The primitive blip-blop sound of Pong is history. So are the mind-numbing melodies of Donkey Kong and Super Mario. The industry took a significant turn when Trent Reznor, the Nine Inch Nails frontman, wrote music for the game Quake in 1996. Three years later, David Bowie composed songs for the fantasy game Omikron: The Nomad Soul.
What was once considered mere sound effects, nothing more than background music, is now viewed as vital to a game. You're seeing the game. You're feeling the game. You're hearing the game. You don't play these games and press the mute button -- it would be like watching "Law & Order" without the tan-tan-tan-tan-tan, or the quirky little sound that signals scene changes.
Fledgling hip-hop artist Jayceon Taylor, known as the Game, is hoping to make the soundtrack of a popular video game.
(Jonathan Mannion)
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Those who play Nintendo's long-running adventure game Legend of Zelda would have a hard time imagining it without the hypnotic, orchestral sound of Japanese composer Koji Konodo, the Mozart of video game composers. Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, which released an eight-disc soundtrack, would be weird without the old-school punk or classic hip-hop of the early '90s, the period in which the game is set.
Now the video game companies are asking artists to write music specifically for their games, and the artists are eager to oblige. Take the Grammy-nominated group Black Eyed Peas. In what Electronic Arts, publisher of The Urbz: Sims in the City, says is the first partnership of its kind, the band rerecorded nine of its songs in Simlish, the game's own language. The band members are also four of 65 characters in the game.
"If iTunes were the story in 2003, then video games are the story this year, as major recording companies found that soundtracks for new games introduced new music to listeners almost more than any other medium," says Shahid Khan, a managing director with the McLean-based consulting firm BearingPoint. In the past year, Khan has met with music executives to discuss this new market. "In due time, video game soundtracks are going to be as popular as film soundtracks," he says.
This convergence is inevitable to Cary Sherman, president of the Recording Industry Association of America. "There's been more of an effort in the past year by video game companies and record companies to find a match and create a game that's bigger than the sum of its parts. It's great for the video game. It's great for the artist," says Sherman.
To veteran producer Nile Rodgers, founding member of the R&B band Chic who perhaps is best known as a writer of the song "We Are Family," creating music for video games is about risk-taking, "something sorely lacking in the music industry." In the process of writing music for Halo 2 -- with its tribal drums, Gregorian chant and atmospheric vibe -- Rodgers, who also produced the game's soundtrack, asked members of Breaking Benjamin, Hoobastank and Incubus: What would that motif inspire you to do?
"The world of video game soundtracks represents the '60s, the rock-and-roll rebellious frame of mind I had when I first got into this business," says Rodgers, who has worked with Madonna, Mick Jagger and Diana Ross, and whose film scores include "Thelma and Louise" and "Beverly Hills Cop." "You're playing a video game 30 to 40 to 50 hours a week, sometimes more than that. The music you hear is an integral part of your psyche, and I think fans are going to demand that we push the envelope more and more."
That's what Steve Schnur, the Clive Davis of the video-game industry, excels in. The worldwide executive of music for industry leader Electronic Arts started off at MTV, spent a few years at Capitol Records and has a knack for finding the right talent for the right game. In a way, Schnur can be credited with helping jump-start the careers of lesser-known bands.
The alternative rock band Good Charlotte's song "The Anthem," from the group's second album, "The Young and the Restless," landed a spot on Madden NFL 2003. Before the game came out, the band had sold about 300,000 copies of the album; afterward, it sold 3.5 million copies, says Billy Martin, who plays guitar and keyboards for the group.
