Gaming Music Goes Mainstream
Steve writes "CNN has posted an article about the emergence of a big business in video game music. According to the author, budgets for one game recently surpassed $300,000, with composers being paid between $700 and $1500 per minute of composition, even more 'if it's produced for an orchestra.' The article points out that the production quality of game music has surpassed that of television, where money is rarely budgeted for high-quality soundscapes."
This is just another way direction in which game budgets are inflating, pushing out smaller developers/publishers/etc. who can't afford huge music budgets and the detailed development of thousand gigabyte player meshes.