Covers of Video Game Music With No Other Official Release?

What's the best way to handle covers of video game music, especially when the tune being covered was not released on a music-only platform like a CD, vinyl, or Spotify? Or if the video game that the tune is from predates the first official musical recording by 20 years?

For example, Sonic the Hedgehog came out in June 1991. Many people covered the tune Green Hill Zone before its official soundtrack release in 2011. Similarly, the theme music for the Wii Shop Channel hasn't been commercially released, but it's a popularly covered song with many examples on YouTube.

Yes video game music is eligible for inclusion in the database as long as the video game was commercially available. You would enter as a normal original performance and just select “other” for the format.

Qualified additions but none of the current editors appear interested. Some examples of some already submitted:

Submission #67740

Submission #89628

Submission #143356

Thank you for this helpful information! What is the role of editors on the site? Do they review all the submissions we enter before they are posted? And so that all tunes on the site are subject to whatever they prioritize? Or do they review our submissions in chronological order of submission?

Quote from DakotaCityRag

Thank you for this helpful information! What is the role of editors on the site? Do they review all the submissions we enter before they are posted? And so that all tunes on the site are subject to whatever they prioritize? Or do they review our submissions in chronological order of submission?

Yes when you send a submission, it will show as unverified until it has been reviewed and added formally to the database by an editor. Every editor has a different work-flow, for example going by artist, genre or release series - and of course will enter their own material too. I haven’t seen anyone go chronologically through submissions yet. Normally they will pick up submissions from artists or genres that they know best.

Quote from sebcat

Quote from DakotaCityRag

Thank you for this helpful information! What is the role of editors on the site? Do they review all the submissions we enter before they are posted? And so that all tunes on the site are subject to whatever they prioritize? Or do they review our submissions in chronological order of submission?

Yes when you send a submission, it will show as unverified until it has been reviewed and added formally to the database by an editor. Every editor has a different work-flow, for example going by artist, genre or release series - and of course will enter their own material too. I haven’t seen anyone go chronologically through submissions yet. Normally they will pick up submissions from artists or genres that they know best.

Thank you for this explanation! It's unfortunate that this system means entire genres of music or discographies of artists may end up languishing in the queue in spite of their popularity or potential value as a resource.