Grammy Awards to Officially Recognize Games
Games added to the descriptors of four awards, opening the door for a game-specific award.
Videogames will no longer be second-class citizens when it comes to the Grammy Awards. The Recording Academy has revealed that it will put videogames on the same level as television and film by adding them to the descriptors of four awards. Prior to the change, games were lumped in with "other visual media" while movies and TV got top billing, which only helped to discourage videogame music from being submitted.
"I think this could be viewed as a first step in the direction of video games getting their own category," The Recording Academy's Bill Freimuth told IndustryGamers. "Many people from the game community have been asking us to create a special category for games over the years, but the main reason we haven't is because we have received very few entries from game publishers."
"This acknowledges that film, TV and games can stand side by side and be independently recognized," added Electronic Arts' Steve Schnur. "Hopefully, this will create an even playing field when people vote next year. I expect there to be a tidal wave of submissions from the game industry."
There's no shortage of quality videogame music out there, whether it be from Halo or Civilization. Christopher Tin, who composed the song "Baba Yetu" for Civilization IV, recently won a Grammy for the song after re-releasing it on a new, non-videogame music album.
"The composers and artists working in this field are consistently delivering at the highest level in entertainment," said composer Christopher Lennertz, who has worked on films like Hop, as well as a number of videogames. "Because of the nature of video games, the musical score has an even greater responsibility to the drama: many times adding the subtext and emotional backstory that would be delivered by dialogue in a traditional film script. More than ever, a game score needs to not only set the mood and pace of an adventure, but also add stakes and drama to an ever evolving interactive storyline."
The four awards that now list videogames along with TV and films are: The Music for Visual Media, Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and Best Song Written for Visual Media.
By Chris Pereira, 04/11/2011
