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EA To Sell Game Music on iTunes
J. Charles Holt writes "Electronic Arts has announced that they're going to start releasing themes to popular computer games on online sources such as iTunes." From the article: "Those who doubt the hit potential of video game theme songs probably haven't seen Billboard's Hot Ringtones chart lately, where Koji Kondo has sat right near the top for 55 weeks. Who's Koji Kondo? He composed the theme for 'Super Mario Bros.,' which ranks this week right between the Black Eyed Peas and Bow Wow featuring Ciara."
I sell it on eMule, for free.
After all, most of us probably bought the game, which means you bought the Music License along with the game.
My cartridge was defective and apart, but Nintendo wouldn't send me a replacement. However, I still retain the rights to the music and provide this music to others who are in the same situation.
Please do not download any music which you do not own. Thank you.
I wonder if I could use this crackpot strategy with audio tapes. My Metallica tapes are also defective, and stopped playing after a few years. I still retain the license, right?
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I personally wouldn't go buying it twice though. Many games have it in an ordinary directory in mp3 or ogg format, ripe for fair use. Others embed it into libraries or executables, which require some third party tool to extract (if at all). My feeling is that if I buy a game fair and square I should be able to pull the music out.
Isn't the music in EA games usually just random popular songs? Aren't those already on itunes?
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There was a game company a while ago called The Logic Factory that had released a turn based strategy game called Ascendancy, and followed with a rather artistic RTS called The Tone Rebellion. When I purchased Tone Rebellion, I received the game soundtrack free of charge, since I had registered my copy of Ascendancy.
Having never owned a game soundtrack before, my original thought was, "Wow, that's useless." This soundtrack, however, turned out to be one of the best relaxation/study CD's that I have. While Tone was rather unique at the time for having so much effort being put into the musical score, many game makers spend a great deal of time and money to create good (and sometimes excellent) music to go with the game. I know I've owned more than one game that I wished I had the soundtrack. This sounds like it's really worth checking out.
If the front cover player is cursed, shouldn't the music artist be too?
But the question is, how will this affect the online remix community, (ocremix.org, vgmix.com, etc)?
DYWYPI?
While this is cool in one way - it will encourage game makers to put great music into their games - it also gives bigger publishers another advantage.
There was a time when you just needed an idea and programming skills to make a game. Now you need lots of specialists to make all the sounds and graphics competitive, or your gameplay will never see the light of day.
Soon, companies may say, "that's a great game idea, but can we make money from the soundtrack spinoff?" Hiring a top-notch composer will be another must-have in the large budget.
Wha....? That's what they call "old school"? Try going back to the C64/Amiga days when there was some really fantastic music out there. Musicians/composers pushed the envelopes with what they could do because they had to get the most out of limited, music voices (three fore the C64 and six for the Amiga, I believe). I'd love to hear modern versions of the themes from Skate or Die and M.U.L.E., both coincidentally from Electronic Arts.
Companies like EA and Activistion really should look at remastering some of their REAL "old school" music. I'd love to hear so many soundtracks for my old C64 games in a modern accompanyment while staying 100% true to the old sound, like what a lot of C64 remixers have done.
My list (at least those that I can think of right off the bat)...
Hell, there are a number of old game songs I'd like to hear remastered, licensing and approval by the original composers notwithstanding.
The idea that Command and Conquer is old school while ignoring classics like Skare or Die is almost insulting. It would also be a nice tribute for EA and other companies to the real "old school" gaming that set the foundation for where these game companies are today.
* Such a CD was released in the early 1990s, but good luck finding it any more. It contained from really great music by Mark Seibert, who composed the music for the King's Quest series, Police Quest series, and others.
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Soundtrack to Planescape: Torment
It would only figure others would follow once people say there was a market.
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Now I can finally get that soundtrack to Blades of Steel! I've been waiting for 17 years now...
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What ou fail to realize is that the *reason* Japanese videogame music sells so well is that... wait for it... IT'S GOOD MUSIC.
That's right. Square and Nintendo hire people called COMPOSERS that WORK on making MUSIC for GAMES. They are talented people whose life work is making beautiful, catchy, haunting melodies for your gaming pleasure.
