Last night, Nintendo made a surprise launch of a new Nintendo Music smartphone app, offering many of the company's key soundtrack songs as an extra to Nintendo Switch Online subscribers. But the new free subscription could give Nintendo extra motivation to once again crack down on internet users who have been collecting and posting Nintendo music online for years.
The Nintendo Music app contains hundreds of songs from titles to download or stream, ranging from 1985 Super Mario Bros. to last year's Pikmin 4. The current music selection is far from comprehensive, but at least touches on many of Nintendo's most popular series, including Zelda, Pokémon, Kirby, Fire emblem, MetroidAnd Animal crossing (plus some popular background music from various Wii channels). Nintendo promises that more songs will be added over time, mirroring the process Nintendo has used to add classic Nintendo Switch Online game downloads.
A new trailer introduces some features of the Nintendo Music app.
Nintendo Music users can of course create their own playlists, or choose from a number of pre-curated playlists to suit different moods or character themes. The app also syncs with your Nintendo Account to highlight music from games you play and offers options to avoid “spoilers” of certain game music or extend songs into long loops.
The sad fate of GilvaSunner
The launch of the Nintendo Music app follows a history of rather strict DMCA-driven takedowns of Nintendo music uploaded to the internet by others. For example, in 2019, Nintendo issued dozens of copyright strikes for Nintendo soundtrack songs posted by the popular YouTube channel GilvaSunner, sparking a backlash from fans. In 2022, Nintendo performed takedowns for thousands of additional songs uploaded by GilvaSunner, causing them conclude that “at this point it's really not worth keeping the channel active any longer.”
Although GilvaSunner made no money from the ad-free YouTube channel, some observers have noted in the past that “Nintendo itself doesn't make any money from its soundtracks either, because there is no official way to pay to listen to them.” them.” That's no longer strictly true, as the Nintendo Music app is sold as an extra to make a paid Nintendo Switch Online subscription a little more attractive.
