Ur Zoo: Social Game Music Competition

[parasite]

FluffyLogic, the studio that brought you the highly addictive tower-defence strategy game Savage Moon and the city-smashing monster mayhem in Eat Them! to PlayStation3, invites you to create some original music for their new social game Ur Zoo.

The lucky winner’s music will feature in the game and their name will appear in the game credits!

A bit about Ur Zoo:

Ur Zoo is a zoo game like no other! It is a social game that enables you to build your own zoo – feed your animals, grow crops, run gift shops, hot-dog stands, sit in the park, and even decorate your animals…but most importantly, you get to breed your animals! And not just elephants…it allows you to breed your elephants with your pandas – and your flamingos with your alligators!

Ur Zoo is a freemium game aimed at different types of gamers, from the hardcore to the casual: with something for everyone. It will be released later on this year for iOS platforms, although a Facebook version may also be in the works.

http://www.facebook.com/UrZoo

A bit about the music:

The music for Ur Zoo can be any style you think would fit the atmosphere of a zoo. It must be catchy, easy on the ears and most of all, FUN!

Competition Rules:

• Music must be no more than 3 minutes long
  
• Music must be loop-able
  
• Music must be WAV (16bit 44.1khz), AIF or 320kbps MP3 format
  
• Entries must use original music and source samples (unless rights are given by the originator)
  
• Music file must be titled "Ur Zoo Social Game Music Competition – Artist – Track name"
  
• Submissions: A link to the music must be emailed to ana@fluffylogic.net, include artists name and contact details….PLEASE DO NOT ATTACH YOUR MUSIC TO THE EMAIL!
  
• All entries must be submitted by Monday 18th August 2011.
  
• Entries can be used by FluffyLogic for promotional purposes. Artist(s) will be credited accordingly.
  

Good Luck!

http://www.fluffylogic.net/2011/07/ur-zoo-social-game-music-competition/

[Zerothemaster]

A quick question or two about this: It sounds quite interesting.

1. Will there be only one song selected?

2. Are there different locales of zoos that you want specified music for? i.e. a desert zoo or jungle zoo with different music?

~Zero

[dannthr]

Hey Parasite,

First I'd like to say thank you for thinking of the OCRemix community as a potential source for some great original game music. The people here are enthusiastic about game music and it's great to see the wealth of talent and passion recognized by the greater game industry.

With that said, and coming from someone who actually works in games, I would like to warn my fellow OCRemixers from this contest.

Firstly, do NOT be fooled into thinking that a company such as this does not have any money and that they are groovy folks seeking some hip volunteer musicians for their garage-style game project.

They are a business.

"Freemium" apps are an incredibly lucrative sales model for games--a VERY recent analysis of over 90,000 apps for sale reveals that Freemium games actually control a majority of the revenue share:

http://blog.flurry.com/?Tag=Freemium

Now, that's not at all to say that the folks at Fluffy Logic aren't groovy, they may very well be extremely groovy.

However, they are also a business and are creating a game with the intention of it becoming a revenue success and a source of income.

When you see a contest like this, it is essentially a business requesting FREE content which they will use in their product to make money.

If you win this contest, you will be providing the means by which they entertain customers.

Why are they making this request?

Well, they will say that they are offering up-and-coming artists an "opportunity" to break in to the industry. I can tell you that getting your name on a game like this will not facilitate such a break-in. I won't ask people to try to recall the name of the Farmville composer without looking it up, but I can tell you he doesn't work in games a lot (wonderful composer and musician that he is).

3 minutes of loopable music contracted from a game composer in the United States would generally run Fluffy Logic around 1500-3500 USD (or less if they offered back-end revenue). This, combined with the fact that you had never heard of the game UrZoo until this contest (providing the game with a unique promotion) is essentially why they are holding this contest.

In short, what I am trying to convey to my OCRemix brothers and sisters is this: This contest is exploitation unless they offer either a cash prize OR a percentage of back-end revenue (which they probably won't because they expect revenue to far exceed the value of a cash prize). Either way, neither here nor their site expresses such a prize/award.

Freemium does not mean they won't make money, they are trying to make money, and they are hoping they can get a hungry, eager composer to give them quality content which they can then use to make THEMSELVES more money.

[some1namedjeff]

I'm with Dannthr.

