Selling Play through Music and Sound

Abstract

James Deaville’s chapter is an analysis of the sound, and especially music, of promotional material for the first video games and home consoles through to the Crash of 1983. Included for assessment are a number of Atari adverts but also adverts for the Magnavox Odyssey—the console’s lack of audio being compensated for by the music of the commercials. In this and other cases, it was the music of the audiovisual promotional material, Deaville argues, that was tasked with selling the product, but Deaville also shows that the soundtrack of the advertising kept pace with developments in the home-computer industry, stressing the opportunities for fun rather than work and featuring an increasing amount of narration, memorable jingles, and an emphasis on whole family enjoyment.