Music Business

Sydney Kjerstad is a talented pianist, arranger, entrepreneur and VGM geek with tons of arrangement and business wisdom. Listen to our conversation now.

Tom is an ASCAP winning and MTV VMA-nominated composer who’s been in the biz for a long time and has an impressive list of both TV and game credits including PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Red Steel 1 and 2, Tom Clancy’s Ghost Recon, Prince of Persia, Wolfenstein Youngblood, and the Halo Anniversary Edition soundtracks.  In our conversation … Read more

Darren Korb is a game composer working for Supergiant Games. He’s composed the soundtracks to smash indie hits like Transistor, Bastion, Pyre, and Hades.  His upbringing as a singer/songwriter and bedroom producer laid a foundation for his work in game audio. He boldly challenges the mostly-instrumental world of game audio by infusing narrative lyrics that … Read more

Daniel Koestner is a newcomer to the game audio space, but his style draws influences from some unusual places and culminates in a sound unlike anything else. He composed the soundtrack to the lovable indie game, Donut County. The playful vibe of his music sends up folk artists like Sufjan Stevens and Beirut with the … Read more

Nathan Madsen is a seasoned game audio composer with years of experience in both in-house and freelance roles. We chatted about best practices in landing gigs, the pros and cons of freelance vs. in-house work, and how to balance a family with VGM ambitions. He’s got a real heart for mentorship and helping other composers … Read more

Chad Seiter is a game composer that I met at the recent VGMCon in Minneapolis, MN. He’s an experienced and really humble dude that shared a lot of his own experiences, both personal and professional. We talked about some of the lessons he learned from studying under renowned composer Michael Giacchino, how he faced some … Read more

Steven Melin is no stranger to the podcast. He’s a good friend and a great composer, and he’s been quite busy for the past several months… writing a book! In this episode, we chat about the “why” behind Steven’s new book, Family-First Composer. He shares some practical tips for building a career in media composition … Read more

I talk with Matthew about some of the benefits of full-time employment vs. freelancing, but also some really organic, practical ways to build relationships and ultimately get paying work as a composer.

I talked with Chase about how he got into video game music, how he practices “connecting” with his instrument, and he shared some incredible techniques for beating writer’s block. Seriously, every creative person needs to hear this.