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Video game music

Video game music (VGM) is the soundtrack that accompanies video games. Early video game music was once limited to sounds of early sound chips, such as programmable sound generators (PSG) or FM synthesis chips. These limitations have led to the style of music known as chiptune, which became the sound of the first video games.

This article is about a general overview of video game music. For the style of electronic music associated with older video games, see Chiptune.

With technological advances, video game music has grown to include a wider range of sounds. Players can hear music in video games over a game's title screen, menus, and gameplay.[1] Game soundtracks can also change depending on a player's actions or situation, such as indicating missed actions in rhythm games, informing the player they are in a dangerous situation, or rewarding them for specific achievements.


Video game music can be one of two kinds: original or licensed.[1]


The popularity of video game music has created education and job opportunities, generated awards, and led video game soundtracks to be commercially sold and performed in concerts.[2]

Impact and importance[edit]

Many video game players believe that music can enhance game play and outlets such as Popular Science have stated that it is designed to "simultaneously stimulate your senses and blend into the background of your brain, because that's the point of the soundtrack. It has to engage you, the player, in a task without distracting from it. In fact, the best music would actually direct the listener to the task."[32]


Sound effects within game play are also believed to impact game performance. Ambient sounds such as those present in Resident Evil are seen to enhance the tension felt by players, something that GameSpot stated was also used in cinema.[33] Speeding up the sound effects and music in games such as Space Invaders is also stated to have a strong impact on the gaming experience when done properly.[33] Properly done, this can help create realism within virtuality and alert players to important scenes and information.[34][35]


Music and sound effects can become memorable, enabling people to instantly recognize music or sound effects as well as hum or mimic the tune or sound effect.[36] Polygon has stated that despite the popularity of video game music, people may not always know the name of the composer.[36]

Licensing[edit]

Using licensed music for video games became more popular as the medium used to distribute games grew large enough to accommodate songs alongside a game's other assets. Additionally, with the large growth of the video game market in the 2000s, song licensing became a lucrative route for music rights holders to gain part of that revenue. Games like those in the Grand Theft Auto series became showcases of licensed music.[37] Music licensing is generally complicated due to various copyright laws, typically with at least two separate copyrights to consider: the songwriters' and the performers' contributions. Most large video game developers and publishers who use licensed music typically have staff proficient in licensing to clear songs for use in video games with the various music labels and other creative persons.[37]


Games with licensed music can have problems well past release if perpetual rights for the music are not secured for the game. Early games before the onset of digital distribution would have perpetual right for the music since there was no practical way to update the game following release at retail to deal with curtailed rights. However, digital distribution platforms, like Steam, Xbox Live, and PlayStation Network keep games up-to-date automatically. Music licenses for games sold through digital distribution may include limited terms, requiring the publisher to re-negotiate rights with the music's owner, or otherwise the music must be removed from the game through these updates.[37] Notably, Alan Wake by Remedy Entertainment, first released in 2010, had to be pulled from digital sale in 2017 due to expiring music rights.[38] However, with Microsoft's help, Remedy was able to re-secure these rights a year later and returned the game for sale.[39] Alpha Protocol by Obsidian Entertainment was also pulled from sale in 2019 due to expiring music license rights, though there are no known plans if publisher Sega will seek to renew these.[40]


Licensed music in video games has also affected video game streaming, such as Let's Play videos. Due to the Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), most popular video sharing and streaming sites implement automatic forms of detecting copyrighted music from most music labels, and flag or block user videos that employ that music, such as YouTube's Content ID system. These actions apply equally to videos of people playing video games, flagging the video from the licensed music in the game. To avoid this, games using licensed music may offer a "stream-safe" music option, either disabling the music playback or replacing the licensed music with copyright-free or royalty-free music.[41][42]

Pieces designed to repeat indefinitely, rather than having an arranged ending or fading out (they however create an atmosphere, especially in important scenes of the game. They introduce a philosophical dimension in the game, as they may introduce questioning in the mind of players, in relationship with their next action).

