Översikt

Steam stödjer försäljning och nedladdning av soundtrack för spel. Det krävs minimalt med arbete att skapa och lägga upp ett soundtrack så vi vill uppmuntra dig att skapa en soundtrack-app även om du tror att bara ett fåtal kunder skulle vara intresserade av musikinnehållet i ditt spel. Soundtrack säljer särskilt bra som en del av ett paket tillsammans med spelet för ett lite högre pris.

Det finns två specifika typer av innehåll för soundtrack:

• Soundtrack associerade med ett Steam-spel: Om ditt spel också säljs på Steam kan du behandla ditt soundtrack som ett extra innehåll för det spelet i stil med DLC. You can create a new soundtrack associated with your game from the Associated Packages, DLC, Demos, And Tools link on the landing page for your app.
  
• Soundtrack som inte associeras med ett Steam-spel: Om du har soundtrackinnehåll för spel som inte finns på Steam (inklusive äldre produkter och spel som inte säljs på Steam), så kan du skapa oberoende soundtrack. Dessa är inte associerade till ett specifikt spel, men kan fortfarande associeras med
  franchiser. You can create an independent soundtrack from your main partner landing page, the same way you would create a new game.

Båda sorters soundtrack är i grunden lika – de består av en samling mp3-filer och metadata som, om man vill, kan innehålla andra komponenter, inklusive högkvalitativa/förlustfria ljudfiler, tillhörande illustrationer, osv. Soundtrack som har ett överordnat spel är nära förknippade med just det spelet – butikens sidor kan korslänkas, de delar en gemenskapscentral, osv.

Grundläggande konfiguration

När du har skapat en ny soundtrack-app genom partnersidan ser du en checklista för lansering som beskriver vad som behöver göras för att appen ska ges ut. Soundtracket måste minst innehålla:

• En omslagsbild till albumet.
  
• En singel depå
  som innehåller ditt soundtrack i mp3-format. Du kan ladda upp depå-innehållet som en zip-fil. Läs vår guide här: Konvertering av existerande DLC till soundtrack.
  
• Grundläggande metadata som beskriver innehållet i ditt album (artist, osv.).

Verktyg som behövs till förfrågningar och uppdateringar av detta typ av innehåll finns på Steamworks partnersida.

Bästa tillvägagångssätt

Depåer

We recommend creating a second depot and storing high-quality/lossless files (for example, FLAC or WAV files) in this depot. Customers can choose whether they want to download the lossless files in addition to the base MP3 files.

Ytterligare innehåll

When there are other bits of highly-associated art content, for example liner notes or album back cover images, you can upload them as pieces of additional artwork. Users can browse these pieces of content from their library.

Metadata

We strongly recommend including basic metadata with each file (ie., ID3 tags inside MP3 files). When available, this metadata will be used to determine the playback order of tracks. For multi-disc soundtracks, track numbers must be unique across disks. For example, "disc 1, track 1" might have track ID 1 and "disc 2, track 1" might have track ID 10.

Track Numbering

The Steam Music Player determines play order from the filenames, not the metadata. If your soundtrack's play order is important, the track number should be included at the start of the filename. If your soundtrack has 10 or more songs, the files 1-9 should begin with a leading 0 (e.g. "01 - Song Title", "02 - Song Title", and so on).

Vanliga frågor

As you prepare for release, some of the process will depend on whether you are releasing a stand-alone soundtrack vs. a soundtrack that is attached to a base game on Steam.

• For soundtracks attached to a released base game on Steam, you may release the soundtrack as soon as the soundtrack's store and content have been reviewed and approved by our review team.
  
• På sidan för ditt soundtrack på partnersidan, klicka på Redigera inställningar för Steamworks, klicka sedan på tabben för Depåer under SteamPipe.

Enkla soundtrackdepåer

Q: I uploaded contents to my soundtrack depot, but nothing downloads through Steam. Why aren't my files downloading?
A: After you upload contents into your depot, you need to set a build live that references those new contents. You can manage builds and set them live from the Builds page, under the SteamPipe tab, on the partner site.

Q: Is there a limit to the number of tracks or discs in a single soundtrack?
A: For all practical purposes, no. If you have extremely large amounts of content for a single game, we recommend splitting that content into logically separate soundtrack apps (ie., "OST", "Piano Collections", "Live", etc.).

Q: Is my series anthology soundtrack associated with a single game?
A: No. For soundtracks that are relevant for multiple games from a series, or by a single composer, or from a common developer/publisher, please create them as independent soundtracks. They can still link to the relevant collections via franchises, publisher/developer tags, etc., but they aren't associated with a particular single game.

Q: Which audio formats are required? Which are optionally supported?
A: It's mandatory for each soundtrack to contain standard MP3s. Other formats, including raw WAVs, FLAC, AAC, etc. can also optionally be included, but do not remove the requirement for MP3s to be present. The Steam client will preferentially play lossless files when available and fall back to lossy files if necessary. The Steam client currently supports playback of MP3, FLAC, M4A, and WAV files.

Q: What metadata does Steam look for in each audio file?
A: The Steam music player will attempt to find and use metadata for the track number, the track name, the artist name, and the album name. These correspond to the "track", "title", "artist", and "album" fields in ID3 tags.

