CVGM.net - Chiptune, Retro & Video Game Music

This post is intended as a rough guideline to cover the types of music we do/don't want to feature on the site. as always, feel free to ask any questions if you're not sure about something. Please read it in full before asking questions.

There are thousands and thousands of tracks out there that could be uploaded to the site, millions even. Lots of games, demos and so forth. Some guidelines need to be set to say what we do and don't want to have on the site for a number of different reasons.

I should probbably start by listing what we don't want to see on the site:

* Modern Music Tracks - Most modern-day consoles and games carry copyrighted soundtracks that can land us in trouble unless specific permission is granted to upload and stream them. Personally, I find most modern game tracks to be boring and dull; There's no skill required in making them as there was back in the olden days We only consider tracks on older generation consoles/games, unless the author has a direct relevance to older music in some form or another.

* Crap Music - Let's face it, a lot of the music thats released out there is just awful! Don't bother uploading it if you don't like to listen to it yourself!

* We don't want every track ever made! - Just because an artist isn't present on the site, doesn't mean we need every single track that they ever released. There are some artists however, whose entire work is awesome, and therefore should be uploaded. As indicated in the previous point, if you don't like the song then don't bother uploading it! If you don't like it, chances are that the other listeners won't either! We also don't have the disk space to store every track ever made We would rather see a more complete database entry on the songs we do have (Producer, download links, release labels & external links) than lots of songs with no extra data.

* Other Infos - We don't like bad quality rips, low quality rips (such as stuff recorded from a tape player UNLESS it's relevant). Incomplete rips, and so forth. Always verify your sources before uploading. If you know nothing about the track, don't upload it or ask about it in the forums. We don't want to fill the Unknown Artist section of the site unless it's necessary!

And now some information on what we DO want to receive:

* Memorable Tracks - Most of the users on the site have uploaded tracks that were most memorable to them, either as kids, stuff they worked on, or demos/games they played religiously. If you have such tracks then please, go ahead and upload them.

* Hard To Find Tracks - Vintage game tracks that are hard to come by, such as old Arcade machines, iconic systems that are no longer available. Providing the song quality is good and the song itself isn't crap, then go ahead and upload it to the site. If a song platform doesn't exist, or the category that it should be placed in, contact an admin via the forums and we will create it for you.

* Deceased Artists - Artists/Composers who have passed away deserve to have their work remembered forever. We pretty much take anything in this situation, providing the song meets our other requirements, and isn't ridiculously crap.

We accept music from: Games, Demos, Party's, Competitions, Live Sessions, User Tracks* and many more.

* User Tracks - These are tracks composed on computers by authors not necessarily in the game/demoscene. We will evaluate all uploaded tracks, and as long as it isn't terrible, we will give normal people a chance to get their stuff played on our streams We encourage indie developers to submit their work to us for distribution over the airwaves.

That concludes this post about the types of music we do/don't want to receive on the site. For more info on how to upload etc. please see our other posts on the site. Thanks!

According to decisions made in another thread ( Licensed songs - yeey or naay? ) music licensed for use in games (e.g. Michael Jackson's songs in GTA or other Guitar Hero / Need for Speed titles) falls under Modern Music Tracks and should not be uploaded as it does not directly fit radio profile and can cause possible copyright issues.

Was this almost 3 years old info still valid? I thought this site separated form Nectarine because of the game music copyright issues. I've uploaded tracks from some newer games, and we have platforms for newer consoles, but basically, even 20 year old consoles like PSX still have copyrighted soundtracks, but this site isn't focusing only on C64 or such older game music, right? I mean, even Nectarine has such tracks, so there'd be no reason to split from cvgm if both were accepting identical music.

This info should be updated, perhaps. I mean, crap music isn't to be added, but we actually have a crap platform for such music Of course, I didn't add 90% of Silent Hill music because they were literally metal scratching sounds or so it felt that way

Sometimes I upload tracks I particularly don't like, but see others rating those tracks with five stars, so what may seem like crap to me can be great music to others, and vice-versa. We aren't uploading only for ourselves, or we could just keep it on our HDD if that was the case

That depends on the definition of crap Some crap is legendary and therefore deserves rightful place. Some crap is just too good to be in crap section, like Gravity - Title. Like you say, the listener might like something you hated

My personal taste of newer game music here is not great. Most modern game soundtracks are not tht interesting to me, and while there are a few that stick out from all of the rest (games such as Halo for example), if the site is ever asked to take them down, we will have to comply. I would be quite happy seeing nothing but oldskool games music uploaded here, and the best of the classic demoscene.

