Reusing famous old game music. Original remixes

[nazgul]

Is it better to use the free music that is out there? I won't necessary follow the advice given in this thread but I thought the discussion could be beneficial. Personally I am having a lot of difficulty finalizing some of the music to be used in my game. For a very long time I planned to use the battle music from Final Fantasy 4. But I found some ripping tracks with free license that sound very good. However as the game is highly highly inspired directly from FF4 and as it was the original plan, I wonder which music would be better.

What do you think? Would hearing music from another game drive you crazy or make you nostalgic, how would you feel? If you connected the obvious game mechanics in unison with those classic battle riffs would it make a difference? When answering please specify if you ever owned and seriously loved an SNES game console. Thanks so much.

Edited
Let me ask one more question: What about using the music for a specific fight as more of an easter egg/tribute then a main theme of the game? Honestly this seems the grayest and most taboo area around making games not suggesting anything trying to educate myself.

 

[Shaz]

Nobody here should be telling you to use ripped music.  I don't think it's a good idea anyway - your game is YOUR game, not theirs, so why use their music?  Figure out what is it about the music that triggers those feelings/memories, and see if you can find other tracks that ARE available for use that have the same features.

 

[nazgul]

It can be simply a different original rendition @shaz: there are several examples of this on theses same forums: What is original about Inuyasha and or Mario sprites how is music different? Should I have specified remakes of the ff4 music? To be clear I am not talking about ripping resources from games and using it in your game.  I am thinking in terms of the same sense as the games below, in honoring something you enjoy and making a game around it.








Don't get me wrong, the free licensed music is frickn amazing! I could easily use that. Its just I wanted to shout out to ff4 you know for giving me so much inspiration.

 

[Alvonso]

i love SNES and FF ofcourse, but i feel sick when some one use a some music from FF or any SNES as BGM for any other game or movie. That will change the feel about that music dude. I advice you use an original music or at least exclusive music to ur game, so .. if your game become great and popular some day and hear some music from your game , they will say, "hey, that's the -insert your game title here- music"

 

[NeoFantasy]

Well if the game was related (as in a fan made sequel etc) I think it would fit properly, but that doesn't mean you can use it. I'd recommend finding something else as you'd probably get a not-so-nice letter from square followed by a rather hefty fine. Like you said there is a ton of royalty free music out there and I would reccomend using some of those instead of using music from another game and if you really want it to sound like classic ff you can always make a request for it. (might I suggest clydous's power of the hour?) Either way using music from another game is bound to get you in trouble and I'd reccomend agaisnt it.

 

[Shaz]

I just read this and assumed you meant ripped tracks:

[COLOR= rgb(39, 42, 52)]I found some ripping tracks with free license that sound very good[/COLOR]

 

[Sharm]

Isn't the term "original remixes" oxymoronic? If it's a remix, it's not original and the composer still has copyright on the composition.

 

[Ms Littlefish]

Personally, I'd shut the game off. I find it obnoxious. All a ham-handed"tribute" will accomplish is love for the game you're using property from, not your game. We shouldn't let the art of subtlety die.

 

[Scythuz]

All that hearing FF4's music in your game would do is make me want to play FF4 instead, even if your game was better than FF4.  For the easter egg, why not go for something more subtle?

 

[nazgul]

Wow some great points I didnt even think of. Well I am actually leaning almost 100% on some custom music. I thought it might be fun but it seems a bit to much of a headache. I also want to honor the game not steal from it.

@Sharm What I meant by Original remix is a remake of the original work trying to emulate the exact same thing just with your own instruments, effects, samples etc.. Like if a composer used sheet music and play Beethoven's work it's still Beethoven but it is original no? Perhaps original is the wrong word here.

Actually its feeling great planning all custom music. I hope it works out well!

 

[Ms Littlefish]

It would become an arrangement but the rights still belong to the composer/copyright holder. Beethoven's compositions are public domain, FF4 is not. When an orchestra records that Beethoven work they own the performance of the song, but not the actual composition.