# Music of Minecraft

The music of the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. American composer Lena Raine has also contributed music for four major updates to the game since 2020, alongside Aaron Cherof and Kumi Tanioka who worked on the most recent version in 2024. Music included in downloadable content (DLC) for legacy console versions of the game was handled by British musician Gareth Coker.
Rosenfeld was the sole contributor of music in the Java Edition of the game until 2020. He has released two albums containing his work for the game, with Minecraft – Volume Alpha in 2011 and its follow-up double album Minecraft – Volume Beta in 2013, and three singles originally meant for release under a third soundtrack album were each released throughout 2018. His works have been lauded by music critics and the video game community – both released albums have received several pressings to vinyl and have held prominent positions on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, with the former being certified gold by the RIAA in the United States for selling 500,000 units.
Alongside the launch of various DLC for legacy console editions of Minecraft in 2016, Coker issued three soundtrack albums, producing an additional three in the following four years. In 2020, Raine composed the soundtrack for the "Nether Update", and has since worked on the music for three more updates alongside Kumi Tanioka and Samuel Åberg. In 2023, Cherof contributed five new songs to the game's "Trails & Tales" update. Citing licensing issues and legal conflicts with Microsoft, a completed third album by Rosenfeld, titled Minecraft – Volume Final, which was first teased in 2015 and confirmed in 2017, has still not seen release as of 2024. All contributions to the game's soundtrack by artists other than Rosenfeld are owned by and have been released under Microsoft's own label.

## Background and artistry
### C418

German musician Daniel Rosenfeld had been making music under the moniker C418 since he was 15 years old, and was influenced by the electronic work of Aphex Twin. From 2007, he became active on online indie game community TIGSource where he met Markus Persson, who was still in the early stages of developing Minecraft. Rosenfeld was given creative freedom to create a soundtrack for the tech demo, and opted to make ambient music reminiscent of the works of Brian Eno and Vangelis. He was interested in "games with music that takes you completely by surprise," citing Dwarf Fortress as inspiration. Therefore, Rosenfeld wanted to "make something organic and partly electronic, partly acoustic" for Minecraft. Further, he intended to make the music as unintrusive to the player as possible, as if "they'd only notice it when something interesting happens in the game." However, the soundtrack's minimalistic style was also due to technical constraints, as he admitted the game "has a terrible sound engine."
Persson chose to commission the music from Rosenfeld, meaning the artist still retains ownership of all the music he made for Minecraft. Both the soundtrack albums also contain music not intended for the game, "extending the album into a more cohesive piece that can be played on its own."

### Lena Raine

In 2020, American composer Lena Raine was contacted by Mojang Studios to compose music for the "Nether Update" in Minecraft. She had previously handled the soundtrack for video game Celeste (2018), and had just released her debut studio album Oneknowing (2019). In composing music for Minecraft, she felt "immense pressure" to deliver due to the "very highly acclaimed score" already in the game. After submitting a demo, her goal with the "Nether Update" soundtrack was to see how far she "could push the sound of the piano until it resembled other things entirely." With her third contributions to the game in 2022, Raine wrote she wanted to "focus the musical style around more of a blend between synths and live instrumentation," while continuing to use "strings, piano, and woodwinds in places."

## Albums
### Minecraft – Volume Alpha

The first installment of the game's soundtrack, Minecraft – Volume Alpha, was released digitally on 4 March 2011 independently by Rosenfeld. In June 2015, the record received its first pressing to vinyl and CD through American record label Ghostly. In 2022, the album was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the Billboard Music Awards.
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". In 2011, video game blog Kotaku called it one of the best video game soundtracks of that year. "Sweden", one of the songs in the album, is one of the most-streamed songs from a video game on Spotify, with over 141 million streams.

### Minecraft – Volume Beta

On 9 November 2013, Rosenfeld released Minecraft – Volume Beta as his fifth studio album and the game's second soundtrack album. It includes music sonically described as having a darker tone than Volume Alpha, added into the game in various updates following his first record. It also contains audio from 10 of the 13 collectable music discs within the game. In 2013 and 2023, the album appeared on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, peaking at number 14 both times. It received its first pressing to vinyl and CD through Ghostly in 2020.
Like Volume Alpha, Volume Beta comprises most of the music featured in the game, including dedicated music for the game's nether and main menu. It also features music from trailers, and instrumentals not in the game's final release.

