The intersection of music and gaming has been something MBW has been following closely for a number of years.
The convergence of these two businesses is throwing up all sorts of new opportunities for artists and rightsholders, from music licensed to be used in games, to in-game virtual performances, seen on the likes of Roblox and Fortnite.
Today, Reactional Music, whose CEO David Knox spent 26 years in senior global management positions at video games giant Electronic Arts, claims to want to completely “re-write rules for music and video games” with in game music purchases.
The company, a subsidiary of Sweden-based music-tech firm Gestrument, has unveiled new patented technology called the Reactional Music Engine, which, it claims, allows music to be “generated in game and react entirely to the gamer and the gameplay or vice versa”.
What that means in practice, explains Reactional, is that it can take any library of music, integrate it into the Engine and allow games developers to set their parameters for how they want the music to react to gameplay.
It also means that users can personalize their gaming experience to their favourite tunes or artists.
Reactional Music says that its new tech, developed in Sweden by musicians and technologists led by composer and Gestrument founder Jesper Nordin, “enables a real opportunity for the music industry to commercialize its catalogs in the personalization of gaming” by offering music as an in-game purchase option for gamers.
Reactional also says that its service will allow any artist or rightsholder to share their music and compositions with games developers and gamers.
The company has confirmed that it has already been working with games development teams on pilot projects for the last 12 months, that it has already secured a number of music catalogs from artists and music rightsholders, and that it is actively talking with other music rights holders, artists, composers and games developers.
Reactional says that all music and sound on the Reactional platform is rights cleared worldwide and that it tracks all music use across its platform, enabling “100% accurate” reporting to all rights holders and stakeholders.
The company works with rightsholders to create what it calls, a “Reactional Track”, which is an interactive file or version of a piece of music. The master is not edited, mixed or altered.
Reactional’s Music Box will then enable the delivery of Reactional Tracks, which are full-length music tracks), Musimotes (5-20 seconds song or sound clips) or Flares (1-3 second sound bursts and idents) into games.
The Engine generates music note by note in real time based on a series of musical rules and values specific to the music.
Reactional Music platform will be live in Q2 2022.
“We believe personalisation of music and sounds in video games will become the new normal while also delivering a new revenue stream for virtual audio goods.”
David Knox, Reactional Music
“We believe personalisation of music and sounds in video games will become the new normal while also delivering a new revenue stream for virtual audio goods,” said Reactional Music CEO David Knox.
“Personalisation of music and sound during a game is an extraordinarily compelling opportunity for everyone in gaming and music. Our Engine ensures that for the first time music truly becomes an immersive part of the gameplay experience. By cracking the ability to make music interactive in realtime Reactional delivers significant creative and commercial opportunities for everyone in games and music.”
Added Knox: “Being part of the process of artists and rights holders delivering in major franchises such as FIFA, The Sims and Need for Speed, I understand the power of music and soundtrack as part of the gaming experience.
“Our platform delivers the first truly cinematic soundtracks to video games, generating sound in realtime in response to the gameplay. At the same time, the technology affords us the opportunity to bring all kinds of different music, sound and sound effects to games, providing choice and personalisation.
“For the gamer it is a quantum leap in choice; for the developer it presents the opportunity to re-fresh, personalise, re-invent and bring some amazing commercial and creative tie ups to their games, with major artists working closely with developers on their favourite games franchises.”Music Business Worldwide
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