Creating Your First Video Game Cover Album
This guide is designed to help musicians who want to create their first record, whether it be an EP or LP. By this point, I assume you’ve released a single or two, and you are looking for a challenge. Of course, if you’ve already released your first record, there’s still plenty of information here that could help you, so let’s get started.
Step 1: Choose a Concept
Most video game cover records fall into one of three categories: a single video game soundtrack, music from a video game series, or a record based around a theme.
Video Game Soundtrack
This is the most obvious choice for video game cover artists, and it’s a great choice for beginners since you only need to be familiar with a single soundtrack. There are plenty of examples to draw inspiration from, and GameGrooves has released several records in this category, including Steal Your Heart, Barrel Roll, Archstones, and more. I would caution newer artists that your marketing and promotion will depend greatly on the game’s popularity, so be sure to choose wisely. You might be tempted to cover your favorite video game soundtrack, but if it’s too obscure, it’s going to be difficult to find an audience.
Pro: Great for beginners
Con: Not great for more obscure games
Music from a Game Series
Another obvious choice would be to cover music from multiple games within a series. There are plenty of video game franchises with a solid discography, including The Legend of Zelda, Super Mario, and Final Fantasy. What’s more, there are plenty of existing websites, forums, and fanbases that cater to specific game franchises, and the more games that you cover, the more likely that someone from those communities will notice. Of course, keep in mind that every game on your record needs to be licensable, so you will need to spend more time checking for that. In addition, be prepared to spend more time on your arrangements as you will need to create a cohesive record from a variety of compositions (and possibly composers).
Pro: More games means a bigger potential audience
Con: Possibly harder to license and arrange
Themed Records
The themed record is probably the most difficult to market, and I would not recommend this category for beginners. Sure, it’s tempting to make the next holiday-themed record, but who is your audience if you only have a few tracks from a given video game franchise? If you are a more established artist, this approach works much better. For example, The Game Brass has plenty of themed albums (Brasslevania, Brassino Isles, Brass Castles, etc.), but their audience isn’t expecting any particular video game soundtrack; they want to hear these albums for The Game Brass’s arrangements and performances.
If you decide that you want to create a themed record, then timing is absolutely essential for marketing purposes. Look for upcoming video game anniversaries or wait for a particular holiday to release your record. In addition, I’ve found this concept works well for charity records since you can find a charity that reflects your themes. For instance, on Her Theme, we chose Girls Make Games as the charity since we wanted to honor women in gaming. For Rainbow Roads, we chose Mermaids UK and ILGA World because we wanted to honor the LGBTQ+ gaming community. Of course, before you start creating a charity record, it’s best to contact the charity that you have in mind.
Pro: Great for charity records
Con: Can be difficult to market
Step 2. Licensing and Distribution
Possibly the most daunting part of creating a video game cover record is the licensing. For new artists, the prospect of navigating copyright law can be intimidating and overwhelming, but luckily, there are plenty of great guides that have been written for this very purpose. I would recommend checking out two such guides by the fine folks at Soundrop:
Licensing: What Do We Cover? https://support.soundrop.com/hc/en-us/articles/115005087223-Licensing-What-Do-We-Cover-
Advanced Licensing Request Tips https://support.soundrop.com/hc/en-us/articles/360039589271-Advanced-Licensing-Request-Tips
Once you’ve ensured that your cover record is legally licensable, it’s time to choose your distributor. By far, the two most popular choices are Soundrop and Distrokid, but for many reasons (which I won’t dive into here), I would highly recommend Soundrop over Distrokid. In the interest of full disclosure, GameGrooves is sponsored by Soundrop, but I was using their services long before our partnership. In addition, I would NOT recommend releasing your first cover record on Bandcamp as this requires additional licensing. For more experienced artists, I would highly suggest Easy Song Licensing (aka Easy Song) for your Bandcamp licensing needs. Again, in the interest of full disclosure, GameGrooves is sponsored by Easy Song, but I’ve been using their services for a while now.
Step 3. Choose a Genre
While it’s not necessary to stick to one genre for a record, it can be easier to market since it gives your audience an idea of what to expect from the arrangements. In fact, most of the non-charity GameGrooves albums have both a musical theme and video game theme. Metal meets Demon’s Souls in Archstones, pop punk meets The Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time in Link-182, and folk music meets Banjo-Kazooie and Banjo-Tooie in Spiral Mountain. Our most popular album, Skario Kart: A Ska Tribute to Mario Kart 64, succeeded in large part due to the ska community as well as the VGM community. In other words, with genre-themed records, you can engage two audiences at once!
Step 4. Choose Your Record Length
The general rule of thumb is that if this is your first record, you should create an EP. While it might be tempting to create your magnum opus on your first try, the reality is that it’s hard enough to create 5 or 6 arrangements let alone a dozen. In addition, platforms like Spotify only allow you to pitch a single track from any given release, so if you create two EPs instead of one LP, that’s twice the opportunity to be featured on an official playlist.
If you’re determined to create a full-length album, then I would recommend anywhere from 10 to 15 tracks and no more than 45 minutes of music. Granted, there are plenty of video game cover albums that reach the 2 and 3-hour mark, but you run the risk of listener fatigue after a solid hour of music. In addition, you have to account for $0.091 USD for each track that you license, so for a $10 album, that can add up quickly.
Conclusion
Hopefully, this guide serves you well whether you’re a new artist or a seasoned veteran in the VGM community. Please be sure to check back often for more tips and guides as we continue our year-long journey through the GameGrooves 2022 Album Challenge!