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The music of the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. Ame…
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The music of the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. American composer Lena Raine has also contributed music for four major updates to the game since 2020, alongside Aaron Cherof, Kumi Tanioka, Amos Roddy and fingerspit who have worked on the most recent versions in 2024, 202…
The music of the 2011 video game Minecraft, developed by Mojang Studios, primarily consists of two soundtrack albums by German musician Daniel Rosenfeld, better known as C418. American composer Lena Raine has also contributed music for four major updates to the game since 2020, alongside Aaron Cherof, Kumi Tanioka, Amos Roddy and fingerspit who have worked on the most recent versions in 2024, 2025 and 2026. Music included in downloadable content (DLC) for legacy console versions of the game was handled by British musician Gareth Coker.
Rosenfeld was the sole contributor of music in the Java Edition of the game until 2020. He has released two albums containing his work for the game, with Minecraft – Volume Alpha in 2011 and its follow-up double album Minecraft – Volume Beta in 2013, when Minecraft released version 1.7.2, and three singles originally meant for release under a third soundtrack album were each released throughout 2018. His works have been lauded by music critics and the video game community – both released albums have received several pressings to vinyl and have held prominent positions on the Billboard Top Dance/Electronic Albums chart, with the former being certified gold by the RIAA in the United States for selling 500,000 units.
Alongside the launch of various DLC for legacy console editions of Minecraft in 2016, Coker issued three soundtrack albums, producing an additional three in the following four years. In 2020, Raine composed the soundtrack for the "Nether Update", and has since worked on the music for three more updates alongside Kumi Tanioka and Samuel Åberg. In 2023, Cherof contributed five new songs to the game's "Trails & Tales" update. Citing licensing issues and legal conflicts with Microsoft, a completed third album by Rosenfeld, which was first teased in 2015 and confirmed in 2017, has still not seen release as of 2026. All contributions to the game's soundtrack by artists other than Rosenfeld are owned by and have been released under Microsoft's own label.
German musician Daniel Rosenfeld had been making music under the moniker C418 since he was 15 years old, and was influenced by the electronic work of Aphex Twin. From 2007, he became active on online indie game community TIGSource where he met Markus Persson, who was still in the early stages of developing Minecraft. Rosenfeld was given creative freedom to create a soundtrack for the tech demo, and opted to make ambient music reminiscent of the works of Brian Eno and Vangelis. He was interested in "games with music that takes you completely by surprise," citing Dwarf Fortress as inspiration. Therefore, Rosenfeld wanted to "make something organic and partly electronic, partly acoustic" for Minecraft. Further, he intended to make the music as unintrusive to the player as possible, as if "they'd only notice it when something interesting happens in the game." However, the soundtrack's minimalistic style was also due to technical constraints, as he admitted the game "has a terrible sound engine."
Source: Music of Minecraft (CC BY-SA)
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Persson chose to commission the music from Rosenfeld, meaning the artist still retains ownership of all the music he made for Minecraft. Both the soundtrack albums also contain music not intended for the game, "extending the album into a more cohesive piece that can be played on its own."
In 2020, American composer Lena Raine was contacted by Mojang Studios to compose music for the "Nether Update" in Minecraft. She had previously handled the soundtrack for video game Celeste (2018), and had just released her debut studio album Oneknowing (2019). In composing music for Minecraft, she felt "immense pressure" to deliver due to the "very highly acclaimed score" already in the game. After submitting a demo, her goal with the "Nether Update" soundtrack was to see how far she "could push the sound of the piano until it resembled other things entirely." With her third contributions to the game in 2022, Raine wrote she wanted to "focus the musical style around more of a blend between synths and live instrumentation," while continuing to use "strings, piano, and woodwinds in places."
The first installment of the game's soundtrack, Minecraft – Volume Alpha, was released digitally on 4 March 2011 independently by Rosenfeld. In June 2015, the record received its first pressing to vinyl and CD through American record label Ghostly. In 2022, the album was nominated for Top Dance/Electronic Album at the Billboard Music Awards.
The album was met with positive reviews, with Andy Kellman from AllMusic praising its replay value, stating that "none of the recurring elements is pronounced or simple enough to become fatiguing with repeated play". In 2011, video game blog Kotaku called it one of the best video game soundtracks of that year. "Sweden", one of the songs in the album, is one of the most-streamed songs from a video game on Spotify, with over 225 million streams.
In 2025, the complete album of Volume Alpha was added to the United States Library of Congress. Carla Hayden, the Librarian of Congress, said "These are the sounds of America--our wide-ranging history and culture. The National Recording Registry is our evolving nation's playlist."
The second installment of the game's soundtrack, Volume Beta, was released on 9 November 2013. Like Volume Alpha, Volume Beta comprises most of the music featured in the game, including dedicated music for the game's nether and main menu. It also features music from trailers, and instrumentals not in the game's final release. In 2013 and 2023, the album appeared on the Billboard Dance/Electronic Albums chart, peaking at number 14 both times. It received its first pressing to vinyl and CD through Ghostly in 2020.
The mostly ambient album has a generally darker tone than its precursor. Rosenfeld described the track "Alpha" as a medley and "a celebration of past music from Volume Alpha." The first song he had composed with the clear intent for the game's "creative mode" to have a distinct soundtrack
