:List of video game soundtracks released on vinyl
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{{Inc-musong|date=October 2021}}
The practice of releasing video game soundtracks on vinyl records began in the 1980s, fell out of favor in the 1990s and 2000s as vinyl records were replaced by other storage media, and experienced a resurgence of interest in the 2010s due in part to a vinyl revival.{{cite web | url=https://kotaku.com/vinyl-takes-video-game-music-appreciation-to-new-levels-1794580030/amp | title=Vinyl Takes Video Game Music Appreciation to New Levels | date=23 April 2017 }}
History
Vinyl recordings of video game music find their origins in the 1970s with early experiments by Kraftwerk and albums such as Yellow Magic Orchestra's self-titled 1978 release sampling electronic music from the games Circus, Space Invaders, and Gun Fight. In 1984, Haruomi Hosono released the first generally recognized video game soundtrack album, Video Game Music, and the practice experienced its "golden age" in the mid-to-late 1980s with hundreds of releases including Buckner & Garcia's Pac-Man Fever, Namco's Video Game Graffiti, and Koichi Sugiyama's orchestral covers of the Dragon Quest series. The 1990s saw many fewer commercial releases and a shift to promo releases with increasing use of video game samples in rap and hip hop.
The trend away from vinyl discs continued in the 2000s as fan-made remixes also began to be produced, however by the 2010s the trend reversed and the practice of producing video game soundtracks on vinyl experienced a revival. The vinyl revival of the 2010s has itself been attributed to inspiration in younger music buyers from video games, and it has led to the establishment of video game soundtrack oriented vinyl record labels like Black Screen Records, Data Discs, Brave Wave, and iam8bit, and shifts toward similar releases for labels like Ghost Ramp, Ship To Shore Phonograph Co., and Mondo Tees. In a 2015 article, music journalist Mike Diver suggested that "this scene within a scene is experiencing boom times", however he noted that some in the music industry, including Invada manager Redg Weeks, were concerned by the risk of over-saturation of the market. These concerns were later repeated by Jamie Crook of Data Discs, and although he has joined Mondo's Mo Shafeek in arguing that the vinyl medium itself and the related revival is in no way a fad or bubble, in 2017 Kotaku reported concerns from dedicated video game soundtrack labels that pressing plants were scheduling their manufacturing runs last in order to favor traditional labels.
The 2000s-2010s revival of interest in this medium has been characterized by releases in limited numbers and promotional albums only available at special events or as pre-order bonuses. In addition, the practice has been adopted by the cult and Indie game scenes, with its proponents citing audio quality, interactivity, artwork, nostalgia, unique content, and the fact that vinyl albums represent tangible aspects of intangible (digitally distributed) products as key elements to what makes vinyl soundtrack albums attractive. Additional considerations for collectors include archival and preservation aspects for older games, examination and recontextualization of the music as a means to expand or further explore the game, and curiosity among audiophiles unfamiliar with video gaming music as a genre. Due to the limited nature of modern releases, many albums are considered highly collectible, with some regularly selling in excess of US$100. For Western collectors, additional difficulty is imposed by the cost of importing albums from Japan where the majority were produced during the "golden age" of the 1980s.
Soundtrack albums
= 1990s–2010 =
= 2011–2014 =
= 2015 =
= 2016 =
= 2017 =
= 2018 =
=2019=
class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"
! Rel. !! OST Title !! Game Title !! Composer(s) !! Label !! Notes !! Ref(s) |
2019
|Rend Original Soundtrack |Rend |Materia Collective |2xLP Rune blue hand-poured color mix, two-pocked gatefold jacket |
2019
|The Banner Saga 3 Soundtrack |2xLP Black and Teal Vinyl |{{Citation|last = Reeves|first = Ben|title = Gear: Media Shelf - The Banner Saga 3 Vinyl Soundtrack|magazine = Game Informer|issue = 311|date = March 2019|page = 31}} |
2019
|Doki Doki Literature Club! Soundtrack |Dan Salvato |Crimson Smoke Vinyl |
2019
|Grim Fandango Remastered Soundtrack |2xLP Black Vinyl; 20th anniversary release |
2019
| | |
2019
|Hollow Knight Original Soundtrack |2xLP Vinyl, Album, Picture Disc; Limited Edition |
=2020=
class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"
! Rel. !! OST Title !! Game Title !! Composer(s) !! Label !! Notes !! Ref(s) |
2020
|CrossCode Original Game Soundtrack |Deniz Akbulut |Materia Collective |2xLP vinyl with pink and blue color-in-color discs, glow-in-the-dark gatefold jacket, and custom die cut |
2020
|Risk of Rain 2 Original Soundtrack |Chris Christodoulou |Black Screen Records |3xLP black vinyl, 3xLP limited edition manually pressed ink-spot vinyl |{{Cite web|title=Risk of Rain 2 (Original Soundtrack) by Chris Christodoulou|url=https://blackscreenrecords.com/products/risk-of-rain-2-original-soundtrack-by-chris-christodoulou|access-date=2021-11-10|website=Black Screen Records}}{{additional citation needed|date=November 2021}} |
=2021=
class="wikitable sortable" width="100%"
! Rel. !! OST Title !! Game Title !! Composer(s) !! Label !! Notes !! Ref(s) |
2021
|FINAL FANTASY XIV Vinyl LP Box |Masayoshi Soken |Square Enix Music |Box set with 4xLP black vinyl |
Soundtrack compilations
Soundtrack singles
Vinyl data
{{main|Vinyl data}}
Instead of direct sound recording, sequencer or other data can be encoded and stored on vinyl media. This process did not receive widespread acceptance.
