Hi all, I'd be very grateful for some advice if you can spare the time.
I'm a professional composer - just to give you an idea of the level I'm working at (I'm not attempting self-promotion here!) I've done a little TV, short films, a commercial for a major mobile phone company, theatre music, soundtracks for contemporary dance and production music for the likes of EMI/KPM, Immediate Music, Cavendish and Abaco. These soundtracks include live symphonic orchestral scores, recording in London, Prague and Budapest and mixing and mastering at Abbey Road.
Following a day at the Games Music Connect conference, it's dawned on me that I'd really love to compose for games, and that my music and way of working is also very much suited to it.
Problem is I have hardly any contacts in the world of gaming (having just written for one iOS game a couple of years back) and haven't played games (for time reasons, not motivation!) for about 10 years.
I'm too busy to justify starting at the bottom of the ladder, writing for peanuts to get established, but at the same time I have no illusions that I'll be writing for AAA titles with little prior games music experience.
So I need to present my showreel to companies working at a decent level, but probably not wasting my time with sending my showreel to Sony until I have a few good games under my belt!
Question is, how do I know which companies to approach - ones that will have a reasonable budget for music?
And secondly - would a plane ticket to GDC next year be worth the cost and time (I'm based in London)? Can you suggest any other ways I can meet suitable developers?
If it helps to know what my music sounds like, search for me (Jamie Salisbury) on Soundcloud and listen to "Endworlds Showreel" (didn't want to link directly as I wasn't sure about the rules on self-promotion here).
Any advice would be really appreciated!
Thanks
Jamie