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Game Music Continuing To Gain Recognition

Posted by simoniker on from the bleep-to-orchestras dept.

Thanks to Yahoo/Chicago Tribune for their article charting the continued rise in popularity of videogame music. The piece quotes a music agent as saying: "Record companies are realizing that this is the new radio", and another commentator points out: "Consumers would rather download than pay $15 for a CD, leaving the record industry scrambling for revenue. How do they monetize music? License to video games." However, when it comes to stand-alone game soundtrack CDs, "sales aren't earth-shattering yet", and specific numbers are referenced for the Grand Theft Auto: Vice City soundtrack, of which "...the most popular CD, 'V-Rock,' sold 42,300 copies."

1 of 57 comments (clear)

  1. Sorry, this one with line formatting by Webapprentice · · Score: 0, Redundant

    Remixes and covers are nice and all, but I want to see these bands write original music that could be used in a game. I don't want to keep hearing covers or remixes of existing music. If people continue to do this, they are doing what the RIAA bands are doing right now: re-doing older songs.

    Doing remixes and covers heavily leverages the original composer's creative talent, so "half the work is done for you" in a way. Western game musicians need to practice more with composing game music on their own. They can always use an existing game and write *new* music for it. The Japanese fandom does this, and they produce some spectacular results (for example: http://www.risingsun.net/mushi/index/index.htm)

    Currently, I find the West's approach to game music (Tommy Tollarico, et. al.) to be very different to Japanese approach. The Japanese seem to be able to use a variety of musical styles, while Western composers seem to use fewer styles.