Look at the last line of their bullet points:

"Entries can be used by FluffyLogic for promotional purposes. Artist(s) will be credited accordingly."

It doesn't matter if they credit you, they're getting your valuable and specialized labor for free. This is not how the industry is meant to operate, and it's detrimental for game composers as a whole.

[parasite]

A quick question or two about this: It sounds quite interesting.

1. Will there be only one song selected?

2. Are there different locales of zoos that you want specified music for? i.e. a desert zoo or jungle zoo with different music?

~Zero

in anwser to your questions:

1. only 1 song will be selected.

2. there is only 1 locale for the zoo.

[parasite]

Hey Parasite,

First I'd like to say thank you for thinking of the OCRemix community as a potential source for some great original game music. The people here are enthusiastic about game music and it's great to see the wealth of talent and passion recognized by the greater game industry.

With that said, and coming from someone who actually works in games, I would like to warn my fellow OCRemixers from this contest.

Firstly, do NOT be fooled into thinking that a company such as this does not have any money and that they are groovy folks seeking some hip volunteer musicians for their garage-style game project.

They are a business.

"Freemium" apps are an incredibly lucrative sales model for games--a VERY recent analysis of over 90,000 apps for sale reveals that Freemium games actually control a majority of the revenue share:

http://blog.flurry.com/?Tag=Freemium

Now, that's not at all to say that the folks at Fluffy Logic aren't groovy, they may very well be extremely groovy.

However, they are also a business and are creating a game with the intention of it becoming a revenue success and a source of income.

When you see a contest like this, it is essentially a business requesting FREE content which they will use in their product to make money.

If you win this contest, you will be providing the means by which they entertain customers.

Why are they making this request?

Well, they will say that they are offering up-and-coming artists an "opportunity" to break in to the industry. I can tell you that getting your name on a game like this will not facilitate such a break-in. I won't ask people to try to recall the name of the Farmville composer without looking it up, but I can tell you he doesn't work in games a lot (wonderful composer and musician that he is).

3 minutes of loopable music contracted from a game composer in the United States would generally run Fluffy Logic around 1500-3500 USD (or less if they offered back-end revenue). This, combined with the fact that you had never heard of the game UrZoo until this contest (providing the game with a unique promotion) is essentially why they are holding this contest.

In short, what I am trying to convey to my OCRemix brothers and sisters is this: This contest is exploitation unless they offer either a cash prize OR a percentage of back-end revenue (which they probably won't because they expect revenue to far exceed the value of a cash prize). Either way, neither here nor their site expresses such a prize/award.

Freemium does not mean they won't make money, they are trying to make money, and they are hoping they can get a hungry, eager composer to give them quality content which they can then use to make THEMSELVES more money.

i hear what you're saying and would like to point out that FluffyLogic is a relatively small indie studio and have always commissioned original music for their previous games, largly from local artists.

the competition is aimed at up-and-coming producers/graduates/game music fans/anyone who may want to get some of their music into a game.

i am producing most of the music and getting paid but thought it would be really cool for someone with no/little experience to get the chance for their music to be featured in a game and to have their name in the credits.

i'm a freelancer and know how hard it is to get a break in this industry!

[parasite]

I'm with Dannthr.

Look at the last line of their bullet points:

"Entries can be used by FluffyLogic for promotional purposes. Artist(s) will be credited accordingly."

It doesn't matter if they credit you, they're getting your valuable and specialized labor for free. This is not how the industry is meant to operate, and it's detrimental for game composers as a whole.

if you are already a successful composer/sound designer working in the industry then you wouldn't want to work for nothing! but for someone with little or no experience wanting to get into the industry it's a different story.

how is the industry meant to operate and how exactly is this detrimental for game composers?

[Rozovian]

Cut him some slack, guys. Promotional doesn't mean he can use it in-game, just for trailers and expo booths and sunflowery music videos... maybe? Tho a cash prize, even a modest hundred or so, would certainly get some interest up, and feel like the promotion condition isn't as big a deal.

And of course, it might lead to a commissioned, proper score for the game, and maybe further opportunities to score stuff for his games.

[Meteo Xavier]

It doesn't matter if they credit you, they're getting your valuable and specialized labor for free. This is not how the industry is meant to operate, and it's detrimental for game composers as a whole.

