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Journey soundtrack loses Grammy to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo

Jessica Conditt — Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:30:00 EST

Austin Wintory's composition of thatgamecompany's Journey soundtrack earned him a Grammy nomination in the Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media category, an accomplishment Wintory was shocked to achieve. It marked the first time a full video game score was recognized by the Academy, following Christopher Tin's win in 2011 with the song "Baba Yetu" from the Civilization 4 soundtrack.

Last night, Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross took home the Grammy for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, for their The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo music. Wintory took the news in stride on Twitter, congratulating Reznor on the win.

"Obviously I didn't work on #JourneyPS3 hoping to win a Grammy," Wintory later tweeted. "The entire point was the game itself and that's gone beyond my wildest dreams." Journey won the top honor at the DICE 2013 awards and we were fairly fond of it as well. Good work, Wintory.

Journey soundtrack loses Grammy to Girl with the Dragon Tattoo originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Feb 2013 17:30:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Austin Wintory's journey to the 2013 Grammys

Jessica Conditt — Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST

On the day Grammy nominations were scheduled to be announced, Austin Wintory didn't get much work done. As the composer for Journey, Wintory had an inkling that he might be nominated in Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media, and he was distracted all day, constantly refreshing the Grammy page, scanning for his name. By evening the list still wasn't posted and he gave up on trying to focus. He got in his car, determined to go home, make dinner and then check the page again.

"The instant I got in my car, my email started blinking. Of all people, it was from my friend Christopher Tin, emailing me to say 'CONGRATULATIONS' - in all caps."

Tin won the first Grammy for a piece of video game music, Civilization 4's "Baba Yetu," in 2011. He and Wintory had been friends for years. When Wintory saw that email, he quickly called Tin and the subsequent conversation went something like this:

"What are you - are you on the website?" Wintory asked Tin. "What's going on?"

"Yeah, I'm looking right at it! There you are!" Tin replied. And then, after a second, the situation dawned on him. "Wait a minute - you didn't know this already?"

"No! I'm in my car right now."

"Oh, this is perfect."

Just then Wintory's phone began buzzing, beeping and possibly sobbing under the barrage of emails, texts and calls from friends and well-wishers. Two weeks later, Wintory agrees with Tin's assessment of events.

"As fate had it, I heard from Chris himself," he says. "I had no foresight, I had absolutely no plan, and yet in hindsight, I wouldn't have it any other way."

Continue reading Austin Wintory's journey to the 2013 Grammys

Austin Wintory's journey to the 2013 Grammys originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 27 Dec 2012 17:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Journey soundtrack receives Grammy nomination

Sinan Kubba — Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:00:00 EST

Austin Wintory must be floating on air after learning his Journey soundtrack is nominated for a Grammy. Wintory's work for thatgamecompany's PSN adventure is going up against scores from the likes of John Williams, Howard Shore, and Hans Zimmer as it bids to take home only the second Grammy ever won for video game music.

While Journey represents the first game to get a Grammy nod for its soundtrack, the accolade for the first game music ever nominated belongs to Civilization 4 and Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu." Tin went one better after he took home the golden gramophone for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" back in 2011.

As for the 2013 awards, the full list of nominees for Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media are Journey, The Adventures of Tintin, The Artist, The Dark Knight Rises, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, and Hugo. Wintory learns if he's to follow in Tin's footsteps on February 10, 2013, when the 55th Annual Grammy Awards are held at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

Journey soundtrack receives Grammy nomination originally appeared on Joystiq on Thu, 06 Dec 2012 12:00:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Grammy Awards to formally recognize 'video game music' for several awards

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:45:00 EST

The National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences has altered four of its annual awards, making it clearer that video games can be nominated for the category. As IndustryGamers notes, although it's a minor alteration, it's a big deal that video games are getting equal recognition with film and television. The four awards amended by the Academy are:

The Music for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Score Soundtrack for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)
Best Song Written for Visual Media (Motion, Television, Video Game Music, or Other Visual Media)

Previously, video games fell under "other visual media." Bill Freimuth, VP of the awards for the academy, recognizes this as a first step for video games receiving its own category. "Many people from the game community have been asking us to create a special category for games over the years, but the main reason we haven't is because we have received very few entries from game publishers," he said.

