Daily Debate: How Do You Feel About the Nintendo Music App and Nintendo’s Approach to Their Soundtracks?
Posted on November 04 2024 by Sean Gadus
While many fans and journalists have been eagerly awaiting any announcements about the successor to the Nintendo Switch, Nintendo has made a series of smaller announcements unrelated to future hardware. In what has felt like an extremely odd month, Nintendo announced a secretive online playtest, an alarm clock, a Nintendo Switch port of a Wii-U game, and a new music app. Of these eclectic announcements, Nintendo Music feels like the most significant announcement. This new app, available to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers on Apple App Store and Google Play Store, is a significant milestone in the history of Nintendo music. After years of ignoring digital distribution and streaming (issuing countless copyright takedowns), Nintendo Music creates specific place to listen to music from key Nintendo soundtracks.
With this in new app in mind, how do you feel about the Nintendo Music app and Nintendo’s approach to their soundtracks?
Overall, Nintendo Music adds additional value and content to the Nintendo Switch Online subscriptions, and it is important that Nintendo offers significant content to individuals paying for the subscription service. Nintendo Music has some nice features like the ability to loop certain songs and extended the length of time that a song plays for. While there are only small percentage of Nintendo’s diverse range of soundtracks available at the launch of Nintendo Music, the company is already promising more soundtracks that will arrive in the future.
Putting aside some of the positive qualities of Nintendo Music, I would argue that Nintendo Music is another example of how Nintendo’s approach to marketing their soundtracks and their approach to music distribution is wildly behind the times. First, Nintendo is launching their own music streaming service years after many listeners have already cultivated their music ecosystems and got in comfortable routines with their preferred music platforms. Whether it is Amazon Music, Apple Music, YouTube Music, Spotify, or even smaller sites like Bandcamp, most listeners are firmly entrenched in where they go to purchase or listen to music. Instead of releasing their music to existing music platforms, Nintendo is fighting an uphill battle trying to get listeners to adopt their new platform. I am sure some passionate fans or families will make room for Nintendo Music, but other fans may not want to add another music app to their phone. Second, Nintendo continues to confine their soundtrack to their own limited ecosystem, a decision that fans have long felt frustrated about. One of the great joys of music is being able to mix and match music from different artists and genres and create new playlists. Many listeners have turned to fan-made remixes or rearrangements when they are trying to create playlists or mixes that combine Nintendo and non-Nintendo music.
What do you think? How do you feel about Nintendo Music and Nintendo’s approach to their soundtracks? Let us know your thoughts on these topics in the comments below!
Sean Gadus is a Senior Editor at Zelda Dungeon. His first Zelda game was Ocarina of Time, and he loves all of the 3D Zelda games from 1998-2011. He is currently replaying the narrative ghost story Oxenfree, and taking his first stab at playing Dark Souls. He wants to help build a kinder, more compassionate world. You can check out his other written work at The-Artifice.com.