I will post for the sake of argument that that doesn't change what few avenues budding game composers are getting these days are for free work or chump change.

For a complete nobody like me, stuff like this is all we're offered and sometimes we even have to beg for it. Wanna know why I don't get paid for any of my music? Because I'm not Zircon, or Danny B, or Dan Reynolds, or Jeffball. The chasm between the haves and have nots is so wide in this industry now that nothing can truly be shared or learned. You only get two options then: Play the game or kill the dream.

I'm probably going to submit something because I refuse to kill the dream. No one is going to pay for nobodies - that's the bottom line in this industry. At least this way if I fail to uphold the dream, I can at least say it wasn't for lack of effort.

[dannthr]

This is not about a dream. The problem is when you allow people to exploit you in this manner, you set a precident that it is OKAY, when it's not.

You also teach them that when they want to, they will be able to request developed assets for free--anytime, without consideration for the creators.

This devalues our efforts as musicians, composers, sound designers, audio engineers, etc.

It cheapens the playing field.

That Parasite is a composer himself only demonstrates how out of wack the Game Audio Industry on the Indie level really is--it's baffling!

I will say this again as I've said it many times before:

There is NO good reason for offering NOTHING to the winner.

If a company uses YOUR CREATIVE WORK to make a PROFIT, you should somehow SHARE in that success.

There is NO good reason for them to offer NOTHING in recompense.

They don't have to offer cash, they could offer a percentage of profits--allowing them the condition that they will only pay when they are successful, and this success, ultimately, whether Parasite wants to admit it or not, is partly because of the winners music.

There is NO good reason for them to offer the winner NOTHING.

Parasite is getting paid, he is getting paid for his music and sounds, he is getting paid. Is he just getting paid because he has more experience? No, he's getting paid because he's providing assets and there is absolutely NO reason why they would not pay a beginner for great music.

And finally, I will repeat this: This game does not constitute "breaking in" the industry.

No one will give a shit that you've worked on a small iPhone title as evidenced by the fact that no one has ever given a shit about the work I've done on small iPhone titles.

If you're a pro, you do these gigs because you need some side money or because maybe you really like the guys doing the project and you don't take upfront, but you get money on back-end sales percentage.

The real difference between a pro and an amateur is really just two things:

Attitude - A pro knows their limitations like a professional runner knows how far and long they can run, what their performance is like when they push themselves. A pro can produce when inspiration has left him or her for the project. He or she will rely upon a tool-box of tricks that offers solutions where inspiration has left but deadlines approach. They get it done and produce quality product. A pro takes responsibility for their product. An Amateur would want to take it slow, spending months or more on a single piece of music and not realizing their own limitations when setting milestones.

Experience - A pro can recognize potential pit-falls, they can plan a project from the start because they've done it before. They understand how the final vision is pieced together, and know the path it takes to reach it, even when that final product is something that has never really been done before. They can manage that effort over sustained periods.

Neither of these things requires you to have been paid for your music, if you want to work on an iPhone game there's about a hundred thousand in development right now that is looking for a partner who is willing to take on the responsibility of audio and more than willing to share in the product's potential success through back-end payments on sales.

You don't need to GIVE it away--that is the most sure-fire way to ensure you do not get paid to create music.

Don't give your music away for free.

I have never done this, no one I know has ever HAD to do this, there is NO REASON to do this.

I encourage EVERYONE here who is interested in a professional career in games to create music for this contest that you do NOT submit.

These sorts of challenges are a GREAT way to test those two professional qualities I just mentioned. Create music for a zoo game, create it before a deadline, but then keep the music, use it in your portfolio as an example of how creative and professional you sound so you can get PAID work.

If you guys are interested, I will create a series of professional challenges that you guys can tackle for your own portfolio.

[Meteo Xavier]

A list of companies offering paid work to nobody-freelancers would be much more helpful, but if you're offering challenges, I'll take you up on some of them.

I like to think even if I can never become a full-fledged professional in what I might generously refer to as an "industry" here, I'm still more than enough of a composer to take up this quest. I accept.

[Nabeel Ansari]

A list of companies offering paid work to nobody-freelancers would be much more helpful,

Why in the world would anyone on OCR want such a list? :/

[Meteo Xavier]

I can't tell if you're being facetious or not, 'blix. In any case, I am being facetious myself as I expect no such list could ever exist.