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"Porno needs your sensitivity," writes Andy Prieboy, a rocker who fell on such hard times that he started writing porn soundtracks. "It needs you, the hapless, idealistic boob songwriter who will serve the muse no matter what." (Bikini 4/99, p. 93)

If you're working low budget porno, says Prieboy, the director "hands you the script and says: Gimme three fast n' funky, one slow n' moody, and somethin' Kenny G for the lesbo scene." Five pieces, five minutes long, loop each piece end to end.

Prieboy and his partner Paul Roessler worked for only two directors: "Ernest Greene was excellent and cared very much about his work. Toby Dammit was so bad we couldn't resist."

Brany Alexandre is quoted on the www.rame.net FAQ about porn music composers: "It's usually friends of people in the industry that have a keyboard and stuff. They get probably $300 and the music is used over and over and over (and most of the time doesn't even suit the scene.) John Stagliano and I have another person we like to use who will originally score the video. He costs a lot but I think it's worth it. We have re-used the music from time to time but only bits and pieces and we give him a few dollars more."

Tim Evanson writes: "Costello Presley, a mainstay in the gay porn arena, once did an interview in MANSHOTS magazine that proved highly instructive. Presley, a long-time LA studio musician, noted that most composers get about $250 per film because the director knows that the score will probably only be a rehash of themes and music heard previously in other porn films. Top-notch studios will pay more, say $500, if they have a guarantee of a totally new composition. But Presley noted that the reason why most starving artists do gay porn is that they are beginners who fiddle with themes and music and beats, and their experiments litter gay porn.

"It should be pointed out that most composers are keyboardists; full bands need not apply. Composers should not think that they are indispensable; producers are perfectly willing to dump a composer and just rip off some techno music."

Sources:

1. www.rame.net FAQ.

2. Andy Prieboy. "I like to Score." Bikini, April, 1999. pp. 92-93.