Why You’re Not Getting Game Music Work
A single email changed my life and gave me the career I have today.
Back in 2013 I was a fan of a podcast called The NoSleep Podcast, a horror anthology podcast that had been around for a couple of seasons. When the show runner, David Cummings, mentioned in an intro that he was struggling to make the show by himself, I took that opportunity to reach out. I had very limited musical knowledge and only really knew how to use software like GarageBand and Reason. Nonetheless I took a chance and offered to help with the music. Shortly after joining the show I became their in-house composer. Over time the show grew and I grew with it. I’ve since written over 13,000 tracks, toured the US and Europe, and made more friends than I can count. This is what started my career, and I’m eternally grateful to David for giving me a chance. All work I’ve had can be traced back to this gig, all because I sent one email.
I mention this to start with the topic of reaching out with cold messaging. A lot of people starting out in games music, or music in general, don’t have much of a community to lean on. Using email or social media is one way we can start to form out community from the safety of our studios. I think this is where a lot of folks go wrong. I think a lot of musicians and composers will reach out with themselves being the topic of discussion. “This is me, this is what I can make, you should give me a job.” I think most directors/developers/showrunners will find this tasteless and without tact. You’re sabotaging yourself. When reaching out I think there are a few things to consider…
Does the team already have a composer attached?
I’m the resident composer for both Creative Reason Media and Black Tabby Games. Both entities get emails daily from composers gunning for my job. They find this tiresome and frankly pretty annoying. A simple google search would reveal that they have a composer and aren’t looking for a new one. This is a very bad look and creates nothing but animosity. This opposes community. (Side note here: If you can offer something to the project and it has a composer, I think its okay to reach out to the composer if you have a skillset they could utilize. Ive been on the receiving end of this and have no issue with it.)
Is it a good fit?
Is it even worth reaching out? Does the game/project resonate with you? We all have our individual styles and niches and its possible that the project wont excite you or your music won’t compliment it. If that’s the case, this relationship isn’t going to be very beneficial. You’re better off focusing on finding something that you would enjoy working on, with people you’d enjoy working with.
How to introduce yourself?
Do not, I repeat, do not come right out of the gate talking about yourself. They do not know you. Imagine you’re minding your business and some stranger sprints up to you talking about themselves and their work. Annoying, right? This is essentially what cold emailing is doing when done incorrectly. Start with the project, tell them why it interests you, what you like about it. I wouldn’t even mention that you write music until you get a response. Should you hear back, wait until it feels polite -or until they ask you- to mention that you write music. Once they know you write music, it is up to them to show interest and decide to discuss possibly bringing you on board. Yes this process takes a lot longer than just shotgun-emailing a hundred devs to get a hundred rejections. I believe this way of finding people is more natural. Its about making friends, not networking.
I hate networking.
Networking is the worst. Its stale, its plastic, its phony. People want to be friends with those they work with. Its a more natural way to find work and build relationships and community. The game world is small, community is everything.
Once you’ve used email/socials/whatever to build your community, its time to show up in person
This is where advice gets tricky. A lot of time conventions require travel, and now its more expensive than ever to travel. So I want to preface this advice by saying PLEASE DO NOT STRETCH YOUR FINANCES THIN TO DO THIS. There, now that thats out of the way, here’s the advice.
I love to travel, its one of my favorite parts of this job. Once you start to earn an income and run your music as a business (thats a whole different lesson) it becomes much easier to justify travel.
I think PAX is a great starting place. PAX has East (Boston), West (Seattle), and South (Austin). These are centered around indie games and are a lot of fun. I would hold off on bigger cons such as GDC or Gamescom until you feel more established and have developed a larger community.
Conventions are daunting, especially when you’re there in a professional capacity. Here are a few things to consider…
Utilize friendships
Now that you’ve made some connections online its pretty likely you’ll know at least one person going to the same con. Ask in any circles–VGM Alliance is a great place for this–to find a buddy to team up with. Having a friend to pal around with will make the experience less scarier and more enjoyable. When I went to GDC in 2025, I was incredibly nervous, I was going alone. GDC is massive and incredibly daunting. I’m lucky that I've developed relationships in the industry so once I got to GDC, I had a handful of friends I wanted to meet up with. In fact, I owed a few people dinner for helping me out on various projects. Even knowing a few people led me to meeting dozens. Everyone knows someone and you’ll be surprised how quickly you’re meeting and exchanging socials/phone numbers. I wouldn’t bother with business cards.
Events
These conventions are FULL of events. Be it trivia, table top gaming, coffee meet ups, bars, whatever, there are events and parties all over the place. I used to assume these things were invite only, and some are, but others are just free events that you can find on hosting sites like Eventbrite. Its easy enough to search for something that appeals to you and your friends.
Connecting
I HATE NETWORKING. Sorry, I had to say it again. Don’t network, make friends. If you enter these events and spaces with the mindset of networking, its going to be as off-putting as the cold emails bolstering your work. Meet people, become friends, this is the same thing as the email advice. Ask questions, show interest in them and their projects. Don’t just parade around spouting off about how great your music is. Its unnatural. Just be yourself, talk about you interests and hobbies. Were all just people and we all exist beyond our craft and what we can offer. I could be the best composer in the world, but no one will want to work with me if I'm an unbearable person.
Meet people, show up, put yourself out there. Being a composer is a wildly lonely and isolating career. Most of us just sit alone in our work spaces, plugging away. Go meet people, put a face to your name. I cannot see any way how this wouldn’t benefit your life and your career.
