The convergence of video games and music is one of the most promising developments for music rights holders in recent years, and one of the companies at the forefront of innovation in this field is, arguably, Reactional Music.
The music-for-video-games company is developing technology that can customize the soundtrack of video game play for individual players, and enable in-game music purchases.
The company says nearly 200 games developers are involved in Beta-testing the technology. When it’s up and running, the technology will make music available as an in-game purchase, and allow players to personalize their gaming experience with their preferred music, “the same way they do with skins and other purchases.”
Through the company’s “Reactional Music Engine,” game developers will be able to set parameters for how music reacts to gameplay.
The company’s technology sets up a potential win-win for music rights holders and game developers: Rights holders gain a potentially highly lucrative new source of revenue, while games developers are able to better personalize the gaming experience, attracting new players and ensuring greater customer loyalty.
However, to make this a reality, Reactional Music needs to license recordings – lots of them. To that end, the company has signed numerous licensing deals over the past few years, and on Tuesday (March 5), it announced its latest deals, with Cherry Red Records and Hopeless Records.
The new agreements mean Reactional will have access to the full catalogs of both record companies.
UK-headquartered indie label Cherry Red Records’ catalog includes music from the Dead Kennedys, Everything But The Girl, The Fall, Kim Wilde, The Monochrome Set, The Residents and Felt.
California-headquartered Hopeless Records licenses music from Sum 41, Avenged Sevenfold, All Time Low and Neck Deep, among others.
“Innovation is so important to independent music; the opportunities to open up new platforms and new audiences through Reactional is a very exciting step for Cherry Red,” said Matt Bristow, Cherry Red’s Director of Business Affairs and Licensing.
“The Reactional Platform solves the technical and commercial difficulties of connecting music and games, giving us an opportunity to bring Cherry Red’s catalog to a whole new audience. The possibilities this opens up for all artists and creators is immensely exciting.”
“The possibilities this opens up for all artists and creators is immensely exciting.”
Matt Bristow, Cherry Red Records
Hopeless Records General Manager Ian Harrison added that the company is “proud to partner with Reactional as it pioneers groundbreaking ways for fans to experience music. We are big believers in Reactional’s vision and thanks to their team, there is an exciting new future where music and gaming come together in a much more interesting and natural way than ever before.”
The Cherry Red and Hopeless partnerships are just the latest in a string of music deals that Reactional has signed since the company launched in 2020.
Among them are a deal with Hipgnosis Song Management that enables Reactional to integrate Hipgnosis’ catalog of 70,000 tracks into its technology.
The company has also signed a deal with UK-headquartered house music company Defected Records to “bring dance music into games.”
“There is an exciting new future where music and gaming come together in a much more interesting and natural way than ever before.”
Ian Harrison, Hopeless Records
Reactional has also partnered with APM, the aggregator of production music jointly owned by Sony Music Publishing and Universal Music Publishing, which holds a catalog of some 1.3 million tracks. APM has placed music into games developed by major names such as Activision, Electronic Arts (EA), Sony Interactive Entertainment and Square Enix.
“We believe that independent music and emerging artists will be an essential part of the Reactional Platform, for developers and for gamers,” Reactional Music President David Knox said in a statement on Tuesday.
“The ability for consumers to now be able to personalize their experience in gaming and interactive worlds is incredibly exciting and a natural step in technology and consumption.”
Reactional last year closed a $2.05 million pre-Series A funding round led by Singapore-based mobile music games publisher Amanotes and early-stage VC Butterfly Ventures.
The funding round was also supported by a number of angel investors including Kelly Sumner, a former chairman of Mediatonic (Fall Guys), CEO of Red Octane (Guitar Hero,) and CEO of Take 2 Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption).
Several months after the funding round, Amanotes inked a deal with Reactional to be among the game developers using Reactional’s technology. Amanotes’ games attract some 100 million active users monthly, and its games have been downloaded more than 3 billion times.
“The ability for consumers to now be able to personalize their experience in gaming and interactive worlds is incredibly exciting and a natural step in technology and consumption.”
David Knox, Reactional Music
In an interview with MBW last fall, Reactional’s Knox said the company set out to change the inflexibility of the music experience in games by “changing the way we can all experience, interact with, create, share and enjoy music in games and creator worlds…
“Music has always been a core component of video games but has traditionally been viewed as a cost, rather than a revenue generator.
“However, the convergence of music and games technically and creatively has long provided a huge opportunity for a change, which can now finally happen through music personalization and gamer-driven music inside the games.”
Reactional estimates that there will be 3.8 billion gamers by 2030.Music Business Worldwide
