Halo 3: ODST soundtrack out Sept 22

[Jonah Falcon]

http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/09/14/sumthing-else-to-publish-halo-3-odst-soundtack/

Halo 3: ODST will be getting the 2 CD soundtrack treatment that Halo 3
enjoyed, and will be published by Sumthing Else, which also published the
previous Halo soundtracks, alongside such titles as Gears of War, Mass
Effect, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Fable II, among other major
video game soundtracks.

The OST will be released September 22.

[The alMIGHTY N]

http://www.gamestooge.com/2009/09/14/sumthing-else-to-publish-halo-3-...
Halo 3: ODST will be getting the 2 CD soundtrack treatment that Halo 3
enjoyed, and will be published by Sumthing Else, which also published the
previous Halo soundtracks, alongside such titles as Gears of War, Mass
Effect, Street Fighter IV, Resident Evil 5, Fable II, among other major
video game soundtracks.
The OST will be released September 22.

How much of a market is there for this kind of stuff? My college buddy
loves video game soundtracks, but I've found him to be rather unique
in that...

[Jonah Falcon]

Huge market, and IGN had a preview of the soundtrack - "Rain" sounds sweet.

[Black Knight]

Post by Jonah Falcon
Huge market, and IGN had a preview of the soundtrack - "Rain" sounds sweet.

I wouldn't say huge, but there definitely is enough of a demand for game
soundtracks to be sold - especially when you have big budgets to back them
up. (WoW's new tracks and Halo to name a few) People just enjoy soundtrack
music if done well., much like how people enjoyed classical music. It moves
the imagination or makes a great ambiant, non-top40 sound while working...

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by Black Knight

Post by Jonah Falcon
Huge market, and IGN had a preview of the soundtrack - "Rain" sounds sweet.

I wouldn't say huge, but there definitely is enough of a demand for game
soundtracks to be sold - especially when you have big budgets to back them
up.  (WoW's new tracks and Halo to name a few)  People just enjoy soundtrack
music if done well., much like how people enjoyed classical music.  It moves
the imagination or makes a great ambiant, non-top40 sound while working...

I think it would be tough to compare video game, television or film
soundtrack music to classical compositions by the likes of Mozart,
Beethoven, Strauss, Brahms, etc. I don't care much for the stuff
personally but there's definitely a fine art there.

This is not to say that video game soundtracks can't be fine art but
most are rather mundane.

I realize there's a market... I just don't think there's much of one.
You may find a handful of video game soundtrack CDs in a music
retailer, but for the most part, you need to look online for that kind
of thing.

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by Jonah Falcon
Huge market, and IGN had a preview of the soundtrack - "Rain" sounds sweet.

Huge? Huge is an entire aisle in Coconut's. There's a market but not
one that's big enough for music retailers to give much of a crap
besides allocating space for a handful of CDs. You pretty much *have*
to go online to find this stuff.

[Jonah Falcon]

Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

[alMIGHTY]

Post by Jonah Falcon
Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

I didn't pay anywhere near that for Coldplay, Eminem and Green Day's
latest albums, and I love those artists.

Soundtracks need to be priced less than "mainstream" music for me to
even consider a purchase because I won't get nearly as much use out of
them.

[Doug Jacobs]

Post by alMIGHTY

Post by Jonah Falcon
Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

I didn't pay anywhere near that for Coldplay, Eminem and Green Day's
latest albums, and I love those artists.
Soundtracks need to be priced less than "mainstream" music for me to
even consider a purchase because I won't get nearly as much use out of
them.

$13 is pretty cheap for a soundtrack. I spent $60 on a 2 disc set of
Xenogears, $25 for a CD of piano arrangements of themes from FF6, and
another $40 for Chrono Cross. Of course, that was the price after
importing from Japan. There weren't any US versions at that time.

[Jonah Falcon]

Post by Doug Jacobs

Post by alMIGHTY

Post by Jonah Falcon
Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

I didn't pay anywhere near that for Coldplay, Eminem and Green Day's
latest albums, and I love those artists.
Soundtracks need to be priced less than "mainstream" music for me to
even consider a purchase because I won't get nearly as much use out of
them.

$13 is pretty cheap for a soundtrack.

And this is a dual CD soundtrack.

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by Jonah Falcon

Post by Doug Jacobs

Post by alMIGHTY

Post by Jonah Falcon
Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

I didn't pay anywhere near that for Coldplay, Eminem and Green Day's
latest albums, and I love those artists.
Soundtracks need to be priced less than "mainstream" music for me to
even consider a purchase because I won't get nearly as much use out of
them.

$13 is pretty cheap for a soundtrack.

And this is a dual CD soundtrack.

So I'll listen to it for a round trip commute one day instead of just
when going to work that day?

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by alMIGHTY

Post by Jonah Falcon
Well, you can buy the Halo 3: ODST soundtrack for $13USD.

I didn't pay anywhere near that for Coldplay, Eminem and Green Day's
latest albums, and I love those artists.
Soundtracks need to be priced less than "mainstream" music for me to
even consider a purchase because I won't get nearly as much use out of
them.

$13 is pretty cheap for a soundtrack.  I spent $60 on a 2 disc set of
Xenogears, $25 for a CD of piano arrangements of themes from FF6, and
another $40 for Chrono Cross.  Of course, that was the price after
importing from Japan.  There weren't any US versions at that time.

