EA games launched their new sister site EA Trax, home to all their video game soundtracks. Reading about this I found it interesting that music involved in video games have recently surpassed that of the movie industry in exposure.
Now I know the game industry is a big market but will we really discover new talent through video games or is it just another way for EA to make another buck? If you think about it, you've already paid for the music if you own the video game. Anyway, most of the songs are linked to iTunes so maybe this is all some partnership between EA and Apple. Will we see some of this cooperation spill over into other Apple product lines? EA games on Apple iPhone perhaps?
all i know is that the swim-levels of donkey kong country had the all-time best trance... better than sven vath even... i used to go to that level and just leave it paused with the melody playing.
i wish i could download that track.
I got to meet Alex Hackford as part of a class-- the dude who is head of A&R for SCEA, so I don't know how much of this applies to EA. As he put it, his job is to maximize revenue from a musical standpoint. But at the same time, he takes most satisfaction from finding genuinely fresh, classy, underground talent and putting their undiscovered sound into a game. A number of garage bands have gotten a breakthrough because he heard their stuff and signed them as part of a game's soundtrack.
I don't think EA Trax will be a great hit-- a lot of the songs I've heard in their games strike me as tone-deaf to what the game is about, like an old guy shouting "EXTREME" in an effort to get me to like what he's selling. That said, I think it's a savvy way to make some extra cash for essentially offering a list of songs on iTunes.
Further, it doesn't strike me as odd two buy music "twice" like this. After all, you'd buy a movie soundtrack or score separately, wouldn't you?
The videogame music industry has the potential to be huge. Tony Hawk, Grand Theft Auto, and EA's Madden series all have dedicated sound people picking out tracks that players will be listening to for hours at a time. That exposure is going to have an impact on players, and that impact is going to mean sales. If it's already tied to your iTunes account and your credit card, it's going to be hard to say no to a second purchase.