UK-based personalized music for gaming firm Reactional Music has appointed figures from the gaming and music industries to its leadership team.
Kelly Sumner, former CEO of Take Two Interactive, has been named as Chairman, while Jacob Deshayes, previously at Spotify, has been appointed as Chief Content Officer.
Sumner, a co-founder of Reactional Music and an investor in the recent pre-Series A funding round, brings a wealth of industry experience. He previously served as CEO of Take Two Interactive (Grand Theft Auto, Red Dead Redemption) and Red Octane (Guitar Hero), which was acquired by Activision Blizzard.
He also chaired Mediatonic (Fall Guys),acquired by Fortnite maker Epic Games in 2021.
In his new capacity as chairman of Reactional Music, Sumner will help the company’s board drive strategy, planning and partnerships.
“I love what Reactional is delivering for the gamer and the developer; personalizing a game with the music you love is an absolute game changer. This is only possible with the power of Reactional’s generative music engine and music delivery platform,” Sumner said.
“Not only does Reactional massively improve the gameplay experience, it also fundamentally changes the relationship between music and games, allowing music to be monetized with the world’s three billion gamers for the first time.”
Kelly Sumner
“Not only does Reactional massively improve the gameplay experience, it also fundamentally changes the relationship between music and games, allowing music to be monetized with the world’s three billion gamers for the first time.The potential for developers, publishers, music rights holders, artists and creators is immeasurable.”
Meanwhile, as the new COO, Deshayes will be responsible for overseeing Reactional’s music platform, including managing partnerships, technical and operational programs, curation, and strategy.
Deshayes held several senior roles with Spotify, most recently as Senior Manager, Catalog Strategy/Promotional Programs. He spearheaded the development of Spotify’s Artist Pages, music delivery system, content CMS and more. He also helped develop the streaming giant’s content launch initiatives, developed and implemented marketplace and promotional programs with label partners, and laid the foundations for its Content Operations team and practices.
Commenting on the appointment, Deshayes said: “Generative music is the most exciting new area of music, enabling creators and artists to do incredible new things. It is both creatively and commercially the place to be.”
“Generative music is the most exciting new area of music, enabling creators and artists to do incredible new things. It is both creatively and commercially the place to be.”
Jacob Deshayes
“In joining Reactional Music I am thrilled to have the opportunity to apply my experience on three of my foremost passions – music, tech and video games – as we unlock groundbreaking tools for a new innovative form of music creation, as well as ways for the world of gamers to personalize their musical experience.
“While most game aspects and visuals now happen in real-time, currently music stands out as one of the last pieces to still be mostly hard-coded. I am very excited to be part of disrupting the status quo as we usher in the next era of interactive soundscapes,” Deshayes added.
Reactional claims to be “the world’s first rule-based music engine, music delivery platform and personalization engine.”
Introduced in 2021, Reactional Music’s Engine monitors music usage on its platform and offers detailed data analytics and insights regarding gamers’ music consumption patterns. The system is currently integrated with game engines such as Unity and Unreal, and is compatible with audio middlewares like FMOD and Wwise. Reactional Music’s platform is slated for full-scale commercial deployment later this year.
Earlier this year, Reactional Music struck a licensing deal with Hipgnosis Song Management, integrating its song catalog of over 70,000 tracks in gameplay. It also formed an alliance with Singapore-based mobile games publisher Amanotes to offer rea-ltime music personalization and introduce in-game music purchase options for gamers.
Reactional also has an existing partnership with B2B music streaming technology firm Tuned Global to serve as the music backend provider for the Reactional Music Box.
MIDiA Research projects the global games industry to reach $188 billion in value in 2023, with in-game purchases accounting for a substantial portion at $130 billion. Notably, music currently comprises only a ~0% share of in-game revenue. MIDiA also expects a 32% increase in worldwide gamers, reaching 3.8 billion by 2030.