Q: What tools/reporting do I have about my soundtrack sales?
A: The same set of tools and reporting for games, DLC, and software apply to soundtracks.

Q: I'm already selling my soundtrack content as DLC. Can I use the new soundtrack system? How do I convert?
A: There is a helper tool on the partner site to transition content from the old format to the new format. See Converting Existing DLC To Soundtracks to see the details of the work involved.

Q: Does the revenue for my associated game soundtrack count towards total revenue for the game for purposes of calculating revenue share?
A: Yes.

Konvertering av existerande DLC till soundtrack

While soundtracks have access to the same advanced depot configuration tools and settings, the average soundtrack is much simpler than the average game. This section provides a simple guide for how to populate your soundtrack content without requiring any scripts or commandline tools:

• Create a ZIP file on your local machine containing the MP3s you want to be downloaded by users as part of your soundtrack.
  
• Skapa en ny depå på sidan Depåer och ställ in den som Valfritt högkvalitativt/okomprimerat ljud.
  
• Spara dina ändringar av depåkonfigureringen.
  
• Select the ZIP file on your local machine and upload it. When it completes, depots for your soundtrack will build automatically. This may take a few seconds.
  
• När det är klart, klicka på paketet under Butikspaket på soundtrackets landningssida.
  
• Under the SteamPipe tab, click Builds.
  
• Under the Set build live on branch heading, select default and click Preview Change.
  
• From the preview page, you can set the new depot content you just uploaded to be live for all customers.

Most of these steps are identical when creating high-quality audio depots. There are a small number of additional steps that can take place after you have your regular MP3 depots set up:

• Spelare som inte äger ditt spel kan då köpa dina soundtrack. (Det krävs att man har grundappen innan man kan köpa dem.)
  
• On the Depots page, create a new depot and set its type to Optional high-quality/uncompressed audio.
  
• Innehåll i soundtrack kan visas och marknadsföras i butiken på sätt som inte DLC kan.
  
• Publish the depot configuration changes. (Note: you won't be able to upload contents to the new depot until you've published this change.)
  
• Repeat the steps from above to upload your high-quality content to the new depot and set the new depot build live.
  
• Once complete, from the landing page for your soundtrack, click the package under Store Packages.
  
• Under Depots Included, add your new high-quality depot and save your changes.

Converting Existing DLC To Soundtracks

Downloadable Content (DLC) support existed on Steam long before specific support for gaming soundtracks was added. Because of this, many soundtracks are sold as DLC instead of soundtracks. When appropriate, we recommend converting your DLC apps to Soundtrack apps. There are several benefits:

• Users who don't own your game will be able to purchase your soundtracks. Ladda upp relevanta data för ditt innehåll.
  
• User will be able to download your soundtrack content without downloading the content for the base game. (DLC requires downloading the base game content before downloading DLC.)
  
• Soundtrack content can be surfaced and marketed on the storefront in ways that DLC cannot.
  
• The music files will be placed into the Steam library music folder, rather than a subdirectory of your app's install directory.
  
• You have access to additional tools to provide album art, high-quality/lossless audio files, etc.

There is a tool to convert an existing DLC app to a soundtrack app that can be accessed through the "Basic Info" tab in the Store Page Admin for your app. Once you click the button to start the conversion process, you'll see a specific list of steps to follow to complete it.

The conversion tool will make changes to the Steam configuration for your DLC, but will not publish those changes. No changes will be visible to customers until you publish the changes after running the tool. Customers that already own the DLC will automatically own the converted soundtrack.

Ytterligare steg som krävs för att konvertera existerande DLC till soundtrack

While the tool can do much of the work to convert your existing DLC content to a Soundtrack, there are additional steps that you must complete before you are ready to publish your content:

• Upload album cover artwork and metadata: in the Steamworks setting for your app, there will be a new "Soundtrack" tab. Please submit data appropriate to your content. The minimal set of data includes a single "album cover" image and the title and duration of each track.
  
• Review and publish your Steamworks settings: Your Steamworks changes will include both automated changes made by the DLC-to-soundtrack conversion process, as well as the changes you made in the previous steps. Review all these changes and publish when ready from the Steamworks Publish page.
  
• Review and publish Steamworks settings for the parent game: depending on the configuration of your DLC and its depots, the automated conversion may also have made changes to the Steamworks settings for the parent app. If any changes were made, please review them and publish them when ready.
  
• Review and publish your store page: Your store page will look slightly different now. Please review and re-publish. Learn more about Editing A Store Page.
  
• Upload audio depots: you can configure your soundtrack depots from the Depot configuration page. Note that, in order to create and publish a release for your soundtrack, you'll have to upload your MP3s after converting the app, so please have those files handy. If you have high-quality (ie., FLAC) versions of your audio, you can upload them in a separate depot for users who opt-in. Note: depending on your previous DLC configuration, you may be unable to edit depots until completing the above steps. The conversion tool will not migrate your builds, so once you've uploaded your content you'll need to set a new build live.

Once you've completed these steps, your soundtrack is ready!