Reactional Music signs deal with Defected Records to bring dance music into games

30 October 2023 - Press release

Reactional Music has signed a far-reaching agreement with house music institution Defected Records to bring dance music to games. 

Reactional is driving next-generation musical experiences in gaming, connecting the two sectors creatively, commercially and technically. 

Under the new partnership, Defected has licensed the masters for a selection of tracks from its wider catalogue for use on Reactional’s music delivery platform and personalisation engine for games developers. These include classics from Bob Sinclar, Dennis Ferrer, Kings of Tomorrow, MK and The Shapeshifters, as well as more recent hits from CamelPhat, Honey Dijon and John Summit. 

Founded in 1999 by Simon Dunmore, Defected Records has established a reputation as one of the most renowned independent dance labels and a world leader in house music. It has several sister and sub-labels, including DFTD, D4 D4NCE, Glitterbox Recordings, Classic Music Company, Soulfuric and more. 

Joining Reactional’s other rightsholder partners, Defected and its artists will gain access to a global games market worth roughly $188 billion, according to research from MIDiA. Other partners include Hipgnosis Song Management and leading production music house APM Music. 

Reactional’s technology changes the way people experience, interact with and enjoy music in games, by allowing developers to bring any commercial or production music into a game and for the entire game’s visuals, music and sound to react to an individual’s gameplay in real time. This is the first time this has been possible at scale. 

Reactional’s platform is currently in Beta, with several pilot games projects in development and a global partnership agreement with Southeast Asia’s leading mobile game publisher Amanotes signed in August. Reactional enables music as an in-game purchase for the first time ever, allowing people to pay to personalise their personas and gameplay with their favourite music – in the same way they do with ‘skins’ and other purchases. 

Reactional does not alter, mix or edit the music master. It also tracks all music use across its platform, and enables new detailed data analytics and insight into music use by gamers. 

Shamus Damani, Defected Records’ Director of Business Affairs, added: “It has been an absolute pleasure to work with the Reactional team over the last 2+ years and to finally get to this point of rollout. Reactional’s technology will provide us with a much welcomed opportunity to tap into new gaming-centred revenue streams for the benefit of our artists, writers and other stakeholders, and we are excited to see how this space develops over the coming months and years.” 

David Knox, President of Reactional Music, said: “Right from the first conversation, the team at Defected have been incredibly excited by our vision of enabling the gamer to add to their gameplay experience by personalising their game soundtrack. As a rights holder and a brand partner they bring not only  an incredible catalogue of music but Defected’s team also bring an appetite for the new and enabling new music consumption platforms that fit with where their audience is.”