Oh, I realize it's a cheap price "for a soundtrack." I'm just saying
that soundtracks inevitably get less play time than mainstream music
and so aren't worth even the same amount of money as a mainstream
music album.

On the other hand, you could look at it from the perspective that
because there's a much smaller niche market that these releases cater
to, the prices are going to be higher... similar to how certain
peripherals for the Xbox 360 are priced higher than they "should" be.

[Doug Jacobs]

Post by The alMIGHTY N

Post by Jonah Falcon
Huge market, and IGN had a preview of the soundtrack - "Rain" sounds sweet.

Huge? Huge is an entire aisle in Coconut's. There's a market but not
one that's big enough for music retailers to give much of a crap
besides allocating space for a handful of CDs. You pretty much *have*
to go online to find this stuff.

Frys carries some but I agree, you're better off going to an online
specialty store. Garage-style bands are also getting in on the scene,
doing their own remixes. I've heard a few tracks from The Black Mages,
who specialize mainly in remixes of Final Fantasy tracks.

[Doug Jacobs]

Post by The alMIGHTY N
How much of a market is there for this kind of stuff? My college buddy
loves video game soundtracks, but I've found him to be rather unique
in that...

It's been quite popular in the area where anime and video game fandoms
overlap. In Japan, it's been huge. I remember seeing CD collections of
Street Fighter music, going through all the different games and their
variants. There were original sound tracks, as well as orchestral or
piano arrangements. That was nearly 20 years ago.

Now, video game music is starting to go mainstream with the help of groups
like VideoGames Live, which is an orchestra that goes around performing
various arrangements of video game music. I saw them in concert a few
years ago. Their rendition of the opening from Chrono Cross was awesome.
But at the same time they decided it'd be cool if they premiered music
from Lair and Darkness, which hadn't been released yet. Bad idea if you
ask me. Without having played the game for context, most video game music
is, well, pretty boring.

Part of the reason soundtracks are popular is because it helps
you relive part of the game. Take the main theme from Star Wars, for
instance, which is probably one of the most popular soundtracks of all
time. How can you NOT think of X-wings, TIE fighters, and Luke Skywalker
when you hear that familiar opening?

[Jonah Falcon]

Post by Doug Jacobs
Part of the reason soundtracks are popular is because it helps
you relive part of the game. Take the main theme from Star Wars, for
instance, which is probably one of the most popular soundtracks of all
time. How can you NOT think of X-wings, TIE fighters, and Luke Skywalker
when you hear that familiar opening?

I think of Lucas masturbating. (It's not a pretty image.)

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by Jonah Falcon

Post by Doug Jacobs
Part of the reason soundtracks are popular is because it helps
you relive part of the game.  Take the main theme from Star Wars, for
instance, which is probably one of the most popular soundtracks of all
time.  How can you NOT think of X-wings, TIE fighters, and Luke Skywalker
when you hear that familiar opening?

I think of Lucas masturbating. (It's not a pretty image.)

And I'll bet you masturbate to that.

[The alMIGHTY N]

Post by Doug Jacobs

Post by The alMIGHTY N
How much of a market is there for this kind of stuff? My college buddy
loves video game soundtracks, but I've found him to be rather unique
in that...

It's been quite popular in the area where anime and video game fandoms
overlap.  In Japan, it's been huge.

Of course it's huge in Japan. So are cartoons where alien tentacles
rape buxom school girls. Those quirky bastards love anything. ;-)

Post by Doug Jacobs
I remember seeing CD collections of
Street Fighter music, going through all the different games and their
variants.  There were original sound tracks, as well as orchestral or
piano arrangements.  That was nearly 20 years ago.
Now, video game music is starting to go mainstream with the help of groups
like VideoGames Live, which is an orchestra that goes around performing
various arrangements of video game music.  I saw them in concert a few
years ago.  Their rendition of the opening from Chrono Cross was awesome.  
But at the same time they decided it'd be cool if they premiered music
from Lair and Darkness, which hadn't been released yet.  Bad idea if you
ask me.  Without having played the game for context, most video game music
is, well, pretty boring.

That's not mainstream. Mainstream is play on the radio, albums given
decent shelf space at major retailers, a significant portion of the
video game market purchasing these tracks, etc.

It's more mainstream than it was before, sure, in the same way 2
inches is closer to a yard than 1 inch.

Post by Doug Jacobs
Part of the reason soundtracks are popular is because it helps
you relive part of the game.  Take the main theme from Star Wars, for
instance, which is probably one of the most popular soundtracks of all
time.  How can you NOT think of X-wings, TIE fighters, and Luke Skywalker
when you hear that familiar opening?

I know the purpose of soundtracks, of course. I have a bunch of them
(film soundtracks) myself. You're talking about a classic soundtrack
from a classic movie that hundreds of millions of people have seen.

And while there are film soundtrack sections in major retailers,
they're made up much more of the kinds of soundtracks that are
collections of musical artist tracks than the classical score type
soundtracks. In that area, it's really only the iconic movies like
Star Wars, Indiana Jones, etc. that do well.

Ultimately, it's tough to compare the film industry with the video
game industry. You're talking movies that hundreds of millions of
people have seen versus video games that only a portion of the video
game market has played.