Post subject: My Idea/ A Possible Venture for Music Artists
Please be kind to my mistakes. I have read it over and fear I might be missing some. I'm not great at the checking and will edit as I go. I don't want to read through another 10 times and still find I missed something. I hope you can understand.
When you buy/acquire a music album, most likely the first thing you want to do with it is listen to it. You then go to whatever you use to listen things and pop it in. All done. End of story. Next comes the listening. You listen. That is what you wanted to do so do it. Rating, talking about the album and finding more albums come next but I won't be talking about those steps. I want to focus on the getting a little and the listening a great deal.
Listening to music is something many people do alongside with reading, walking, talking to people, shopping, going on holiday. They are personal experiences, a inevitable part of someones life story. Some albums won't change a thing. Some albums will stay with a person for a lifetime. While very rarely an "event" in someones life, they are part of the groups of little things which make life worth living.
Another such thing people do in life is play video games. I will be talking about the topic of video games for a bit now. I won't talk about specific ones here (because I might end up talking too much about them haha!) and will only speak in vague allusions. Also, bear with me. This is tied to music and the topic... it really is.
Basically, as of 2013, the world of video games is going through a... transition period. Things are changing. Things are up in the air. Things like going to the shop to buy a video game could become resigned to the past in a few years. On the otherhand, maybe not? Who knows? Games are getting much more sophisticated. Actors are voicing characters more frequently. Plots and story lines are being given more attention. The "Indie Video Games" scene is flourishing and people are making them in their spare time. The tools are there and they are only getting better at it as time progresses! The popularity of a certain website called 'Kickstarter' is helping raise huge amounts for certain projects. Good is coming from the "Indie Video Games". A growing number of people are throwing the word "Art" around. Hang around with them long enough and you might find one or two who are anticipating a coming "Golden Age" for video games. On the complete opposite end, some would tell you of the coming death of fun. A world where all major video games are great big multiplayer only experiences. An environment devoid of any artistic merit. A place where no risks are ever taken as to avoid a loss of profit. In 2013, everything is in flux.
As technology has progressed, music has become inseparable from video games. Like any good director knows, music in films is used to install a certain mood or emotion into the viewer. Same can be said for video games. While in the past the music had been confined to the limits of the video game console, for several years now there has been no such constraint. Every new release gets a soundtrack no different in quality from a CD. The people who the games... they are all over it. People outside their companies are hired to make the music. They have whole orchestras working on pieces. Ambient, Electronic, Classical, ANYTHING! That's not when they simply rip tracks from the albums you love haha! The most important part? The most important part is people are taking notice. Music made for Video Games is becoming very popular. With the rise of downloads and youtube people are going back to the music of games they have played so long ago and a large amount are listening to them as we would an album. You might have seen the soundtracks pop up on BEA charts a few times already. In my opinion, they do hold well as albums.
Thank you for your patience. Bottom line of this is people like their music with their video games. Video game makers make better music and lots of unrelated changes are going on. Many use the word 'Art' with music, a steadily growing number are applying it to video games. An album recorded entirely for a video game could well be in the top 10 of a year on BEA in this decade or the next.
In fact... lets go into the future...
A decade or two perhaps... definitely no more than 25 years...
Let's say things have improved. People are putting an emphasis on the "Art" of video games. The music recorded for them is treated in the same regard as a new release today. People can create fantastic games for next to nothing while the big companies releases are treated with the same awe as film blockbusters.
Video games are... simulated environments. They are fantasies. They can be words of text or huge immersive words, constricted to a single path, many directions, open ended... it doesn't matter because almost all of them have a single thing in common...
They are simulated environments.
Simulated experiences...
The Idea
As the amount of video games being crafted grows exponentially, there will be no shortage of people who know how to make them. People who can program things. Craft 3D environments. People who can create places where others can immerse themselves.
What if we take away the "video game" part and kept the simulated environment? Instead of creating music for a video game, what if "simulated environment" was created for a piece of music?
If your glaring at your screen like it is me right, I wish I can appeal to you that you might be overlooking a sentiment in what I am saying. Calling it a video game soundtrack is not doing it justice. I want a music album which is created around an experience. The programs, the computer files and all the other technical stuff IS NOW what creates the mood and emotion. The roles have been reversed. Imagine having a black and white world of misery, a floral paradise, a shifting day dream where all is not as it seems. Occasionally, the remnants of a video game might appear in the format. Some times there could be mysteries to solve before proceeding, objects have to be manipulated and there might be a choice of one route, multiple routes or it could be completely open ended. The music could remain on a loop until you move forward or you could simply be on a conveyer belt, proceding at the same pace as the music. Maybe the player could control some notes! Certain actions make certain sounds and manipulate the music! You could make a music piece which you are co-writing with the player/listener themselves! There could be "stories" as I have mentioned. Not exactly the plots we see today but storytelling nonetheless. There could be the final moments before a dreaded event, the music changing to reflect the coming storm. Maybe one a story about two people separated in life and you learn why with a series of clues. Imagine going into the Ancient Greek underworld. Fearing you are being watched, fearing something is going to jump out. Imagine one where you could fly and the music changes to suit your position, speed, actions. Imagine worlds of endless possibilities. Imagine moments that can change your WHOLE OUTLOOK ON LIFE! Clarity, Euphoria, Epiphany, Freedom.
Now imagine, this was taken beyond the 2D and 3D formats on display today. If someday we find Virtual Reality to be something more than a pipe dream like flying cars. Something that can work. Now YOU imagine the possibilities...
I want experiences created for music.
I want worlds created for music.
I'm going to end on a... weird reference but I'm before you like that guy on the Rush 2112 album. I'm hoping someone can understand what I am trying to explain and think it is a good idea. If you have anything to add, please help me develop it. I just have these big ideas for it. What do you think?
I'm not sure I understand. Do you want a videogame/experience created from the basis of a musical piece as opposed to now music being created to accompany the previously created videogame/experience? Do you want a video game soundtrack which shifts and changes as the game/experience progresses? Do you want a game which's plot revolves around composing music? Do you want an open sandbox game revolving around creating music? Do you want music to be accompanied by video games as they're accompanied by videoclips right now?
I love visualiser's so I love anything that combines visuals and music. There have been some things in the last few years like Bjork's Biophilia project
I guess it's up to the artist because it's not something that everyone would want...visuals do very much shape how you perceive sounds and it will change how albums are received. Of course like Biophilia most artists will give listeners the choice. As for a game where the listener is helping create music whilst they go, it sounds like it would be a great indie project and it's something I'd like to see.
Also just a mention that one of the reason's that Pitchfork Advance is so good is because of the unique visualizations that go alongside the music. Moody Coup's I believe really enhanced the experience. It's something that more artists should take advantage of in an era where album booklets have become dated.
One argument you may come across is that the intent of some music is to create an environmental experience for the listener. By creating feeding the listener visuals, you're not allowing their creative mind do any of the visualization/interpretation work.
This is often a problem with the transition from books to movies. There's a magic in allowing the person to experience something for themselves.
I'm in no way saying your idea is bad. I think you're onto something for sure, and we'll see music go down these paths in the not too distant future.
Didn't NIN/Trent Reznor soundtrack a Quake game long ago?
You cannot post new topics in this forum You cannot reply to topics in this forum You cannot edit your posts in this forum You cannot delete your posts in this forum You cannot vote in polls in this forum
