We may take offense to mainstream media's characterization of early game music as "annoying loops of ear candy," but there's no denying that today's game soundtracks are truly professional endeavors. The Seattle Times today published a profile of some of the industry's most established composers and their processes -- not to mention their paychecks. By the article's estimate, composer Garry Schyman (he scored BioShock, ya know) could earn something like $126,000 for his work on the Resistance: Retribution soundtrack.
Currently, Schyman is working with a nine-piece brass ensemble in the London Bridge Studio in Shoreline, Washington -- the grunge era haunt of Pearl Jam, Alice in Chains and Soundgarden, to name a few. While those bands grew out their hair and donned pop's, uh, grungy flannels, Schyman was breaking into the game scene, being among the first to record orchestral music for a game (Voyeur, if you must know). Today, Schyman works almost exclusively on game soundtracks. "Film music can be very soft and ambient," says Schyman. "But game developers want strong musical statements. So from a creative standpoint, games are a great place to be right now."
