Two of the biggest entertainment industries are the gaming and the music industry. While music industry revenue increased over the past few years, on the top, we have the gaming industry. What most people failed to notice is how closely related both of the industries are. For instance, most of the modern games feature songs from many well-known artists. People feel a personal and emotional bond with games for their gameplay and their music.
Gaming also helped “gamers” discover new music and gave them a personality. Countries like India already somewhat dominate most of the countries in the music industry, but recently they have been tapping into the gaming industry. This article will try to cover everything that the gaming industry and music industry have in common and how close they are while working together.
How Gaming Can Help People Discover New Music
The music industry helped video games thrive on a whole new level. Some big names in the music industry collaborated and worked with massively popular video games like Grand Theft Auto, FIFA, Need for Speed and Madden NFL, etc. In the early days, games like Wipeout, Tony Hawk’s Pro Skater, and Grand Theft Auto started gaining popularity because of their gameplay and soundtracks. Ultimately, this became the new pathway for many gamers to discover new bands and even try out a whole new genre.
Gaming’s place in music discovery
Video games have become an essential part of marketing plans for music artists and managers. The FIFA games are widely popular worldwide and comprise songs by well-known artists and even unknown artists. It has become the annual showcase for artists all around the world. The Worldwide Executive and President of Music for Electronic Arts (EA) Steve Schnur quoted, “We often begin working on a soundtrack almost a year in advance, trying to identify new music we believe will define the sound of the coming season.” He also mentioned how FIFA songs have listened to nearly 1 billion times, and no medium in the history of recorded music can deliver such massive and instantaneous global exposure.
Why the gaming industry future growth independent on china and India’s middle class
Even before North America, the Asia Pacific region was the home to e-sports, and it got more reach than all other areas. Two giants from the Asia Pacific are India and China. Both countries have multiple streaming platforms. According to Entrepreneur Asia Pacific, the global video game industry generated $138 billion in revenue in 2018. China and India managed to show double-digit revenue growth, according to NewZoo. After the 5G internet, China and India will have millions of more people to touch the global gaming ecosystem and the community.
“Gamer” Music Tastes
In 2019, Marshmello took the stage for the most significant moment in Fortnite’s history. Over 10 million people watched the virtual performance. But now the question comes, what music do gamers listen to? Well, it depends, and it is very diverse. From dubstep, Lo-Fi, sound-cloud rap, or even metal, the possibility is unknown.
What do gamers listen to?
Even though going through every gamer’s music taste is impossible, we can go through some community playlist and analyze it. According to Chart Metric, Spotify holds 44 playlists that are associated with gaming. At the top, we have the playlist called “Top Gaming Tracks,” with 1.48 million+ followers. It is also the 139th most followed spot on the platform, only behind “Classic Road Trip Songs” at 1.482 million followers. “The Top Gaming Track” has also been billed as “the most-added tracks in a gaming playlist on Spotify.” Gaining over 1.8k followers daily, “Top Gaming Tracks” was on the verge of reaching 2 million followers in 2019. Spotify’s top-streamed Spotify curated video game playlists are Top Gaming Tracks, Power Gaming, Hip hop controller, Bass Arcade, and Ultimate Rock Gaming.
Top streamed male artists from video game consoles are Lil Uzi Vert, Juice WRLD, XXXTENTACION, Bad Bunny, and Roddy Rich. We have Billie Ellish, Dua Lipa, beabadoobee, Doja Cat, and Halsey for the Female artists. We also have a list of top streamed tracks from video game consoles. At number one spot, we have Roddy Ricch “The Box” following by Lil Mosey “Blueberry Faygo,” Eminem, juice WRLD – “Godzilla,” Trevor Daniel – “Falling” and Powfu, beabadoobee “death bed (Coffee for your head).” Top streamed genres from video game consoles are hip-hop, pop, and indie. C418 Minecraft Volume Beta was the top streamed video game soundtrack across all users. Because of Spotify, we also got great details of the time of day streaming. 18% in early morning (6am–9am), 10% in the morning (9am-noon), 4% (noon–5pm) and (9pm–1am).
According to chartmetric we also got few details on countries by artists. With no surprise, we have 79.4% from the United States. At number two, we have the United Kingdom. Canada, Netherlands, Norway, France, and others are holding the other spaces. Almost 40.8% of the gamers are into hip-hop, following rap, electronic, pop, indie, dubstep, acoustic, etc. 80% of the #2 gaming playlists are also tagged as hip hop and rap. And the #3 gaming playlist “Hip Hop Controller” at 946k Follows, yes, you guessed it, Hip Hop.
Valence to analyze simple musical emotions like positive or negative. A higher score means happier or positive feelings, and a lower score conveys sadder or negative emotions. Two of the gaming giants are Rockstar games and EA sports. They are very well known for the fantastic music choice and very popularly known for “companies who make music right.” Fifa 19’s track artists are mostly from the United Kingdom or the United States. Still, the other half is from Mexico (producer/remixer Toy Selectah), Korea (DJ Peggy Gou), Italy (rapper Ghali), and Colombia (singer Lao Ra).