Pieces lacking lyrics and playing over gameplay sounds.

Limited polyphony. Only three notes can be played simultaneously on the Nintendo Entertainment System. A great deal of effort was put into composition to create the illusion of more notes playing at once.

Many games for the Nintendo Entertainment System and other early game consoles feature a similar style of musical composition that is sometimes described as the "video game genre." Some aspects of this style continue to influence certain music today, though gamers do not associate many modern game soundtracks with the older style. The genre's compositional elements largely developed due to technological restraints, while also being influenced by electronic music bands, particularly Yellow Magic Orchestra (YMO), who were popular during the late 1970s to 1980s.[43] YMO sampled sounds from several classic arcade games in their early albums, most notably Space Invaders in the 1978 hit song "Computer Game".[44] In turn, the band would have a major influence on much of the video game music produced during the 8-bit and 16-bit eras.[43]


Features of the video game music genre include:


Although the tones featured in NES music can be thought of as emulating a traditional four-piece rock band (triangle wave used as a bass, two pulse waves analogous to two guitars, and a white noise channel used for drums), composers would often go out of their way to compose complex and rapid sequences of notes, in part due to the restrictions mentioned above.[45][46][47] This is similar to music composition during the Baroque period, when composers, particularly when creating solo pieces, focused on musical embellishments to compensate for instruments such as the harpsichord that do not allow for expressive dynamics. For the same reason, many early compositions also feature a distinct jazz influence. These would overlap with later influences from heavy metal and J-pop music, resulting in an equally distinct compositional style in the 16-bit era.


In an unrelated but parallel course in the European and North American developer scene, similar limitations were driving the musical style of home computer games. Module file format music, particularly MOD, used similar techniques but was more heavily influenced by the electronic music scene as it developed, and resulted in another very distinct subgenre. Demos and the developing demoscene played a big part in the early years, and still influence video game music today.


As technological limitations gradually lifted, composers were given more freedom and, with the advent of CD-ROM, pre-recorded soundtracks came to dominate, resulting in a noticeable shift in composition and voicing style.[48] Popular early CD-ROM titles were released with high-resolution graphics and recorded music. Since the audio was not reliant on a sound-card's synthesis, CD-ROM technology ensured that composers and sound designers could know what audio would sound like on most consumer configurations and could also record sound effects, live instruments, vocals, and in-game dialogue.[49]

Fan culture[edit]

Video game fans have created their own fan sites "dedicated to the appreciation and promotion of video game music", such as OverClocked ReMix.[135]


Fans also make their own song remixes and compilations, like insaneintherainmusic, and have built online remixing communities through the ease of internet distribution.[5]


The Japanese dōjin music scene is notable for producing albums of arranged videogame music which derived from popular retro franchises such as Mega Man, Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy,[136] from dōjin games, such as Touhou Project, studio Key visual novels and When They Cry series, from popular franchises on Comiket, such as Type-Moon's Fate series or Kantai Collection.[137] There have been over six thousand dōjin albums of Touhou Project music released.[138]

Circuit bending

Game rip (audio)

IEZA Framework

List of video game musicians

List of video game soundtracks released on vinyl

List of video game soundtracks considered the best

Ludomusicology

MAGFest

Music video game

OverClocked ReMix

VGMusic.com

Video Games Live

Video Game Music and Anime Soundtrack Database | VGMdb

VGMdb

Academic articles on video game sound and music

GamesSound.com

2001 article on video game music, orig. published in In Magazine

Early Video Game Soundtracks

at Tracksounds

High Score: The New Era of Video Game Music

All Things Considered, April 12, 2008

"The Evolution of Video Game Music"

at uvlist.net

List of games with non-original music

Website studying pretty and ugly game music and sound.

Pretty Ugly Gamesound Study

Resources for design of game sound and music.

CaptivatingSound.com

PhD thesis about game audio and immersion.

Audio and Immersion

Red Bull Music Academy.

Diggin' in the Carts: A Documentary Series About Japanese Video Game Music