The Sims has various activities players can undertake, including writing songs. Whether players want to build a murder basement, own a house, or become famous, they can live out any fantasy they imagine. One of the fantasies available in The Sims 4 for the musically challenged is writing music and sharing it throughout the virtual world. All players need is a talented Sim able to devote a lot of in-game hours.
Unless players want to send their untrained Sim into public and play horrendous music on par with the goriest Sims 4 torture mods, musically inclined characters should be paired with a particular instrument and devote their practice time to it. Writing songs is only available at skill level 8 for a particular instrument. For example, a Sim can have level 8 for the piano skill, but it doesn't translate to playing the guitar. Players must download expansions or mods if they wish to sing or write music for anything outside the guitar, piano, or violin.
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Writing Music and Making Money in The Sims 4
Once a Sim has level 8 in guitar, piano, or violin, players must send the Sim to their instrument and choose the new "Write Song" option. They'll be presented with various genre options, like "a plucky tune" or "a mournful lament," the latter of which would be thematically appropriate if the Sim is in love with Sims 4's the Grim Reaper. The higher a Sim's skill, the more options they have in writing music. Songwriting takes about twelve hours in-game, so Sims likely won't be able to finish the song in one sitting unless the player takes care of all their needs right before they begin and play until they can't hold off on those needs anymore. Players can pause writing and return to the song by accessing the song's sheet music. Writing only one song at a time is best to prevent issues.
Once the Sim is finished, players can name their new song and add it to the roster of playable songs. For Sims, who see music as a hobby, this is more than enough. However, if players want to give their Sim another source of income (and would instead not become a marriage & divorce speedrunner in The Sims 4), they'll have to license the song. This option unlocks with skill level 9. Players must send their Sim to their mailbox, choose the "License Song" option, and navigate to the instrument and song of their choice. Royalty payments will arrive at 10 AM every morning, ranging from a hundred to a thousand Simoleons. Sims can only license one song a week, so they can pace themselves in the writing process and enjoy the extra income.
There are a lot of mods, cheats, and expansions players can utilize to expand their songwriting experience. The Get Famous expansion, while not one of the best expansions to The Sims 4, allows Sims to become a celebrity. Licensing their music can make them famous. Sims can also sing with the City Living expansion. If players would rather not spend extra cash on a few additional mechanics, writing songs in the base game of The Sims 4 is still an enjoyable experience.
One of the most fun skills you can work on in the The Sims 4 is the different types of music skills. You can learn how to play the guitar, piano, violin, and even the organ.
A great way to make money with these musical skills is to write songs and then license them to earn a bit of a side income. You may be in the entertainer career and want to earn a bit of side income, or just have a sim who has a passion for music. Either way, you can write songs and license songs in the game.
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How to Write Songs
Before you are able to write a song you must read level 8 of the musical skill you are trying to write a song with. So, if you want to write a song on the guitar you’ll need to reach level 8 of the guitar skill.
Once you’ve reached level 8 you can click on the guitar and choose to write song and you’ll have an option or two, as you get to level 9 or 10 you’ll get to have other options available.
It’s going to take you around 12 sim hours total to write a song, so you won’t be able to finish the entire thing in one sitting.
The most important thing I can tell you is that if you start a song and stop in the middle, do not start writing a new one by clicking on the instrument. You will have sheet music in your inventory and you want to continue writing the song by clicking on this object in your sim’s inventory.
How to License Songs
Once you’ve written a song in The Sims 4 you need to license those songs to make money. You are only able to license one song a week per instrument.
If you want to make the most money from licensing songs you’ll want your sims to be talented in more than one instrument, so you can license one song per instrument.
To be able to license a song you are going to need to be at level 9 of the skill you want to license. This is fine because you have to get 8 to write the song and will gain the skill while writing that song anyway so you’ll probably be there anyway.
To license the song you’ll just need to click on a mailbox and choose license and choose the song you wish to sell.
Once you’ve licensed a song you’ll get a royalty payment every morning at 10 am. These payments are going to be anywhere from 100 to 1000 simoleons per day.
Final Thoughts
Musical skills in The Sims 4 are some of my favourites because its fun to watch a sim get better at a certain skill and start playing poorly but eventually be a superstar. You can write songs and make money from them and become RICH, happy playing!