We are pleased to be able to announce the publication of the first issue of the Journal of Sound and Music in Games, the world’s first journal dedicated to the study of sound and music in games. We invite you to read the inaugural issue of JSMG for free for a limited time.

The journal’s objective is to present high-quality research concerning all areas of music and sound in games. It serves a diverse community of readers and authors, encompassing industry practitioners alongside scholars from disciplinary perspectives including anthropology, computer science, media/game studies, philosophy, psychology, and sociology, as well as musicology. As the journal of the Society for the Study of Sound and Music in Games, JSMG acts as a lively forum for the presentation and dissemination of knowledge, uniting theory and practice in this domain of musical-sonic activity.
—Stephen Baysted, Editor-in-Chief

Take a look at the issue’s Table of Contents (and click through to read articles for free for a limited time):

Journal of Sound and Music in Games
Volume 1, Issue 1

Editorial Introduction
Stephen Baysted

Articles

Battle Hymn of the God-Slayers: Troping Rock and Sacred Music Topics in Xenoblade Chronicles
Thomas B. Yee

Gray Areas: Analyzing Navigable Narratives in the Not-So-Uncanny Valley between Soundwalks, Video Games, and Literary Computer Games
Elizabeth Hambleton

The 1-Bit Instrument: The Fundamentals of 1-Bit Synthesis, Their Implementational Implications and Instrumental Possibilities
Blake Troise

Colloquy: Canons of Game Music and Sound

Rewritable Memory: Concerts, Canons, and Game Music History
William Gibbons

On Canons as Music and Muse
Julianne Grasso

The Difficult, Uncomfortable, and Imperative Conversations Needed in Game Music and Sound Studies
Hyeonjin Park

Canon Anxiety?
Karen M. Cook

Invited Contributions

Game Sound: Reverberations
Karen Collins

Ludomusicology and The New Drastic
Isabella van Elferen

Book Reviews

Unlimited Replays: Video Games and Classical Music, by William Gibbons
Jonathan Godsall

The Problem with Players: A Response to Jonathan Godsall
William Gibbons

Bits and Pieces: A History of Chiptunes, by Kenneth B. McAlpine
Peter Smucker

A Response to Peter Smucker
Kenneth McAlpine

A Ludomusicologist Goes to the Museum: A Review of Videogames: Design/Play/Disrupt at the Victoria and Albert Museum
Martine Mussies


Like what you see? Make sure that you retain access to JSMG after this and future issues are behind the paywall by encouraging your library to subscribeJSMG is part of UC Press’s Music Subject Collection, which offers cost savings to libraries subscribing to all seven of UC Press’s music journals, so you may want to recommend the full collection. Interested librarians can find additional details here.

If you are interested in contributing to JSMG, please take a look at the journal’s Call for Papers.