The Music of Minecraft

Minecraft needs no introduction. Having been first released in 2009 and going on to making 211 million in 2012 alone (Curry, 2023), it’s to put into words how much of a cultural phenomenon the franchise has become and is still going on to become, which is pretty remarkable for a blocky sandbox game.

Now, music. Every game needs it, from platformers to first-person shooters. It adds a dimension to the game itself that makes it so much more rounded and immersive, but what kind of music would belong in a game like this? Enter Daniel Rosenfeld, better known by his stage name, C418. He had met Markus “Notch” Persson, the creator of Minecraft on TIGSource, using this forum to collaborate with him and supply music and sounds to his game.

Background music was first added to the game in Alpha v1.2.0 on October 30th 2010 (Persson, 2010), adding music to randomly play in the background of the gameplay, with C418 going for a very mellow sound, often using the piano and strings to paint an ambient soundscape to perfectly compliment Minecraft’s surroundings and soon becoming nostalgic staples to millions worldwide.

This update added ten new tracks into the game as randomly playing background music, these would go on to be known as: Minecraft, Clark, Sweden, Subwoofer Lullaby, Living Mice, Key, Oxygene, Dry Hands, Wet Hands and Mice on Venus. These tracks to me and many fans remain timeless, and a perfect example of sound design. Wet Hands especially, is outstanding enough as a piano piece, let alone a soundtrack engrained into our minds as kids – being a track built of melancholic yet reassuring piano arpeggios.

All of these tracks plus some extras were compiled into the album Minecraft: Volume Alpha, released March 4th 2011 which was a success, with the album being owned by 19,145 people on Bandcamp alone as of writing. (Bandcamp, 2023)

Bibliography

Bandcamp. (2023, January 2). Minecraft - Volume Alpha | C418. Retrieved from Bandcamp: https://c418.bandcamp.com/album/minecraft-volume-alpha

Curry, D. (2023, January 9). Minecraft Revenue and Usage Statistics. Retrieved from businessofapps: https://www.businessofapps.com/data/minecraft-statistics/

Persson, M. ". (2010, October 30). The Halloween update is out! Retrieved from The Word of Notch: https://web.archive.org/web/0/https://notch.tumblr.com/post/1441206676