Delhi based electronica band Midival Punditz recently got their track 'Atomizer' licensed for the official Fifa World Cup 2010 video game. However, this was not the first time that duo Gaurav Raina and Tapan Raj have found their way into the territory of having their music licensed for a video game. Midival Punditz music has been earlier used for games like Need for Speed Carbon, Project Gotham Racing 3 and Ashes Cricket 2009 

In a short conversation with Radioandmusic.com's Chirag Sutar, the band shares how their latest track got selected, and gives a low down on a sector that is yet to be explored by Indian musicians 

How did the song Atomizer get chosen for the game? And why do you think �Atomizer' in particular was chosen?

Six Degrees Records, the label that we are signed with in California has been pushing our material to a lot of different avenues for the purpose of licensing. They were instrumental in getting the track Atomizer and its remixes heard by EA Sport's music licensing team who finally agreed on Pathaan's Dhol Remix of Atomizer for their game  It's probably the raw energy and simplicity of the track that they liked.

Are you into gaming too? Which game's music do you really like? And does the idea of composing exclusively for a game kick you?

In the past, our music has been licensed by other gaming companies. Also, being ardent gamers ourselves, it's especially exciting when some of our work gets to be heard while playing a video game.

We specially liked the music in the Call of Duty series of games by Activision. It's at the same scale of grandness as a big Hollywood film. There are a couple of ways to give music for games – One may do an original score for the background music of a game, or one of your existing tracks gets shortlisted for the soundtrack  We have already explored the second option and now we would love to create something new exclusively for a particular game.

Many musicians in the west are exploring opportunities of composing for gaming music, but very few in India are doing it. Please comment.

Yes, it's a very big industry in most of Asia, US and Canada but not that much in India yet. And most of the gaming companies would scout for music closer to where their head offices are. Our record label's proximity to such companies definitely helped us. For Indian musicians, it would be fruitful to have agents overseas pushing their material for consideration by these gaming companies.

I am told that gaming companies in US, Canada are licensing tracks from Indie artistes from Asia because they get it at a better price. Do you see this as an opportunity for Indian musicians?

Of course it's a great opportunity. These games have a huge reach all over the world and licensing for games can be a stepping stone in getting worldwide attention to one's music.

Send in your comments to: chirag.sutar@indiantelevision.co.in