Monthly Update #7-2023
Welcome to the SEVENTH music update of 2023
Welcome to all the new Utopians who have recently joined us. This is the seventh update of the year, and of course it is going to be a recap of the new music pack / DLC! But before diving into the stats and commentary I'll first share a bit about what to expect next.
What Now?
Putting together the Anniversary Music Pack has been a mountain of work conducted over the first half of the year. I need a break. So, once the last few loose ends of the album release and "Month of EU4" have been tied up I'll be taking a couple weeks off to step back from music-making, clear my mind and just relax. As such, I don't expect there will be a music update next month, but I will definitely be aiming to start sharing some new stuff again in October. Beyond this my focus turns to the Anbennar Original Soundtrack, which I am aiming to release next year.
Recap
The big news of the month is the announcement and release of the Europa Universalis IV: Tenth Anniversary Community Music Pack, an official music DLC for EU4 consisting of ten mod main theme tracks remastered to sound much richer and realistic.
In the 11 days since release the music pack has been downloaded over 50k times on Steam! Here's some other insights from Spotify & Youtube:
On Spotify around 4,000 of you have streamed the music over 16,000 times, with the most popular songs being Dawn of an Empire, All Roads Lead to Rome and Into the Beyond.
On Youtube around 3,500 of you have viewed the music over 12,000 times, with the most popular songs being Back to the Motherland, Dawn of an Empire and Into the Beyond.
On Spotify, long-term engagement is expected to settle around 4-5x higher than before, largely owing to Paradox's promotion of the album on that platform.
Both the Spotify and Youtube algorithms independently decided to massively boost All Roads Lead to Rome.
We're closing in on nearly 1,500 playlist adds and 4,500 track saves on Spotify alone.
Engagement with the music is wildly different between the two platforms. On Spotify, where people tend to listen to full albums and stay longer, the top track Dawn of an Empire has around 3x the streams of the lowest track, Clara Umbra. On Youtube, where people prefer to pick and choose their favourite songs and listen on repeat, the top track Back to the Motherland has around 8x the views of the lowest track, One World. The difference in top & bottom track also shows an interesting difference in preference between the two platforms; an interesting thing to consider for me as I make more music in the future.
Finally, over on Steam, from what I can see, the DLC appears to be the highest-rated product in Paradox's arsenal, as well as one of the top-100 highest rated DLC for any product on the entire Steam store. Of all 1,000+ free DLC on the Steam store, the music pack is #13 highest rated.
So, needless to say, it has been a hugely successful release. Myself and George are very happy with the reception and support from the community. And it's kind of surreal to see my music officially part of the game. We've also taken down a lot of notes and learnings that we can apply to any future work we do.
Thanks for hopping aboard this rocketship! Let's see where among the stars it will take us next.
Enjoy!
- Utopia