References
{{reflist|refs=
{{cite web |url=https://www.theguardian.com/music/2015/aug/27/video-game-soundtrack-vinyl-reissue |title=Music: The Megadrive megamix – how classic videogame soundtracks went from background noise to cratedigger gold |last=Beaumont-Thomas |first=Ben |date=27 August 2015 |website=theguardian.com |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.jeuxvideo.com/news/456518/jeu-video-et-yellow-magic-orchestra-deux-faces-d-une-meme-piece.htm |title=Jeu Vidéo et Yellow Magic Orchestra: Deux Faces d'une Même Pièce |author= Dreamboum |date=7 February 2016 |website=Jeuxvideo.com |access-date=4 September 2017}}
{{cite web |url=https://noisey.vice.com/en_us/article/from-cartridge-to-club-a-look-at-the-labels-that-recontextualise-video-game-music |title=From Cartridge To Club: A Look At The Labels That Recontextualise Video Game Music |last=Eckhardt |first=Sam |date=14 November 2015 |website=Vice |access-date=6 March 2017}}
{{cite news |url=http://www.goldminemag.com/article/collectors-embrace-video-game-soundtracks-on-vinyl |title=Collectors embrace video game soundtracks on vinyl |last=Eldred |first=James B. |date=25 October 2012 |website=Goldmine |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/vinyl-takes-video-game-music-appreciation-to-new-levels-1794580030 |title=Vinyl Takes Video Game Music Appreciation To New Levels |last=Gach |first=Ethan |date=23 April 2017 |website=Kotaku |access-date=21 August 2017}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.geek.com/culture/the-wide-world-of-video-game-vinyl-1694385/ |title=The Wide World of Video Game Vinyl |last=Greenwald |first=Will |date=30 March 2017 |website=Geek.com |access-date=21 August 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170822060421/https://geek.com/culture/the-wide-world-of-video-game-vinyl-1694385/|archive-date=August 22, 2017}}
{{cite web |url=http://kotaku.com/collectible-video-game-albums-elbow-into-a-crowded-viny-1797346230 |title=Collectible Video Game Albums Elbow Into A Crowded Vinyl Industry |last=Jackson |first=Gita |date=28 July 2017 |website=Kotaku |access-date=21 August 2017}}
{{cite episode | title = Marketplace Tech for Friday, May 20, 2016 | url = http://play.publicradio.org/edit/d/podcast/marketplace/tech_report/2016/05/20/tech_20160520_pod_64.mp3| series = Marketplace | series-link = Marketplace (radio program) | credits = Johnson, Ben | network = Minnesota Public Radio | air-date = 20 May 2016 | minutes = 01:30}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.pcgamer.com/how-record-label-ghost-ramp-is-embracing-games/ |title=How record label Ghost Ramp is embracing games |last=Kelly |first=Andy |date=26 January 2016 |website=PC Gamer |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2009/12/07/nyregion/07vinyl.html |title=Vinyl Records and Turntables Are Gaining Sales |last=McGeehan |first=Patrick |date=6 December 2009 |website=New York Times |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.destructoid.com/the-sound-card-007-game-music-on-vinyl-226437.phtml |title=The Sound Card 007: Game music on vinyl |last=Napolitano |first=Jayson |date=23 May 2012 |website=Destructoid |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.usgamer.net/articles/data-discs |title=Inside Data Discs, the M2 of Video Game Vinyl |last=Parish |first=Jeremy |date=24 February 2016 |website=USGamer |access-date=24 June 2017}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.latimes.com/entertainment/music/la-ca-ms-vintage-video-game-vinyl-20170511-story.html |title=The Latest and Greatest Trend In Vintage Vinyl? Video Game Music |last=Roberts |first=Randall |date=11 May 2017 |website=Los Angeles Times |access-date=21 August 2017}} (Reprinted as "[http://www.scmp.com/culture/arts-entertainment/article/2095508/soundtracks-video-games-are-latest-vinyl-trend Soundtracks From Video Games Are The Latest Vinyl Trend]" and "Vinyl gives game scores fresh life" in South China Morning Post. 26 May 2017.)
{{cite web |url=http://www.spin.com/2012/11/history-video-games-rap-songs-samples-supercut/ |title=Watch the History of Video Games, Soundtracked by the Rap Songs That Sample Them |date=29 November 2012 |website=Spin |access-date=16 April 2016}}
{{cite web |url=http://www.laweekly.com/music/iam8bits-video-game-soundtracks-on-vinyl-are-a-huge-hit-with-collectors-8361451 |title=Gamer Culture's Hottest New Collectible: Video Game Soundtracks on Vinyl |last=Troper |first=Morgan |date=26 June 2017 |website=LA Weekly |access-date=21 August 2017}}
{{cite web |url=https://www.theverge.com/2012/12/2/3715508/watch-this-hip-hop-video-game-samples |title=Watch this: a history of hip-hop sampling video games |last=Webster |first=Andrew |date=2 December 2012 |website=The Verge |access-date=16 April 2016}}
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External links
- [https://blipblop.net/ Blip Blop] directory of vinyl video game soundtracks
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