#### Composition and release

In 2011, Rosenfeld released Minecraft – Volume Alpha. For this next release, Rosenfeld was again given complete creative control on the soundtrack that would be implemented as part of Minecraft's November 2013 "Music Update".
The mostly ambient album has a generally darker tone than its precursor. Rosenfeld described the track "Alpha" as a medley and "a celebration of past music from Volume Alpha." The first song he had composed with the clear intent for the game's "creative mode" to have a distinct soundtrack was "Blind Spots". The track "Taswell" was created as a tribute to Rosenfeld's friend, the late Ryan "Taswell" Davis, co-founder of American gaming website Giant Bomb. Rosenfeld stated he "didn’t want to remember them for their death, but the happiness they showed every day of their life." Rosenfeld admits that the record is "extremely varied", being "much more percussive, melodic, and progressive" than Volume Alpha. Several songs on the album are remakes of themes from the prior soundtrack album Volume Alpha; "Ki", "Moog City 2", "Mutation", and "Beginning 2" are remakes of the songs "Key", "Moog City", "Minecraft", and "Beginning", respectively. The average song on Volume Beta is far longer than its predecessor – at the time of the album's release, it was Rosenfeld's longest ever work.
Volume Beta also contains the music of nine collectable discs within Minecraft. A stark sonic departure from the rest of the soundtrack, these discs often rely on synthesisers and percussion instruments. Among these records includes "Stal", a smooth jazz composition reminiscent of the 1930s, "Ward", which begins with a sample of "Chopin's Funeral March" and transitions into an eerie electronic melody, and "Far", a fantasy-based composition resembling The Legend of Zelda music.
In August 2020, record label Ghostly released the first physical versions of the album, in CD and LP formats. The album's artwork features an extremely dark 3D model of a block of grass from Minecraft, surrounded on the edges by a larger black and orange cube. On some vinyl pressings, lenticular printing is used to give depth to the blocks in the image and highlight the inner grass block. In October 2020, Monstercat producer Protostar released a drum and bass remix of the track "Aria Math", which marked the first official remix of a Minecraft song. Protostar remarked on his work, "It's an honour to be able to remix any song from Minecraft's iconic soundtrack, and I hope I did this one justice."

#### Critical reception

Online publication Digital Trends specifically praised the album for moving "beyond pieces that are simply 'peaceful' or 'sad' and creates tracks like 'Taswell' and 'Kyoto' that feel like distinct performances", and believed that Minecraft might not have been as successful as it was if it were not for the work of Rosenfeld, including Volume Beta. Richard McDonald of music blog Original Sound Version called the album "an amazing achievement". The Los Angeles Times wrote that the album "showcases C418’s ability to make grander, more sonically diverse ambience". Jack Moeser of The Michigan Daily felt the closing track, "Intro", imparts a "somber yet hopeful feeling [...] reminiscent of how I felt the first few times I played Minecraft, which I think I can now describe: the feeling that the next chapter of my life is about to begin".
In the book Four Ways of Hearing Video Game Music, Michiel Kamp wrote that the sandbox nature of Minecraft also applied to its music, believing the randomness of how the soundtrack is presented would lead to what he viewed as the game creating unique, personalized moments that weren't intentional. Writing for Game Rant, Cameron Pippin ranked the track "Taswell" as the best theme in Minecraft, feeling that it "instills a feeling of power and euphoria that is incredibly motivating", and praising it as "one of the most relaxing themes in the game". He opined that its "memorable [and] heartfelt" nature owed to its context of being a memorial to Ryan "Taswell" Davis, Rosenfeld's late friend, editor for GameSpot and co-founder of Giant Bomb.

#### Release history

Release history for Minecraft – Volume Beta :
| Region | Year | Format | Catalogue | Label |
| Various | 2013 | Digital download, streaming | – | Independent |
| United States, Europe | 2020 | 2×LP | GI-360LP | Ghostly |
| United States, Europe | 2020 | 2×CD | GI-360 | Ghostly |

### Minecraft: Nether Update

On 10 April 2020, it was announced Lena Raine had composed music for the game's "Nether Update". On the sequencing of her three new soundtrack songs, Raine claimed she "wanted each piece to feel like a progression of emotions, or a journey from place to place within this other world." The extended play (EP) also contains a new in-game music disc, "Pigstep", which has two different mixes on the soundtrack version, released 14 June 2020. Unlike Rosenfeld's independently released albums, Raine's work is owned by and published through Microsoft Studios Music.

