Licensed Soundtrack (Concept)

Licensed Soundtrack

CONCEPT

Games that incorporate licensed music from popular bands and musicians for their soundtracks.

Overview

Sound design is an important aspect of any game, and aside from games that use a spartan aural landscape to achieve a certain atmosphere, music is a big part of this design. One place where games diverge in their production is the decision to use licensed music in place of original compositions. This can be a budget-driven decision or one that is inspired by a desire to give a game a 'hip' aesthetic, as is the case with many sports games, whether or not they are of the extreme variety.

Rhythm games typically make the most extensive use of a licensed soundtrack, and in most cases the quality and breadth of that music lineup will make or break the player's enjoyment of the game. This genre has also run into an issue of volume in that many developers have not been able to acquire rights to all the songs they want to include in the game and must use cover versions to fill some of these holes.

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