Dev Diary, December 30th, 2022 (Patreon)

It's the last post of the year, and this time I'll tell you a bit about getting music for the new game. It's more informational and meant for other AVN developers and those who wonder what's going on. Jump to the end to skip it.

Music Licensing

In all of December, I've been having talks with Premiumbeat about using their song library in my next game, u4ia, as I really wanted to get this expense on this year's budget.

I read through their terms and conditions and there was nothing there about adult content. So I contacted Premiumbeat and asked directly, telling them what my game was about. They confirmed I was ok to use their music in my game.

Though their license only cover 1,000 downloads which isn't enough, and they sent me over to their 'enterprise license' seller.

I went through the whole talk with this new guy once more, and he also confirmed that I could use the music for my game without breaking any terms. In the end, we agreed on a fixed price for 75 songs.

Later he sends me the contract for signing, and there's the usual yadayada - agree to conditions and so forth. However, I notice that the link to the terms is not the same as Premiumbeat. Instead, it's Shutterstock's terms and conditions. I also notice that the enterprise edition seller isn't from Premiumbeat at all, but Shutterstock (who ultimately owns Premiumbeat).

So I checked the terms (and the link was not clickable, I had to type the whole address into the address bar), where it states it can clearly not be used for pornographic use.

There was more back and forth between me and the seller, and at long last, I get confirmation from the Shutterstock legal department where they say it was up to me to define if my content is pornographic or not.

The legal definition of porn is "The representation in books, magazines, photographs, films, and other media of scenes of sexual behavior that are erotic or lewd and are designed to arouse sexual interest". While vague and open to interpretation or claims that the sex scenes serve the story, it further states the following: "ultimate sex acts" and "masturbation, excretory functions, and lewd exhibition of the genitals."

In other words, my games are clearly porn pr. legal definition. So is almost every other adult visual novel out there.

As a word of warning to anyone using (or planning to use) Premiumbeat, their content can not be used for adult visual novels/games. Although Premiumbeat's license terms do not have a porn clause, the enterprise edition at Shutterstock has, which would be the only viable license to use for a game. I am choosing to tell you all this because I know a lot of games use Premiumbeat for their game(s), all the way up to the highest-grossing games.

It's a whole lot of time lost discussing with a seller who is more eager to sell in order to gain his provision than actually stating facts. Much like buying a car, and the seller only answers your questions with what you want to hear.

In the end, it's back to square one on the music part, but this time I'll do the same as I did for Leap of Faith and contact every musician individually. It's more work, but the result is a more diverse and professional soundtrack.

Happy New Year!

Once again I have to give you all a thank you for supporting me while making this. If you hadn't, Leap of Faith wouldn't even be finished yet. Yesterday was also my very last day at my day job, and I am now doing this full-time.

Next week I'll be back to normal updates with render numbers and some specifics about what u4ia is all about - what you can expect from it when it comes to story and content.

Thank you for 2022, and I can't wait to show you what I got in store for you for 2023.

Take care, and stay safe out there. 

// Drifty