NoCopyrightSounds (NCS), a copyright-free independent electronic record label, has formed a collaboration with the popular music platform game Geometry Dash.
The partnership brings NCS’s catalog of over 1,500 electronic music tracks directly into the game, providing creators with a wealth of free-to-use music to enhance their gameplay experiences.
Geometry Dash, celebrating its 10th anniversary this year, challenges players to navigate music-based levels, maneuvering past obstacles while following the rhythm.
Developed by Robert Topala in 2013, the game features 26 full-length levels created by its developer and a level creation system focusing on user-generated content (UGC), allowing players to design, share, and play custom levels. Within the past year, over 12 million levels have been uploaded. The game currently has 6 million active users.
Geometry Dash’s popularity continues to surge. Active players recently peaked at 88,346, with total downloads exceeding 1.1 billion across all versions. Players have created 20 billion user-generated levels.
“Geometry Dash creators have been using our music for years and the Geometry Dash team shares our approach to UGC, so a partnership was obvious and a great opportunity for all.”
Charlotte Lee, NoCopyrightSounds
Founded by Billy Woodford in 2011, NCS is a UK-based record label specializing in electronic music. It provides creators a free-to-use licensing model. With a catalog spanning various moods and genres, NCS has generated over 500 billion plays globally.
“A typical NCS release will be used in 150,000 or 250,000 videos by creators within the space of a fortnight of being released, if not more, if it’s a popular track. If someone uploads it and claims ownership of it, our claims channel is inundated. We’ve got a community of 100,000 to 200,000 to half a million a million content creators who are like, ‘Hey, we’re using this music because we like it and on the provision that it’s copyright free’,” NCS Label Manager Pete Torrington said in an interview with MBW in December 2021.
The partnership aligns with both companies’ commitment to free-to-use models. NCS provides aspiring artists with copyright-free music, while Geometry Dash thrives on its player-created content ecosystem.
The NCS music library within Geometry Dash will cover various electronic music genres, including dubstep, drum & bass, house, and pop. To celebrate the partnership, Geometry Dash is hosting a level design competition with a $1,000 prize pool. Players can create custom levels lasting at least a minute, with at least 80% of the music sourced from the NCS library. The top 10 entries will receive in-game recognition and contribute to the creation of two new community-designed gaming challenges, known as Gauntlets. These will be promoted to the wider gaming community.
The competition runs for three months, with a September 6 deadline.
“The longevity of our game has been in part down to the passion and creativity within our community and there have been repeated calls for us to partner with them, so this is long overdue.”
Rob Topala, Geometry Dash
“Since our formation, allowing creators free use of our music catalogue has been our core proposition. With creators understandably protective over the integrity of their social channels and often frustrated at the lack of quality music available, we’ve seen considerable usage of our music in creator content, particularly among gamers,” said Charlotte Lee, Brand Manager of NCS, in a press release on Wednesday (June 26).
“Geometry Dash creators have been using our music for years and the Geometry Dash team shares our approach to UGC, so a partnership was obvious and a great opportunity for all.”
Rob Topala, Founder of Geometry Dash, added: “I have long been a fan of NCS and know there is a huge amount of UGC Geometry Dash content on platforms like YouTube featuring the catalog already. The longevity of our game has been in part down to the passion and creativity within our community and there have been repeated calls for us to partner with them, so this is long overdue. We’re delighted to partner with a like-minded company and I’m really excited to see what our community comes up with”.
Music Business Worldwide