### Minecraft: Caves & Cliffs

On 20 October 2021, the fourth official release of the Minecraft soundtrack was released, with 10 new tracks coinciding with the game's "Caves & Cliffs" update. Seven of them were composed by Raine, including "Otherside", a new in-game music disc, and three were handled by Japanese composer Kumi Tanioka, known for her work in the Final Fantasy series.

### Minecraft: The Wild Update

The fifth installment of the game's soundtrack, including songs introduced in "The Wild Update", was released on 20 April 2022. It contains three new tracks by Raine, and a new music disc, "Five", composed by Mojang audio director Samuel Åberg.

### Minecraft: Trails & Tales

On 26 April 2023, Mojang announced American composer Aaron Cherof had contributed five new tracks to the game, to be introduced in the "Trails & Tales" update.

### Minecraft: Tricky Trials

On 26 April 2024, the soundtrack for the 1.21 "Tricky Trials" Update of Minecraft was released on digital streaming platforms. The album combines music from Cherof, Tanioka and Raine for the first time.

## Unreleased C418 Volume Final album

In a 2011 Reddit AmA, Daniel Rosenfeld stated his plans to create a third soundtrack album, Volume Final, after the release of Minecraft – Volume Beta. Rosenfeld first revealed development of the album in a 2015 interview with Fact Magazine, commenting, "I'll still work on Minecraft, so there'll probably be another album. In fact, it’s gonna be more ambient than the others, just as an experiment." He also noted listeners' own applications of his previous works, remarking, "I’m interested in seeing how people use music as a sleep aid, so I think on the next album I might put a bonus track on there that’s just 15 minutes of complete ambience and see what people think." Rosenfeld again expressed interest in composing an ambient bonus track for his third album in a tweet posted in December of that year.
In a 2017 tweet, the musician confirmed the album's existence and said that it was set for future release, but that work on it at that point was "still far from done". Rosenfeld additionally stated that the record would be longer than the previous two albums combined, which in total clocks in at over 3 hours and 18 minutes. Rosenfeld additionally reiterated on Twitter that the third album would not be called "Minecraft – Volume Gamma", deviating from the Greek Alphabet naming convention used in the previous two Minecraft albums he composed.
Of the work Rosenfeld did on the third volume, he commented, "When I started making a third minecraft album, I didn't expect it to have this much work involved. I think I'm seeing the end of the tunnel?" On 8 January 2021, Rosenfeld was asked in an interview with Anthony Fantano whether or not the third volume of the soundtrack was still in production. Rosenfeld responded, saying, "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."$^{:31:40}$ Later that year, he would elaborate on his Discord server, saying:
   "I still want to do stuff for Minecraft, but I’ve never managed to get to an agreement with the big guys. I have a lot of music but only time will tell how we will get it out. It will involve at least 20 lawyers."
Rosenfeld would go on to co-found an independent gaming studio, Ivy Road, with The Stanley Parable creator Davey Wreden and Karla Zimonja, co-creator of Gone Home. The trio would announce that they were developing a new game in collaboration with publisher Annapurna Interactive. Rosenfeld and the studio would reveal the game as Wanderstop in June 2024, for which Rosenfeld composed the soundtrack.

## Further contributions
### Singles

On 16 July 2018, three new songs from C418 were added to the game for "Update Aquatic". It marked the first new contributions from Rosenfeld to Minecraft since Minecraft - Volume Beta in 2013. The three tracks were released digitally from August – "Dragon Fish" on 9 August, "Shuniji" on 10 November, and "Axolotl" on 12 December 2018. Rosenfeld was asked by Mojang to create music with "slow beats" for the aquatic music, in a style similar to the music of Donkey Kong, though after he first wrote the songs, Mojang wanted more of the "Donkey Kong" aspect. Rosenfeld slowed the music down and added hi-hats, and Mojang were satisfied.$^{:39:17}$

