Why Streaming Will Never Completely Take Over for My Video Game Music Listening

Streaming services have drastically changed the way we watch shows, get our news and listen to music. I've long been a user of YouTube and Netflix but it took quite some time before I made the migration to streaming platforms for my music needs. It is super convenient to have all of my music accessible in one place. Well, it would be if the primary music I listen to, video game music, were more readily available on music streaming apps.

Be it rock, classical, jazz, or gospel, I can make a playlist out of those genres easily on Spotify or YouTube Music. Finding stuff from Chicago, the Spinners, the Bee Gees or Imagine Dragon, most if not all of the music from those groups and more can easily be found on popular music streaming platforms. When it comes to video game music, however, the selection is really lacking. 

SEGA, Bandi Namco, SNK, SQUARE EXIX and several other game companies have gotten on the ball and brought some of their game soundtracks to music streaming platformers. I can listen to just about every soundtrack from the Tekken series or choose from the playlist of my favorites on either Spotify or YouTube music. A hefty supply of music from SNK's history is available including the Fatal Fury albums, The King of Fighters, Metal Slug as well as the short lived Last Blade series. Thankfully, more recent titles such as Katana ZERO, Pander Paladin and Hades are on Spotify. Music from indie titles as well as the newer game scores are more likely to pop up on music apps. But older stuff like FINAL FANTASY MYSTIC QUEST, Cybernator and such are far less likely to appear on music streaming services, at least legally. And due to the tricky nature of copyright such as more than one party owning something, a lot of game music just isn't gonna be available on these apps. Frankly, what is currently available, while it may seem like a huge selection, is really a drop in the vast ocean that is video game music.

The video game music community has been a treasure to me over the years. Long before some of the game soundtracks on some of these streaming sites were up, they would provide game rips of tons upon tons of game music. The sad reality is, there are a copious amount of games that do not get official soundtrack releases. And if if they do, they are often out of print or are not easily accessible. For every Streets of Rage 2, a game that is highly regarded for it's amazing soundtrack, there are hundreds of MUSHAs, a lesser known game with outstanding music that has never had any sort of official soundtrack release.

Quality is also an issue when it comes to official game soundtracks. Just because it is an official release, that doesn't mean the sound quality of the music is the greatest or even decent. It would be ideal for every official soundtrack release to have superb sound quality but even some of the kings of game music end up getting screwed. Mega Man, a series known far and wide for it's music has music from Mega Man 1-6 on Spotify in some of the most shoddy quality. Mega Man 3-6 sound decent-ish but Mega Man 1-2 got horribly butchered and there is no way I can enjoy Wood Man's glorious theme in that pee poor quality. Capcom should be ashamed of themselves for representing part of the Blue Bomber's music in such a subpar manner. I've got gamerips of Mega Man 1-6 that sound worlds better than what Capcom has offered. Mega Man 7-10's soundtracks aren't even up on Spotify but considering how the previous game soundtracks turned out, that may be a blessing. At least Mega Man 11 came out unscathed and the Mega Man Zero soundtracks sound good. Mind you, I'm, not an audio freak but when someone as untrained as me can spot this lousy audio quality, there's a serious problem.

Oh and it isn't just Capcom that's in on this meh-music quality. SQUARE ENIX has also dipped a few toes in the water. Much of the FINAL FANTASY music that is up on Spotify sounds really, really freaking good. But the NES versions of FINAL FANTASY I and II are based off of the original soundtrack release from the 1980s in Japan. This album release has awful sound balance leading to you getting more sound in one ear and far less in the other. What's crazy about this whole fiasco is that SQUARE ENIX has had so many chances to correct this issue but each time the company has released the 8-bit versions of FINAL FANTASY I & II's music, they always go with this off sounding version. Again, I've got gamerips that had more effort put into them than the official material. Sometimes the fans really do appreciate the company's work more than they do.

If there's one company that knows what's up when it comes to getting music on streaming apps, it is undoubtedly Falcom. Looking through their discography on Spotify displays no meager selection but a plethora of gaming soundtracks from past to present. No, everything they've done isn't up. But compared to every other gaming company that has uploaded music to Spotify, they have done far more than the bear minimum. Falcom is a company known for having stellar game music so it shouldn't be that surprising that they've got the most to offer. Ys, Sorcerian, The Legend of Heroes, Best Selections, Falcom Special Boxes; if you're looking for it, you'll probably find it on Spotify. Slacking game companies, take notes from Falcom. This is how you give your game music better exposure.

I am eternally grateful that I can listen to game soundtracks such as OutRun, Super Hang-On, the near entirety of TEKKEN, the mainline FINAL FANTASY series, Super Monkey Ball: Banana Blitz, and so, so, so much Falcom material on Spotify. But there is just way too much game music that cannot be found on Spotify and other music apps. Because of this, streaming will never fully became my sole means for getting my game music fix. And until game companies start making more and more music widely available, I'll keep looking to the video game music community to let the music play.