Good Starting Flat Rate for Composing, Programming, etc.?

[XPRTNovice]

To put it in perspective, the 'base rate' I have in my head for my own work is $375/min. For an AAA project I would ask more. For indie projects, I still list that rate, but I rarely get paid that much because they usually don't have a budget like that. Instead I might accept $100 or $150/min and negotiate royalties instead.

Another option you can offer to devs with low budget is licensing. You could write them a little bit of custom music, and then let them license something you've already written for $50, $75, $100, $150, etc. That is competitive with music libraries and you're still getting credit.

This kind of creative and flexible budgeting will get you gigs AND create a good image for yourself as a businessman/woman and just not being a douche. The last couple projects I've done for $$, I've done for less than my "rate" (which I list as $300/min but also make clear it's flexible) but I retained the rights and plan on compiling an album. With music you have a lot more options other than buyout, which is great.

That being said, if someone is like "dude I'm a student I can only pay you x" and then you find out they're an indie developer with a dozen properties, etc, then you call them on it (professionally). But, by and large, I find that most people are honest.

[AngelCityOutlaw]

I know this doesn't directly answer the question, but I feel it's worth mentioning since everyone else is kind of talking about composers getting ripped off, charging too little or too much.

In my experience, something most indie game developers genuinely don't realize is that the composer and sound people's expenses and requirements are often much much higher than that of just about anyone else on the team. Where as artists and programmers, who make up the majority of the team just need to buy a computer and their software of choice, that is often their only expense. If you're an artist, all you need is photoshop/maya/3ds max and maybe one of those tablet things you can use to paint/draw with and you're basically set for life. However, indies demand the composer deliver something of Hans Zimmer quality but fail to realize that unlike their programmers and artists, music is a multi-tier process that encompasses a variety of different and specialized skill-sets to produce the kind of quality they're demanding.

A lot of people actually expect the composer to not only compose, but record and/or use high-end, expensive sample libraries, mix, master etc. First off, you need a good computer, MIDI controller and good virtual instruments don't come cheap. If the producers want you to do a wide variety of genres, you will need even more of this software and hardware. Next, mixing and mastering are completely separate skills from composing and performing and require good, treated rooms and a monitoring system that offers the full-range of sound if you want to truly get professional results. This also costs more money if you want to take the do-it-yourself route. If the composer doesn't have just one of these resources, they will have to outsource to get it and deliver the quality. If you fail to deliver this kind of quality on these projects, even if the producers deem it acceptable, it will almost certainly come back to bite you in the ass down the road. I've learned this the hard way.

So keep that in mind before you get mad at some indie dev or something expecting you to work for cheap. They probably don't have a very good understanding of what actually goes into making music and probably think it's just as easy to setup and do as their artists working on lower specification computers and tablets with software that might not be out-dated for ten years and doesn't require tuned environments or specialized monitoring equipment to truly get the job done.