[djray]

The standard for game music contractors is to get paid for minutes of music which are used in the game or in promotional material. Rejected material should not be used at all, which is one of the main issues here (id used more than double the amount of music that they accepted and paid for).

Mick had been a contractor for Bethesda previously and hadn't experienced these issues, so I don't think it's fair to blame him for approaching a new project in good faith.

From his essay, it seems that Marty Stratton was the main actor in all the issues. The rest of id and Bethesda seem to have acted reasonably, only circling the wagons when legal got involved.

[tweetle_beetle]

If Mick's account is to be believed then he has definitely been treated poorly and Marty sounds like the client from hell (and summoning an internet mob is awful behaviour). However, I couldn't help feel when reading it that he was consistently naive in not looking out for himself, which is surprising for someone with experience.

He had already worked with the same company, already experienced pay issues, already knew the planned deliverables were nonsensical, worked months without pay, took on additional project without a contract, then signed a contract without reviewing it with a professional, didn't escalate to higher powers sooner, etc. None of this is easy and can cause stress, but they're standard problems that all freelancers have to deal with. Part of being a freelancer is getting paid more to deal with these bad bits. It's not for everyone, including me.

[toyg]

> he was consistently naive in not looking out for himself, which is surprising for someone with experience

He was obviously very keen to continue being associated with the franchise, either out of love or professional interest. Waiting 2 years in silence while a counterpart slandered him on the web and lawyers played hide and seek, shows a lot of patience; continuing to propose to work on the OST project, even after all this, seems to indicate he really cared about it.

Love can blind us all.

[mjrpes]

It seems the main issue in the development process was they did not timely and adequately provide Mick with the content of the game levels so he could create music that matched the context/theme. He was often forced to make music purely on speculation, a lot of which got "dropped" (but then included without paying him). And apparently the developer can continually request revisions, unconditionally, until they get the desired product they want. This sounds like a system skewed toward the developer and ripe for abuse.