# Heard It Before

Song: Chipper Doodle v2 by Kevin MacLeod (incompetech.com). Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0 License http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/3.0/

If you've been around the Internet, you've likely heard the above song. Thanks to the really large library of royalty-free music by Kevin MacLeod, this tune's been played just about everywhere: VNs, vlogs, indie platformer games, heck it's even in the YouTube Audio Library! It's so popular, and free, you'd think it'd be a great addition to your project, right?

# Wrong!

Songs like these aren't particularly bad songs. Some are good, but your players may have their own memories linked to those tunes and will likely be thinking of those more than your actual content. Worse still if it brings them bad memories of the past, like an old flame or a shock video. Our minds are funny like that.

The reason we hear them a lot is because vloggers and projects that need to be pushed out really quickly (once a week sometimes!) often drag and drop the assets to fill up the void needed in an otherwise silent video with their own voice. What is a convenience to quantity-focused content creators becomes a detriment to quality-focused content like your VN: Songs made easy to search and use like these show a lack of thought in choosing them for your project.

# In particular, avoid:

Mainstream/overplayed old era/classical music: no Für Elise, no Sunflower Slow Drag, no Clair de Lune, no Flower Duet! If you want assistance in finding a random classical piece, some websites offer a random classical search button (eg. Classical Music Only's randomizer). You might find some hidden gems.
Anything you've heard more than twice. No Monkeys Spinning Monkeys. Please.

# More tips:

Diversify your playlist! Going for a common theme is good and important, like old-sounding tracks for a medieval RPG, or lo-fi tracks for a slice of life VN, but don't overdo it. It's not wrong to go against the flow every now and then. If you're in control of the creation of your tunes, consider using some not-so-typical instruments every now and then. Quite a lot that an 8-bit saw lead at 20% volume supporting a melody can do.