work is done.


I am not a lawyer, and this is not legal advice. You should talk to an actual lawyer.

Hope that helps!

Very informative, thank you