Music in Sports Games

I wanted to post about the influence music has on the gaming world.

Growing up I loved video games, especially sports games (NHL, NBA & FIFA) and the soundtrack in sports games are so influential on the gamers. I can honestly say that there are songs from NHL 2002 onwards that I could recite word for word if I heard it but I did not know the name of the song (She Loves Me Not – Papa Roach from NHL 03).

FIFA on the other hand is probably the biggest and most global sports game in the gaming industry. I feel like the songs in these games reach global audiences. EA has bought into this global audience and announced that the game will feature many international artists that will please players globally:

“The 43-song soundtrack features marquee names like UK grime icon Skepta; American neo-soul hitmaker BJ The Chicago Kid; Spanish vocalists – and VMA showstoppers – ROSALÍA & Ozuna; Israeli singer/songwriter Dennis Lloyd; hot Philly female rapper Tierra Whack; London indie rockers Another Sky; DC breakout rapper GoldLink; Norwegian R&B stars Fieh; Brooklyn singer-songwriter Cautious Clay; UK rock favorites Foals; Australian electropop star Flume; Florida rapper/singer Dominic Fike; UK hip-hop musician and Mercury Prize nominee Loyle Carner; and The S.L.P., the solo project of Serge Pissorno from Kasabian featuring London rapper/singer Little Simz” 

I always found soundtracks to be very interesting in games and are usually overlooked in the gaming industry, but the soundtrack and music in the games can be under a lot of scrutiny f0r such things like copyright, royalties and like it was stated in this article:

“Not obtaining proper consent from copyright owners can be an expensive mistake to make. Unauthorised use in a game of a composition or a recording of a composition is an infringement of copyright law. An aggrieved copyright owner might initiate an action against you, which, if successful, can lead to a claim for substantial damages or a share of the game’s profits ” (https://www.mcvuk.com/the-legal-side-of-music-in-games/)

In a game like FIFA, its interesting to think how all those copyright laws in the respective country plays into the domestic sales in other countries. Example, how the copyright law of UK allows FIFA to be sold in Canada, where you can listen to UK Grime icon Skepta. How do royalties work across all these markets? It’s interesting, I will continue to search for these articles and update this as they come available.

FOLLOW THESE LINKS FOR MORE INFORMATION:

https://www.forbes.com/sites/brianmazique/2019/07/20/nba-2k20-soundtrack-announced-along-with-new-talent-search-initiative-for-new-artists/#4874fea26fcd

https://www.ea.com/games/fifa/fifa-20/news/fifa-20-soundtrack-volta-football

operationsports.com/nhl-20-soundtrack-revealed/