Have your MIDI music featured in a video game! Looking for composers!

Hello, my name is Kevin Fields, and I head up the Music Replacement Project for the popular open-source video game OpenTTD, //openttd.org/ . My goal is to create new and interesting music sets which can be freely distributed with the game, and to that end I am constantly looking for new works to add.

For some background information, OpenTTD is an open-source recreation of the classic Microprose video game Transport Tycoon by Chris Sawyer. Transport Tycoon featured original jazz compositions by award-winning composer John Broomhall. While many fans love and appreciate the music, because it is copyrighted we were not able to distribute the music with the game. I, along with others in the OpenTTD community, started the Music Replacement Project in order to create a set of music that we could distribute freely. That resulted in OpenMSX , which features MIDI music created mostly by fans and players of the game, as well as a few outside sources who wanted to contribute.

Our project did not end there, though. Since then we have released several other sets with themes:

• Scott Joplin Anthology : a tribute to "the King of Ragtime" music featuring 30 of his best works.
• Traditional Winter Holiday Music : classic and traditional folk music from the various winter holiday traditions.
• Modern Motion : music featuring modern-style jazz, rock and pop sounds withty original compositions from Kit "Monochrome" F, George E. Martin, Bjorn Lynne and Brian Dill.

We are always looking for new work to feature and distribute. With nearly half a million in-game downloads, our music sets are some of the most popular content downloaded by players.

We have no restrictions on the style of composition, all submissions will be considered. Future sets may be centered around certain themes, or just may be a loose collaboration of nice music. The only requirements that we do have are:

• We ask that songs be at least two minutes long, but not longer than five (exceptions may be considered)
• All songs must be composed in the General MIDI format (no MP3, MP4, FLAC, or other formats), as this is the only format the video game can play and not depend on specific sound fonts.
• We are looking for complex, multi-instrument polyphonic compositions. Many people criticize MIDI music because many amateurs use only one or two instruments (a guitar, a horn, a violin) and creates a stereotypical "computer music" sound. As you can hear in the song packs listed, our songs are from composers who work hard to create beautiful pieces of work.

LICENSING AND DISTRIBUTION: Our preferred license is to use the Gnu Public License (GPL v2) for the most simple, direct way to distribute the music. You retain full copyright and control of the music, but it allows others to freely download and distribute the music, and for it to be made available in various archives or repositories. It doesn't allow for other individuals to remix your music or take any credit for it. We may consider other licenses to distribute your music by, at your request, but it will limit our distribution and where we can upload the files.

COPYRIGHT: Due to the various states of copyright around the world, we must do our best to honor and respect copyright law. In general:

• Any original song, score or sheet music that you created may be accepted, under a license that is mutually agreeable to all parties.
• Any song, score or sheet music created before 1923 is considered public domain, and may be used as long you compose the MIDI file yourself and have not used somebody else's work.
• Any song, score or sheet music created in 1923 or after is generally considered covered by copyright, and not set to start expiring until 2018 at the earliest. For this reason most commercial music during this time period cannot be used except if: a) the song has been explicitly declared as being released into the Public Domain by its copyright holder (not necessary the composer or songwriter), or b) you hold a license that explicitly allows you to distribute a copyrighted work.

ARE YOU READY TO GET STARTED? Please contact me via e-mail (kamnet@gmail.com) or register on the OpenTTD forums at //tt-forums.net/ and send me a PM (kamnet). I look forward to hearing from you!