An official Square Enix Music Channel has been created on YouTube, housing a few thousand songs from the developer’s huge library of games. It contains full playlists for myriad original soundtracks and rearrangements from franchises including Final Fantasy, SaGa, Mana, Chrono, Nier, Bravely, Octopath Traveler, and The World Ends with You, among others. These songs are all available through Google Music now as well.
The Square Enix Music Channel is offering more than just a deep song library on YouTube though. It also has an interview with Keiji Kawamori, the music director of the Final Fantasy and Kingdom Hearts series. This will be the first of many interviews the channel houses.
Lastly, the Square Enix Music Channel on YouTube currently has two 2-hour official playlists of remixed music to enjoy. One is “Airship Cruise Beats,” featuring up-tempo EDM-style remixes. The other is “Mellow Minstrel Mix,” lo-fi remixes to chill, study, or work to. So yes, an official lo-fi Square Enix music playlist exists. And it sounds freaking great. Give it a listen.
By opening this channel, Square Enix is exerting control of its IP while also making it much more available to its fans. It seems like everyone wins here, and it offers a counterpoint to what other companies have done. Nintendo recently had thousands of videos containing the company’s music removed from YouTube, but it has not yet offered any alternative of its own to allow fans to stream that music conveniently.