Category: The Score
The Score is our dedicated editorial vertical for exploring the intersection of music and video games. Every two weeks, we break down an underrated music/gaming case study — outlining specific insights around monetization models, marketing strategies, and creative tooling, while contextualizing the case study against higher-level business and technology trends.
The way the gaming industry is approaching creator payments could be a critical reference as rights holders continue to push for reform in streaming payout models at large.
It took nearly one whole year for the independent music community to see some initial fruits from Epic Games’ acquisition of Bandcamp.
Following the growing interest in music and gaming, we’re excited to announce a new format for The Score: A monthly newsletter distributed for free to all Water & Music newsletter subscribers. Each issue will round up and analyze the biggest music and gaming stories of the month, through Water & Music’s unique industry lens — forever curious about the latest tech innovations and eager to dive into the weeds, while also pulling out actionable insights grounded in music-industry needs and challenges.
Highlighting the most impressive music and gaming collaborations you might have missed in 2022 — including the key features that made these collaborations so remarkable, how they were activated and monetized, and what you can learn from them.
In September 2022, Space Ape Games announced that its mobile rhythm game Beatstar had generated $73 million in revenue — and shared over $16 million of its income with rightsholders, in a revenue-share model that is almost unheard of in the video game industry.
There’s been a significant rise in music and gaming collaborations across mobile games, rhythm games, virtual world platforms, and more. But the barriers to entry remain high for most independent artists.
Riot Games, the studio behind League of Legends, has collaborated with Lil Nas X on the 2022 League of Legends World Championship (Worlds) Tournament anthem, “Star Walkin.’”
Justin Bieber played his first-ever in-game concert in Garena Free Fire, a battle-royale game exclusive to mobile devices, on August 27, 2022. Did it generate the buzz and results that we expected!
Introducing our new, collaborative editorial vertical exploring the intersection of music and video games.