### DLC soundtrack

While Rosenfeld once composed holiday themed music in downloadable content (DLC) for console editions of the game in 2014, British composer Gareth Coker has been responsible for the bulk of music for DLC in the Legacy Console Editions.
On 21 December 2016, Coker released the albums Battle & Tumble, Chinese Mythology and Greek Mythology to complement three downloadable packs in the Legacy Console Editions. Two more records of similar themes, Norse Mythology and Egyptian Mythology, were released in December 2017 and May 2018 respectively. Coker's final album for DLC was for the Glide Mini Game, releasing on 22 December 2020. Unlike previous work by Rosenfeld, all of Coker's albums for Minecraft were released under Microsoft's own label.
●  Minecraft: Battle & Tumble (Original Soundtrack) (2016) :
No.TitleLength1."Toys on a Tear" (Shrunk)2:302."Dance of the Blocks" (Shrunk)2:153."Master Builder" (Shrunk)2:354."Double Time" (Tumble)1:145."Nimbly Does It" (Tumble)1:106."Chop Chop" (Tumble)1:067."Agile Accelerando" (Tumble)1:118."Lickety Split" (Tumble)1:129."Time is of the Essence" (Tumble)1:0410."Swift Descent" (Tumble)1:1311."Dashing on the Double" (Tumble)1:0712."Pronto" (Tumble)1:0013."BreakneckBoogie" (Tumble)1:0914."Hastilude" (Fantasy)3:4715."Crusaders" (Fantasy)3:3816."Born to Arms" (Fantasy)2:1217."8-Bits, Pieces & Chunks" (City)2:5918."Beat Around the Block" (City)3:1619."From District to District" (City)3:1420."Precincts at Night" (City)3:0321."Industrial Quarter" (City)3:3822."Clockwork Crafter" (Steampunk)3:0023."Magnificent Machines" (Steampunk)3:4424."Steaming Superstructures" (Steampunk)3:1025."Airship Adventurers" (Steampunk)2:5026."Sunset Riders" (Frontier)2:2827."The Outlaw" (Frontier)2:5228."Desert Duel" (Frontier)2:2029."Ghosts in the Tower" (Halloween)2:3130."Warped World" (Halloween)2:4431."Happy Halloween" (Halloween)2:4632."Wondrous Workshop" (Festive)2:4533."Crafter's Candy Canes" (Festive)2:1834."Giftwrapped" (Festive)2:36Total length:80:37 :
●  Minecraft: Chinese Mythology (Original Soundtrack) (2016) :
No.TitleLength1."Xuanzang"3:432."Chang'an - Perpetual Peace" (Overworld)3:313."Jinshan Temple" (Overworld)3:014."Tianxi Mountains" (Overworld)3:525."Sun Wukong" (Battle)3:266."White Dragon Horse" (Battle)2:257."Hotan Ruins" (Nether)3:128."Majishan Grotto" (Nether)3:129."Mountains of Infinite Longevity" (Overworld)3:5410."Hanging Monastery" (Overworld)3:5111."Zhu Baije" (Battle)3:3112."Sha Wujing" (Battle)3:1913."Terracotta Army" (The End)2:4214."Tsaparang" (Nether)3:1315."Kunlun Mountains" (Overworld)2:3716."Mount Huaguo" (Overworld)2:5617."Danxia Rainbow Mountains" (Overworld)2:40Total length:55:05 :
●  Minecraft: Greek Mythology (Original Soundtrack) (2016) :
No.TitleLength1."Seikilo's Epitaph" (feat. Aeralie Brighton)3:092."Demeter - God of Farming" (Overworld)3:323."Artemis - Goddess of the Wilderness" (Nether)2:514."Lelantos - God of Moving Unseen" (Battle)3:295."Hades & Persephone - Gods of the Underworld" (Nether)3:256."Apollo - God of Music and the Lyre" (Overworld)2:567."Zeus & Hera - King and Queen of the Gods" (Overworld)2:288."Ares - God of War" (The End)2:239."Poseidon - God of the Sea" (Overworld)3:1810."Hermes - The Messenger God" (Overworld)3:3511."Hephaestus - God of the Forge" (Nether)2:4212."Homados - God of Battlenoise & Tumult" (Battle)3:4713."Britomartis - Goddess of the Hunt" (Battle)2:4014."Hestia - Goddess of the Hearth" (Overworld)3:1115."Aphrodite - Goddess of Love" (Overworld)4:08Total length:47:34 :
●  Minecraft: Norse Mythology (Original Soundtrack) (2017) :
No.TitleLength1."Asgard" (Overworld)3:362."Jotrunheim" (Overworld)2:573."Midgard" (Overworld)2:584."Aegir and Ran" (Nether)4:045."Vanaheim" (Overworld)3:396."Alfheim" (Overworld)3:077."Valhalla" (Nether)4:368."Svartalfheim" (Overworld)2:429."Muspelheim" (Overworld)3:0510."Folkvangr" (Overworld)3:1511."Hel" (Nether)3:1912."Einherjar" (The End)3:03Total length:40:21 :
●  Minecraft: Egyptian Mythology (Original Soundtrack) (2018) :
No.TitleLength1."The Great Pyramids" (Overworld)3:232."Hathor" (Overworld)3:353."Hibis" (Overworld)3:354."Journey Through the Duat" (Nether)3:305."Shai" (Interlude)1:336."Alexandria" (Overworld)3:177."Heliopolis" (Overworld)3:058."Temple of Isis" (Overworld)2:579."Judges of the Dead" (Nether)3:5610."Renenutet & Meshkenet" (Interlude)1:2911."Abu Simbel" (Overworld)3:1612."Memphis" (Overworld)3:1913."Final Judgement" (Nether)3:2714."Osiris" (The End)2:56Total length:43:18 :
●  Minecraft: Glide Mini Game (Original Soundtrack) (2020) :
No.TitleLength1."In the Flow" (Map 4)2:062."Flight of Fancy" (Map 3)2:263."Glide" (Map 1)2:114."Departures" (Map 7)2:005."Soothing Voyage" (Map 2)2:056."Tense Takeoff" (Map 6)2:067."Wonderful Wings" (Map 5)2:048."Shrunk Soaring" (Shrunk 1)2:099."Pacy Piloting" (Shrunk 3)1:5910."Wicked Wings" (Shrunk 2)2:0011."Velocity and Dynamism" (Body 2)2:0712."Locomotion" (Body 1)2:2213."Mobile Maneuvers" (Body 3)2:0514."Progression and Passage" (Canyon 2)2:0415."Canyon Clearance" (Canyon 1)2:1716."Roaming Wanderer" (Canyon 3)2:0417."Icaria" (Icarus 2)2:1018."Wings of Daedalus" (Icarus 1)1:5819."Aviation" (Excalibur 2)2:0520."Excalibur Excursion" (Excalibur 1)2:0421."Celtic Crossing" (Celtic 1)2:2022."Tour of Tors" (Celtic 2)2:1123."Yinglong" (Chinese Mythology 1)2:0224."Pixiu" (Chinese Mythology 2)1:5625."Tianma" (Chinese Mythology 3)2:22Total length:53:13 :

