Music of Minecraft

The music of video game "Minecraft" was primarily composed by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. In the legacy console editions of the game, there are 12 additional songs available in DLC for the game, composed by Gareth Coker. Later on in the game's history, Lena Raine composed 4 tracks for the game. The game's soundtrack is mostly instrumental ambient music. It has been praised by critics; in 2011, the video game blog Kotaku chose the soundtrack as one of the best video game soundtracks of that year. "Minecraft" soundtrack was released across two soundtrack albums, "Minecraft - Volume Alpha" (2011), and "Minecraft - Volume Beta" (2013). Both albums include music featured in the game, as well as other music included in trailers, and instrumentals that were not included in the game's final release. In 2015, Rosenfeld hinted at a potential upcoming third album for "Minecraft" soundtrack. In 2017, Rosenfeld confirmed the future release, claiming the album "is still far from done".
Background.
In a panel at MineCon in 2012, Rosenfeld stated that he has had a long-term interest in video games, and was involved with several video game communities. He met Markus Persson in an Internet Relay Chat (IRC), and began composing music for "Minecraft" when the game was in its very early stages as a tech demo. The two shared interest in Aphex Twin, and exchanged each other's projects. Both were impressed by each other's work, and eventually, Persson chose to pair Rosenfeld's music with his game.
Releases.
Danny Baranowsky had previously suggested that Rosenfeld upload his music to the online music platform Bandcamp. On 4 March 2011, Rosenfeld released the game's first soundtrack album, "Minecraft - Volume Alpha", on his Bandcamp account. The album was later released on other digital download services. On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released the second soundtrack album, "Minecraft - Volume Beta". On 21 August 2015, a physical release of "Minecraft - Volume Alpha", consisting of CDs, black vinyl, and limited-edition transparent green vinyl LPs, was issued by acclaimed indie electronic label Ghostly International.
In 2014, console editions of "Minecraft" received downloadable content containing holiday themed music, which was also composed by Rosenfeld.
"Minecraft - Volume Alpha".
On 4 March 2011, C418 released Minecraft - Volume Alpha, the first "Minecraft" soundtrack album, and his eighth album overall. The album comprises most of the music featured in the game, as well as other music included in trailers, and instrumentals that were not included in the game's final release. On the topic of the songs in "Minecraft - Volume Alpha", Rosenfeld stated:
The album was met with positive reviews, with Andy Kellman from AllMusic praising its replay value, stating that "none of the recurring elements is pronounced or simple enough to become fatiguing with repeated play"
"Minecraft - Volume Beta".
On 9 November 2013, C418 released Minecraft - Volume Beta, the second "Minecraft" soundtrack album, and his thirteenth album overall. The album includes newer music that was added into the game after the release of "Minecraft - Volume Alpha", as well as other music exclusive to the album. Tracks 20 to 29 consist of the audio from 10 of the 13 in-game "music discs" that can be found by players of the game. The album has a generally darker tone than its precursor; Rosenfeld claims that "the tone [of the album] is both more positive and at times very dark".
The album was completely self-released by Rosenfeld, and appeared on the "Billboard" Dance/Electronic Albums chart, peaking at number 14.
"Minecraft: Nether Update (Original Game Soundtrack)".
An EP was produced by Lena Raine titled "Minecraft: Nether Update" on 14 June 2020. The EP contains five tracks introduced into the 1.16 update of "Minecraft". Mojang originally requested Raine a demo soundtrack based on her previous album, "Oneknowing". Raine initially felt intimidated due to the game's score being highly acclaimed. Raine benefited from the game being already accessible and played the Nether world for inspiration. Raine was provided with three-minute looping tracks as samples of what the Nether would provide. Raine used the tracks to further inspire the composition of the songs and intended to make it sound as if the song was emerging from the ambient tracks. Raine noted that one of the primary instruments used for the music of "Minecraft" is the piano and challenged herself to use piano and modify the sound to make it sound like something else entirely.
Upcoming C418 album.
In 2015, Rosenfeld hinted at a potential upcoming third album for "Minecraft" soundtrack, stating "I'll still work on Minecraft, so there’ll probably be another album". In 2017, Rosenfeld confirmed the future release, claiming the album "is still far from done".
After the "Update Aquatic" update of 2018, three new songs were added to the game as underwater music. These songs – "Dragon Fish", "Shuniji", "Axolotl" – were released by Rosenfeld respectively on August 9, November 10, and December 12, 2018 on Spotify as singles. All of them are to be included in the third album. Rosenfeld confirmed on Twitter that the third album will not be called "Volume Gamma" and it will be longer than the previous two albums combined (which in total is over three hours and 18 minutes).
On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not there was still a third volume of the soundtrack in the works. Rosenfeld responded that "I have something, I consider it finished, but things have become complicated especially as Minecraft is now a big property. So I don't know".
Discography.
"Minecraft - Volume Alpha" was first released on Rosenfeld's Bandcamp account, and later released on other digital download services. On 21 August 2015, a physical release of the album, consisting CD and vinyl, was issued by Ghostly International. "Minecraft – Volume Beta" was completely self-released by Rosenfeld, released on his Bandcamp account and other digital download services on 9 November 2013.
Reception.
The soundtrack's minimalistic and melancholic composition has been praised by critics. On the topic of the music's minimalism, Rosenfeld has stated that it was "unavoidable", as ""Minecraft" has a terrible sound engine". The ambient music style of the soundtrack has been compared to the works of Brian Eno, Erik Satie, Aphex Twin, and Vangelis. In 2018, "The Boar" described the soundtrack's composition as "nostalgia in its purest form".