Video Game Music Strikes a Bigger Chord

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With the game Destroy All Humans!, Garry Schyman had two months to produce an hour of music for THQ (THQI) and Pandemic Studios. "For me that was a luxury," says Schyman. He ended up writing several three-minute 1950s sci-fi pieces that would play in a continuous loop, intense battle-scene tunes, and thematic music for movie-like scenes.

It's not enough to just write music, though. "The other half is working on implementation with the designers and the artists and sound programmers," says Tommy Tallarico, a longtime games composer and the co-creator of Video Games Live, a concert series featuring some of the world's top orchestras performing the gaming industry's greatest hits. "You have to let them know that you want this version to play when there are a hundred guys on horseback and this other version when there's only one."

Schyman's scores have earned him industry accolades, and have led to other projects. Through Destroy All Humans!, he met game designer-cum-Internet celebrity Matt Harding, and the two have collaborated on YouTube videos of Harding dancing in far-flung locales around the world, which have a cult following.

Some Tough Crowds

Even so, soundtracks can be thankless work. Few composers ever become household names, and it's standard practice to forfeit ownership to a studio in what's known as a work-for-hire agreement. At times, that can cause conflicts. Lennertz, who's supporting Senator Barack Obama (D-Ill.) for President, says he was "upset" that the music he wrote, which Electronic Arts (ERTS) owns, was used to promote McCain's Presidential bid. The videos have since been pulled. (McCain campaign officials couldn't be reached for comment.) "I will definitely be adding a clause to future contracts that has certain stipulations about using the music for controversial purposes," Lennertz says.

Some composers complain that big projects can drag on for a year. Not everyone thinks that's bad; it can even work in a composer's favor. "I've been scoring a game since January that's just finishing up now, but I also did four episodes of Supernatural and a movie within that time," says Lennertz.

Some have a tougher crowd to answer to. "My parents would rather say their son is scoring a movie than a video game," says Schyman. "It's a generational thing perhaps."

Hall is BusinessWeek's technology correspondent in Tokyo.