If you’ve ever sat down and played a video game for any length of time, you’ve probably been subjected to the soundtracks featured on them. It doesn’t matter what genre the game is or what audience it’s geared toward, music of all types can be found in most of today’s video games. The direct effect these games have on the music industry is profound. Up and coming artists all want their music featured in the latest game soundtracks because it gives them a massive amount of exposure to people who might not have listened to them otherwise.
Popular video games with even more popular music soundtracks include the Grand Theft Auto franchise and Guitar Hero. While the latter is entirely made up of music because of its genre, Grand Theft Auto is a different story. There seems to be nothing better than being able to go on exciting, dangerous missions throughout the game while listening to a cool song in the background. Grand Theft Auto: Vice City’s soundtrack consists of mostly one-hit wonders from the 1980s, but they’re catchy and fit well with the theme of the game nonetheless. A younger audience who have played the game might be too young to know what any of the songs are because they weren’t alive to enjoy them, but it gives has been artists a hint of exposure through a simple video game. Each game in the franchise includes music from different decades, spanning from the 80s to today’s hottest hits.
The smartest thing an artist can do to get their music out there if they want to become successful is to agree to allow game developers to put their music in a game, especially if it will be included within a popular franchise. Back when games and their consoles weren’t as accessible to everyone, mostly when they were slowly being released for the first time, developers would hire composers to make music for their games. In today’s generation, that is not as marketable or realistic, and composers have had to take a back seat since most people want to hear lyrics as opposed to a melody alone.
Artem Galitsyn and Nikolay Sivkov are the main composers of the popular match-3 puzzle game: Gardenscapes. Released in 2012, the soundtrack has been well loved by many who play the game. The theme song has also attracted many others who do not play this game into playing it! Archibaldi Studio has also created the soundtracks for many other popular video games! Talk about music-influence!
Even though composers aren’t as popular of a choice to use in this day and age, there are several games who still rely heavily on notes instead of lyrics. An example of this would be the Kingdom Hearts series, a popular game series produced by Square Enix. That game’s melodies fit with the theme and allows you to know what type of situation you might find yourself in, whether it be suspenseful or a huge plot line change. Resident Evil is another example. While a song with lyrics might prove to be beneficial in some instances, the score is what makes the game. The haunting sounds have you on the edge of your seat, waiting to see what might happen next to your characters.
So, yes, the music industry has benefited a great deal because of video games. Without them, one might even say that some artists might not have gained the momentum and exposure they needed to further their careers.