This year, Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu" was the first piece of "video game music" to win a Grammy, though it was in a category that had nothing to do with visual arts and was given years after the work was originally composed for Civilization 4.

Grammy Awards to formally recognize 'video game music' for several awards originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 11 Apr 2011 09:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Christopher Tin wins Grammy for Civ 4's 'Baba Yetu'

Alexander Sliwinski — Mon, 14 Feb 2011 09:10:00 EST

Christopher Tin's "Baba Yetu," otherwise known as "that Civilization IV song that won't get out of your head," won a Grammy for "Best Instrumental Arrangement Accompanying Vocalists" at the 53rd annual music awards. The track, which is the first piece of video game music nominated for a little gramophone, was recognized so many years later because it was the opening track on composer Christopher Tin's debut album, Calling All Dawns, which also won a Grammy for "Best Classical Crossover Album."

Tin's "Baby Yetu" has been a mainstay of Video Games Live for several years and can be seen performed live on the show's DVD/Blu-ray (and on the YouTubes). "We're so proud of Christopher's Grammy Award victory and what he has accomplished," said Video Games Live CEO Tommy Tallarico in a statement this morning. "This historic moment will continue to bridge the gap between mainstream music and video games. It is an honor to perform his music in our show."

The award-winning song and the entire Calling All Dawns album are both available through iTunes.

Christopher Tin wins Grammy for Civ 4's 'Baba Yetu' originally appeared on Joystiq on Mon, 14 Feb 2011 09:10:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Grammy-winning Up composer got his break in video games

Griffin McElroy — Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:45:00 EST

You may have heard of mild-mannered Michael Giacchino, who ended up winning two Grammys this past weekend for his work as the composer for Pixar's tear-jerking animated romp, Up. However, you might not know that he found his humble beginnings in video games -- according to his recent interview with Variety, he was hand-picked by Steven Spielberg to do the soundtrack for the Jurassic Park: The Lost World game. J.J. Abrams played said dino-platformer, and ended up contacting Giacchino to do the music for Alias -- it was all uphill from there.

It's a really cool story, if only because it finally proves that The Lost World actually had a soundtrack behind all those raptor squeals and Wilhelm screams.

Grammy-winning Up composer got his break in video games originally appeared on Joystiq on Tue, 02 Feb 2010 23:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Hey, Grammys, where's the video game love?

Kyle Orland — Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:45:00 EST

Filed under: Culture, Rhythm

The music world is all in a tizzy at today's announcement of the 49th annual Grammy award nominations, and all the the nominated artists should be very proud. Unfortunately, music artists, producers and engineers who work in the video game industry have nothing to be excited about. Aside from an obscure video game reference in Arctic Monkey's Best-Rock-Performance-nominated-song "Chun Li's Flying Bird Kick," [thanks, avtiger27] video game music has no representation in the expansive Grammy nominees list.

It would be ridiculously easy for the Recording Academy to shoehorn video game music into the Film/TV/Visual Media category -- surely the Gears of War soundtrack can hold its own against the likes of the soundtrack for Grey's Anatomy, Season 2. Better yet, the Recording Academy could create a whole new category for video game music, much like the MTV Video Music Awards did last year.

It seems a shame that great soundtracks for games like Xenosaga: Episode III, Zelda: Twilight Princess and Tomb Raider: Legend don't even have a chance to be honored during the recording industry's biggest night of the year. So how about it, Recording Academy? Why not respect video games as the culturally important force that they are with a few nominations next time around?

Hey, Grammys, where's the video game love? originally appeared on Joystiq on Fri, 08 Dec 2006 18:45:00 EST. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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