## Reception

The soundtrack's minimalistic and melancholic composition has been praised by critics. Keith Stuart of The Guardian noted that Rosenfeld's "wilting, minimalist tracks, slow-paced and slightly melancholy, recall the ambient works of Satie and Eno", calling it the game's "perfect accompaniment." In 2018, Jamie Hornsey of student newspaper The Boar described the soundtrack's composition as "nostalgia in its purest form," adding: "By encouraging players to associate pieces of music with certain actions, the game becomes capable of conjuring incredibly vivid images in the player’s mind."
Much of the soundtrack's retrospective praise has been directed at Volume Alpha, where Evan Tridone of The Review called the album "arguably the best ambient album to be released this decade." Writing for Kotaku, Luke Plunkett praised it as a "great album" and as "tranquil as a good night's sleep."
The staff teams of several news outlets have considered the Minecraft soundtrack to be among the best video game soundtracks of all time. These include the editorial teams of NME, Digital Trends, GamesRadar+, and VG247. In 2022, the Minecraft soundtrack placed at number 54 on Australian radio station ABC Classic's top 100 countdown, as voted by listeners.

## Charts
### Volume Beta charts

2013 chart performance for Minecraft – Volume Beta :
| Chart (2013) | Peak position |
| US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) | 14 |
2020 chart performance for Minecraft – Volume Beta :
| Chart (2020) | Peak position |
| Official Record Store (OCC) | 39 |
| Official Independent Album Breakers (OCC) | 15 |
2023–2024 chart performance for Minecraft – Volume Beta :
| Chart (2023–2024) | Peak position |
| Australian Albums (ARIA) | 68 |
| Austrian Albums (Ö3 Austria) | 10 |
| UK Independent Albums (OCC) | 49 |
| US Top Album Sales (Billboard) | 78 |
| US Top Dance/Electronic Albums (Billboard) | 14 |
| US Soundtrack Albums (Billboard) | 23 |