Music of Minecraft

11.29.2022

C418, a German musician, composed the music for Minecraft. The legacy console editions of Minecraft include 129 additional songs. These songs were composed by Gareth Coker. Lena Raine and Kumi Tanioka composed several tracks later in the game's history.

The game's soundtrack features mostly instrumental ambient music and has been highly praised by critics. In 2011, Kotaku voted the soundtrack as one the best video games soundtracks.

The Minecraft soundtrack consists of three albums - Minecraft – Volume Alpha (2011) and Minecraft – Volume Beta (2013) byC418, as well Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs (2021), by Lena Raine. She has also released two extended plays - Minecraft : Wild Update (2022) and Minecraft : Nether Update (202020). These albums include music from the game, as also music used in trailers and instrumentals that were not included with the final release.

Rosenfeld hinted in 2015 at a possible third album for Minecraft's music soundtrack. Rosenfeld confirmed the album's release in 2017, claiming that it was "still far from done".

Albums by C418

Ambient
soundtrack
Video game
Minimum
- None (self-released).
Ghostly International
C418 released Minecraft Volume Alpha on March 4, 2011. It was his seventh studio album and the first Minecraft soundtrack album. The album includes most of the music from the game, as also music used in trailers and instrumentals that were not part of the final game. Rosenfeld spoke out about the songs in Minecraft Volume Alpha.

Because I believe that people are less likely to buy music that is already in the game, I like to add more to the songs. It's better to make the album more cohesive and playable on its own than just taking the sound files and adding them to an album.

The album received positive reviews. AllMusic's Andy Kellman praised the album's replay value, saying that "none" of the recurring elements was too obvious or simple to make it difficult to listen to over and over. Mojo magazine stated that Volume Alpha's contents are "one of the most influential pieces of music of recent years" due to Minecraft's large audience. Some of the most beautiful, too. Two tracks on the album refer to Oxygene (1976), and Equinoxe (1978). Jean-Michel Jarre also references "Moog City", which is a reference the Moog synthesizer. However, none were used.

Ghostly released the first physical copies of Minecraft Volume Alpha in June 2015. It was available as an LP or CD. The album was nominated at the Billboard Music Awards for Top Dance/Electronic Album in 2022.

Minecraft - Volume Beta

Dark ambient
soundtrack
Video game
IDM
Minimum
- None (self-released).
Ghostly International
C418 released Minecraft Volume Beta on 9 November 2013. This is his tenth studio album. The album features newer music, which was added to the game after the release Minecraft - Volume Alpha. There is also exclusive music for the album. Tracks 20 through 29 contain audio from 10 of 13 in-game music discs that can be found by game players.

The album is generally darker than its predecessor; Rosenfeld claims that the album's tone is "more positive and at times more dark".

Rosenfeld self-released the album and it reached number 14 on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums charts.

Third C418 album

Rosenfeld hinted in 2015 at a possible third album for Minecraft's music soundtrack. He stated that "I'll still be working on Minecraft, so there will probably be another album." Rosenfeld confirmed the future release in 2017, claiming that the album was "still far from finished".

Three new songs were added to the game in 2018's "Update Aquatic" update. These songs are underwater music. Rosenfeld released these songs - "Dragon Fish", Shuniji, and "Axolotl" on Spotify as singles on 9 August, 10 Nov, and 12 Dec 2018. Rosenfeld confirmed via Twitter that the third album would not be called "Volume Gamma" as it will be longer than both the previous albums (which totals over three hours and 18 mins).

Rosenfeld was asked by Anthony Fantano on 8 January 2021 if there was still a third volume to the soundtrack. Rosenfeld replied that he had something and considered it complete. However, things have become complicated due to Minecraft's huge property.

Albums by Gareth Coker

The 21 December 2016 albums Minecraft Battle & Tumble, Minecraft: Chinese Mythology and Minecraft: Greek Mythology were released along with three downloadable packs for the Bedrock version.

Two additional albums with similar themes, Minecraft (Original Soundtrack), and Minecraft: Egyptian Mythology(Original Soundtrack), were released on the 19th and 29th of December 2017. The final album by Coker for the Bedrock edition was Minecraft: Glide Mini Game, Original Soundtrack - which was released on 22nd December 2020.

Microsoft releases the Minecraft albums under its own label, unlike previous work by C418,

- Track notations such as "Chinese Mythology 1" do not correspond with albums with similar names such as "Minecraft Chinese Mythology (Original Soundtrack).

Albums by Lena Raine

Ambient
soundtrack
Video game
Electronic
dubstep
Lena Raine released Minecraft: Nether Update on 14 June 2020. It includes five tracks that were added to Minecraft's 1.16 update. Raine was originally asked by Mojang to create a demo soundtrack that was based on Oneknowing's previous album. Raine was initially intimidated by the task because the game already had a highly acclaimed score. Raine was given short looping tracks to help her imagine what the Nether would provide. She used these samples to inspire the song's creation. Raine noticed that Minecraft's primary instrument is the piano. She challenged herself to create a new sound by using the piano.

Minecraft Caves & Cliffs (Original Game Soundtrack).

Ambient
soundtrack
Video game
Electronic
Lena Raine
Kumi Tanioka
The fourth official release of Minecraft's soundtrack was released on 20 October 2021. It featured songs written and produced jointly by Lena Raine (a Japanese songwriter best known for her work on Final Fantasy: Crystal Chronicles, and Hyrule Warriors: Age of Calamity). The album includes ten tracks that were added in the 1.18 Minecraft update and "Otherside", composed in-game by Raine.

Minecraft: Wild Update - Original Game Soundtrack

Ambient
soundtrack
Video game
Electronic
Lena Raine
Samuel Aberg
The fifth official release of Minecraft's soundtrack was released on 20 April 2022. It featured songs written by Samuel Aberg and Lena Raine. The EP includes four tracks that were added in the 1.19 Minecraft update.