The YouTube video gathered more than 416 million views with comments saying that music got them into gaming. The music tastes of the gamers seem to be very diverse. It can be because of the different games they are playing. But if marketing is done correctly, the music industry and gaming industry can push the boundaries.
How Music and Gaming Can Create Something Bigger
The game development company behind the massively multiplayer online battle arena and currently one of the most famous FPS game Valorant, Riot games went the extra mile in 2019 for a new set of skins. In 2018, the League of Legend World Championship in Incheon, South Korea, formed a virtual pop band called the K/DA or the “Kills, Deaths, Assists.” Behind the screen, we had actual artists like two K-pop groups (G)I-DLE (2.3M Spotify monthly listeners), and two American singers performed live along with their avatars in augmented reality.
How gaming experience can get even better with music
It has been observed that gamers, while playing non-competitive games, perform better with music. Associate professor of psychology at Kalamazoo College in Michigan, Sui-Lan Tan, wrote a paper on music psychology and how it can affect gameplay for users. Some studies suggest music can enhance performance.
In the study, it’s been shown “For instance, Tafalla (2007) found that male gamers scored almost twice as many points while playing the first-person shooter game DOOM with the sound on (chilling music, weapon fire, screams, and labored breathing) compared to those playing with the sound off.”
But when we are talking about gaming experiences, it can vary from games to games. For example, in Euro Truck Simulator, players enjoy the music while driving the vehicle when you drive trucks and buses. Some competitive games like Counter Strike Global Offensive, Valorant, Rainbow Six Siege, etc., might not be suitable games to be played with music because of the intense focus on the footsteps. Still, gamers do like to stream music while they are warming up or practicing.
How gaming can get personal with your favorite music artists
We already talked about how gaming can be a way for gamers to discover new music. Some even find their favorite artist’s piece in the game. This can result from gamers finding the game more exciting and relatable. For instance, FIFA and Grand Theft Auto feature many well-known songs from well-known artists. If someone finds their favorite music in that game, they can adore the game. Some gamers might consider the game as their favorite just because of the songs. Growing up with games with music and listening to that music after ages can also hit people differently. The feeling of nostalgia is not very uncommon. Upon hitting those feelings, it might remind you of your good times.
Creating a persona with music in the gaming community and ensuring a long term audience
Music is an excellent way of expressing yourself. It can also help you create a personality. Do you know what else can help you create a personality? Video games. Video games can help you build personality since you might be playing them in your off time and be yourself.
There’s a way you can both your gaming and music personality if you can play an instrument, pursuing music as a career. You can start with covering video game songs or music that was licensed by popular games. Not only will it help you gain popularity in the gaming and music industry, but it can also help to get a fixed and permanent fan base from both industries.
Music Trend in Gaming
Streaming forever changed the music business. Are video games next?
According to NBC News, in 2019, The Electronic Entertainment Expo, also known as E3, puts games on display, and there were a lot of eyes on the new generation consoles from PlayStation and Xbox. But one of the other topics that were overlooked was the potential streaming technology.
…the music industry had three years of revenue growth and a decline in piracy. Streaming just might be coming for video games by changing how and where we play games…
After digital music became easier to find, the music industry had three years of revenue growth and a decline in piracy. Streaming just might be coming for video games by changing how and where we play games. Amazon Prime, Netflix, and other streaming services thrive to serve great content. Those companies might launch game streaming services to incentivize further to attract players to their offering. Smartphones, Nintendo, and other portable consoles introduced many people to casual gaming.
Simultaneously, video streaming services like YouTube and Twitch allow people to upload or live stream gameplays in front of millions of people. Currently, many players were unable to stream because of not having great hardware or a robust console. Soon, anyone and everyone will be able to stream if only they had a strong internet connection. The Sony PlayStation Now had around 700,000 subscribers paying $10 per month to get access to 800 games streamed to PCs or PS4. On the other side, Microsoft’s version of Now is called Game Pass.
However, it does not have 800 games like Playstation and does not allow streaming. But it was planned and launched during 2019’s October, a new streaming service called “Project xCloud,” which is available on PC, Xbox, and mobile platforms.
Conclusion:
Music and gaming both come in multiple genres, and each individual got their different taste. Some might like metal, and some might like Lo-Fi. On the other hand, some gamers like First Person Shooting Aka FPS, and some gamers like indie games. But what binds them together is the immense passion from both industries.
The music industry is earning a lot through the gaming industry, but the gaming industry is also gaining popularity because of the music artists. One without the other is incomplete. It doesn’t matter we are talking about Grand Theft Auto or the Need for Speed games. Without music, the game might not be the same. It would not hit the same as it would with the music on.
On the other hand, music artists are not only getting paid for getting their music licensed, but they are also getting exposed to a whole new community with millions, if not billions, of people. With that being said, we can easily say, the video game industry and the music industry are incomplete without each other.
References
- Jason Joven, Josh Viner. (2019) .Video Gamers & the Music Business: Time to Level Up. Available at: Chartmetric
- What Gamers Are Streaming on Spotify (2020). Available at: Spotify
- Clayton Durant. (2019 ). How Gaming Can Help People Discover New Music. Available at: Entrepreneur Asia Pacific
- Streaming forever changed the music business (2019). Are video games next?. Available at: NBC News
