Founder/CEO
Materia Music, Inc.
Years with Company: Eight
Address: 800 5th Avenue Suite 101-707, Seattle, WA
Phone: 415-475-7775
Web: materiamusic.com
Email: [email protected]
Publicity: Greg O’Connor-Read - Top Dollar PR, [email protected],
702-407-0935
Clients: Arenanet (Guild Wars), Toby Fox (Undertale)
BACKGROUND
Many fail to realize the extent to which video game fanatics crave the music accompanying their favorite digital diversions. Sebastian Wolff noticed the demand early on and has been serving gaming enthusiasts ever since.
Coming Around
The games industry is the future of music. This is something I discovered at my previous startup, Loudr, when we were doing distribution of cover song licensing. The entirety of the game industry is completely underrepresented in the music world. But discussions have started in the last couple years. The industry is waking up.
Enlightening Others
One of our first clients was Toby Fox, creator of Undertale. We approached him and said, “We noticed that you’re not doing anything with your soundtrack. Can we help with the publishing?” He casually agreed, and he’s been one of our favorite clients. His catalog does two million streams a day. When I share this with the rest of the music industry, there’s this break. “Hold up. The game industry has this amount of engagement?” It’s exciting to share that with the rest of the music world.
Fandom Forever
If you’re playing your favorite game for hundreds, maybe even thousands of hours, that [game] is part of your identity. You might buy a physical edition or the vinyl soundtrack, have it on a loop in the background. You might listen to cover songs or, if you’re a musician, play covers. Not only do those games accompany fans for a lifetime, but the melodies do as well.
Business Partners for Life
One of the most important things for us is legacy. We love working with artists and composers that understand this is more than just a one-off. Our ideal clients are the composers that finish their work, pass off the audio to the game developers, and then Materia can help on the label and music publishing side and be a partner for life. This allows us to really elevate the music. We can talk about sheet music, vinyl, derivative works, cover song licenses, all these things a composer might not be independently equipped to [handle]. That’s where Materia can come in.
Involvement From the Jump
We love being involved with a game as early as inception. Some of the most successful indie games are the ones where the composer, audio director and extended music team is part of the project from day one. We try to be a resource during the development cycle.
Music Rights
[Music rights is] complicated. One of our big tenets is educating artists and composers, even game studios and publishers, about the nuance of games rights management. Materia is a music rights company. While we explore everything else, rights management is the core of our business. That includes everyone who might be an interested party in a song or musical recording.
Thankfully, I have a music rights background. We’re comfortable having those discussions. That said, clearance can be difficult.
Sheet Music Mania
When we had the opportunity to press books, we started small. The first was called Undertale Piano Collections. It’s beautiful arrangements by David Peacock with art by Nise. We said, “Let’s do 500 books. Maybe we will sell these in a few years.” Two weeks later, they were sold out. We pressed another 1,000 and another 1,000 and another 5,000. At this point, we’ve pressed over 50,000 books of video game arrangements for piano.
When we look at the market, there’s not a lot of official sheet music from games. I gave a panel about this at a local chapter for the Music Teachers National Association. What a great way to incentivize students practicing an instrument. What if they could play a melody from the game they’re playing right now? It’s surprising that many other game companies haven’t really considered this opportunity.
Fan Excitement
As of two years ago, we started traveling to trade shows and conventions, not just for the educational aspects but also giving consumers the opportunity to experience the goods in person, flip through sheet music and get excited. “I remember this boss battle. I remember dying 10 times in a row.”
Physical Media
A great article came out recently about the rise of video game soundtracks on vinyl. Any kind of physical media is sort of pushed back. As everything becomes subscriptions and streaming, we have this opportunity to curate. “Here’s an album we think is important.” Of course, the majority of our fans exist on streaming platforms.
An Unexpected Comeback
Two years ago, our head of manufacturing says to me, “We have to make cassette tapes.” And I go, “Why are we making tapes?” “They’re big.” “Okay, make 100. If they sell out, we can make more.” Now, we have a warehouse of several thousand tapes that continue to sell. We’re looking at custom tape players branded for our super fans.
My dad grew up on hi-fi equipment. Around the turn of the century, he threw it all away. “Digital is the future, son.” And he was correct. But here we are making cassette tapes. I love that physical media has gotten more footing, especially in fan communities that want to own their music. They want to celebrate it and listen to it on their own terms.
Multiple Labels
We started out as Materia Collective. This was our first record label. Given how much demand and interest there was, we were faced with this opportunity—how can we celebrate specific audiences? On Curaga Records, we’re focusing on jazz and low-fi. With Firaga Records, it’s more high energy, where we have EDM, house, and drum & bass music.
Collectorship
Less than half the people who buy our vinyl have a record player. So it’s very much a collector-based fandom, especially for physical media. We try to make sure it honors the world of the game, the composers, and the music itself.
Seek Help
My biggest advice for composers is to delegate the business part. For composers and creators, the bulk of their time should be spent creating. Every day, I run into composers who are sort of stuck in this lane of D.I.Y.
And I love D.I.Y. I love self-actualization and doing everything yourself. But there are only so many hours in the day. If monetization is the benchmark, find a partner, label, publisher or distributor that supports you and your catalog, so you can focus on the next project.