While it might be nice to think you can make a fast buck by shoveling crappy soundtracks on iTunes, don't expect anyone to pay for it. Garbage in, garbage out.
lesson over
I'm sure I saw a couple of EA Soundtrack albums on iTunes Music Store (UK) a couple of months ago (at about the time I noticed that iTMS UK had the various Final Fantasy OSTs as well, nice that it isn't some sort of US-only deal). Although they may have been some sort of early releases before the mail bulk or something.
I think it's great that they're releasing them, pity I haven't played any EA games in a while so have no interest in actually buying them. Now the second Halo 2 sountrack would be nice when it turns up (if only they weren't padded out with crappy "music inspired by" stuff, goddamm it I'm buying it for the games music, not random crappy music).
Plus I won't buy full albums as downloads, I'd rather spend the extra money and have the real CDs.
10 PRINT "LOOK AROUND YOU ";
20 GOTO 10
Koji Kondo composed the music for The Legend of Zelda: A Link to the Past.
I freely admit it. I have a digital music player filled with video game music. As a friend once said to be "you lose on a new level". I'm happy with it though. Super Mario, Sonic, Final Fantasy etc.. etc, etc. I've got a few modern game soundtracks on there as well. Much of the music was ripped from CD and ROM titles and decoded and then encoded by myself at great time and expense.
I consider the whole collection to be 100% legitimate. Both on the grounds that I own, or have owned, all the games in question; I ripped the music myself for completely personal use from legitimate CDs and ROMs (absolutely did not upload to P2P networks), and lastly for the fact that the music itself was essentially not for sale at any price anywhere in my market.
What I'm wondering now is, as Satan's incarnation on this Earth, EA Games, has decided that there are enough geeks like me innocently enjoying this music, and hence we should all start paying for it; has my entire collection suddenly gone from legal to illegal in the blink of an eye?
Is there no safe refuge from the money gougers anymore? If enough people begin enjoying something will companies like EA force us to pay for it? Wither Fair Use?
May the Maths Be with you!
The best video game soundtrack was in rock n roll racing for the snes. Any time ozzy is on the soundtrack is a good thing.
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Is this going to include the music that was created with EA's Music Construction Set?
Be a real patriot: Question authority. Think for yourself. Formulate your own conclusions.
http://www.vgmix.com/ http://remix.overclocked.org/ The two best VG remix sites I know. Much better than the OSTs, mostly because you've heard those variations a million times already.
Though I both disagree with reject the concept of licensing, it does not grant what you want.
For pretty much all media, you purchase permission to use <i>that physical copy</i> of the content. It can be revoked for violation of the liscence agreement (pirating, copying it to an ipod, listening to a competitor's CDs, etc). Actually, you're not supposed to be allowed to listen to the CD anymore if you break anything in the EULA, and that's probably on the RIAA/MPAA's todo list.
While this sounds cool to me.. what games has EA done that I'd care about the music from?
Combination - fun iPhone puzzling
As long as its not Madden rapping!
*Un-Un-Un-Unbelievable*
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For those who love the music from the Sierra On-Line games, Quest Studios has songs in midi, mp3 and ogg format, as well as whole soundtrack files in midi format.
Just because you own a movie it does NOT give you the right to remove the soundtrack, place it on a CD and listen to it.
You ARE ripping off artists when you do because they ARE paid on a different scale between ingame/inmovie and out of game/movie CDs
(* the difference being the music didn't necessarily sell the game/movie but the music DID 100% sell the CD)
As far as remixers go, in "most" cases if they are mearly using the composition and not the original they can apply to the composer for a compulsory license and pay royalties as fit
(they are actually quite resonable rates usually and this HAS been done before by mear fans...)
See Project Majestic Mix
Absolutely nothing can top the minimalist jazz in Pong.
... ... ... boop
... ... boo-beep
... ... ... boop
... bee ... beep ... ... boop
...
Beep
boo
And the music was generated through gameplay - a concept WAY AHEAD of it's time.
Oh, yeah! I can dig it!
This is not my sig.
Hiring a top-notch composer will be another must-have in the large budget.
Such things already are happening, prime example being Need for Speed : Most Wanted, which hired the composer who made scores for movies such as Gone in 60 seconds and Bad Boys II.