CVGM caters to a lot of different musical needs in many different systems and platforms, some of which I thought I would never like, but now do so because of the exposure. While we will remain mostly a chipstune-ish station, I also want to prevent the site from focussing on just one small group of people's musical tastes.

My advice is be cautious with what you upload, especially stuff released within the last couple of years.

Okay, I'll keep newer stuff with me until those games become at least 2-4 years old. We can always remove it on request of the author or publisher without thinking twice, so it shouldn't be a problem, I hope.

Indeed, older music rules, and I love it, but ever now and then I don't mind listening to some newer track just as well, there are many good ones, indeed.

But this is primarily your site, so if you think we shouldn't add music for games that are, say, less than 20 years old, let me know, in which case I'll keep the newer music only to myself

Was this almost 3 years old info still valid?

Yes, I do not see any reason why FAQ or other Help files would stop being valid because some time passed since it was posted. And I believe it is the same for other parts, like Official Upload FAQ.

-GF

If they are updates as the source FAQ stated, then it's fine.

But three years ago this site was probably merger with Nectarine, so their view on accepting game music was much more limited than CVGM (as per its name, obviously). And this site probably didn't have Crap platform for sleection and hence didn't accept crap music. But "crap" can be very subjective as you can easily find tracks with both 1 an 5 star rating, meaning it is great to someone and cap to someone else.

Fish also stated we only consider tracks on older generation consoles. Was that one generation older console or 5 generations older consoles which definitely don't have copyrighted music nowadays. But those were words by Fish 3 years ago, no doubt that changed after the site split from Nectarine.

I mean was there a special author permission given for Shadow of the Colossus OST or Bully OST that were uploaded before I came here? I don't think so, but thoe were not uploaded 3 years ago, so something must've changed in the meantime, or noone would approve 95% of the tracks I've uploaded when I first joined this site, yet noone ever told me "don't uplad that game music unless asking for author". I thikn our latest policy on that is "upload it, but if author asks or requests, we will remove it without thinking twice", which is fine if that sort of logic does not lead into trouble.

I doubt any artist will tell you "oh, sure, upload all my game music to site, don't buy game or soundtrack, who cares"

But, we aren't allowing download of tracks where artist didn't give prior permission first, and we only stream music which in my book seems more like advertising good music to whoever wants to buy it or something. Both games or soundtracks by listening to this. Many sites have many OSTs for download, you can find it pretty much anywhere, anything you want. That would seem much more hurting to artists and companies than streaming it and in half-quality of the original file, no less.

I dunno lawyer talk and all the rules, and many games and music CDs usualy have it written it's for personal use, not to be publicly used or something, or was that for movies, I dunno, but that's why we remove anything any author requests, so it shouldn't be problem, I hope.

We aren't forcing it, we upload music because we like it or because other people may like it or feel nostalgic (I feel nostalgic by listening to 1996 Red Alert just as some of you may by listening to Atari 2600 or ZX game music which was before my time to properly remember... I was 5 when I first got my computer, and it was ZX, but barely remember it... then got Amstrad year later, but also too young to remember much, but after that there was Amiga and that's my place of starting memories, probably why I love MOD and XM music so much above all).

Anyway, even if we remove tracks for some music if/when requested by author, we can still leave those IDs with tracks title, so we know there is a track by such title for that game made by that artist. So actually, reusing reported tracks may be a bad idea because we lose the info there ever was a track by such name made by such artist. Reported tracks may be in a different darken color or something, but are still as a piece of info about the track.

Basically, this site could have a goal to feature any track ever made, just not have a playable file under every track's name, lol. So it is only informative in some way (like vgmdb) and playable in other. Not really sure that'll happen, don't really know what's Fish's goal for the forseable future and how he see this site in 5, 10 or 20 years from now, or is it just something temporary he enjoys.