[UNPAID] LOOKING FOR COMPOSER TO WORK ON SOME MUSIC ON A SEMI-COMMERCIAL GAME.

So just to clarify, you want somebody to compose for you for free, with the understanding that you may decide to use the music commercially down the road?

There's plenty of composers who have already given their stuff for commercial use (without expectation of compensation) such as Aaron Krogh, but you may be a bit hard-pressed finding somebody who is willing to compose specifically for your game (knowing you plan to profit off a future game using that music) but not offering any sort of compensation in return.

Seconded. There are quite a number of composers who offer up music for free. Kevin Macleod is very notable for doing this.

It's a tad insulting (no offense) to ask for free music without taking into account the amount of work that goes into creating a piece.

I was talking to a friend of mine, about how long it takes us to create a piece of music, and both of us, for our most recent pieces, spent over 20 hours on one project.

Asking someone to write music pro bono(or expecting them, rather) for nearly a work week's worth of time, is a lot. Especially if the music will add tremendously to the atmosphere of your project.

Not trying to rag, but if you want quality/originality, don't expect it to be free! There are a lot of composers on this forum who offer music for affordable prices!

If you DO expect to gain compensation, then you need to do the same for their efforts.

The problem isn't so much the hope of getting something for nothing. If people are willing, go for it. But you may be hard-pressed finding somebody who is willing to do it for free and maintain good quality while also doing it quick enough.

What m4uesviecr and I are pointing out is that there are a lot of people who already have made free music to use for commercial purposes. I don't know about Kevin Macleod - I thought his was royalty free meaning you pay a fee but then can keep using it for whatever commercial purposes you request without paying anything further. But Aaron Krogh has a huge amount of songs you can use, free for commercial use. Scythuz may also have free commercial use. Eric Matyas asks for a donation (of your choosing, I believe) but otherwise free to use commercially.

These people give to the community without asking for anything back, and that's phenomenal. However, a lot of these same people have also already succeeded in their trade that to give up some tracks doesn't hurt their bottom line, and even grants them publicity and advertisement for further services; or they're just doing what they love and not trying to profit from it. Most, however, are making music on the fly, whatever they want and whenever they want, and giving it to everybody, without being tied down to a specific project or request or making customized music that will only ever be used in one project. Some do open shops and take single requests, but if you decide you need a full soundtrack made for your own game, whether or not you plan to be the only ones to ever use the music, it limits their time and resources.

That's not to say you won't find somebody willing to do it, but it may be hard. And if they're not being paid, there's no sense of urgency for them to fulfill the request in a timely manner.

Now, if you find you can't find somebody that will do this for you, and the free choices mentioned above don't work, there's still cheap alternatives between Members+ (Quigon and Scythuz's work alone is enough music for several games), and the store (I'd recommend J Stewarts aka Jonnie91, Joel Steudler, and Gyrowolf). Some are a bit expensive but still far cheaper than paying for customized music, but most are under $10 per album.