Film composers making a pretty penny on video games
When I started my music major, there were 65ish, maybe 70 freshmen that entered the School of Music that year. There was 1 composition major, compared to roughly 40 or so music education majors, maybe one or two jazz studies majors, and the rest performance majors. Not sure why composition isn’t bigger, considering that this article suggests a game composer can earn three to four times as much as a first year music teacher.
The Seattle Times has an article focusing on Garry Schyman, the composer behind BioShock and Resistance: Retribution. Gary, along with Harry Gregson-Williams (the Shrek and The Chronicles of Narnia composer behind Metal Gear Solid 2, 3, and 4), Steve Jablonsky (the Transformers composer behind The Sims and Gears of War 2), and Danny Elfman (Batman, The Nightmare Before Christmas, and Fable), have embraced game music as being more alive than their traditional film scores. They aren’t writing to match a movie scene, they’re writing to match an infinite number of scenarios that players can encounter.
Head on over to have a read if you’re interested!
