Orchestrion Suggestion

[Ronivan]

I really love the idea behind the housing Orchestrion. As I know its still very fresh yet, I want to make a suggestion. Please, besides Final Fantasy XIV songs, I would really love to have any song of Square Enix titles, like other Final Fantasy Games and even olden titles like Vagrant Story and such. Square has an incredible vast soundtracks worth to be played here. I would pay real hard cash even if its by optional items purchase for a pack of SE old title songs, and I'm not alone in this. Hope this is a good suggestion.

[Enkidoh]

Sadly though, SE have already stated in a previous Letter From the Producer LIVE video (previously found here, but the thread has since disappeared) that they cannot just use any track from any other FF or SE game in the Orchestrion whenever they want:

In regards to songs from the FINAL FANTASY series, it’s difficult for us to use other titles’ songs however we like.

So sadly, that means unless it is already appearing somewhere in FFXIV, you will not be able to hear a track from another FF game or another non-FF SE title in the Orchestrion I'm sorry to say.

EDIT: annnnd... after a bit of searching, I found a repost of that Letter From the Producer video transcript... and it's been altered slightly, to now state that they might actually add past FF game music separately as 'optional items' (presumably for purchase on the Mogstation):

Adding songs from other FINAL FANTASY games
It's difficult for us to add songs that are not used in FFXIV, but it might be possible to add these in as optional items.

Sooo... I guess now SE just might do it... but I guess we'll have to wait and see.

[Ronivan]

Thank you, I didn't know that this issue was already talked in the producer letter. Actually I don't read them. To think about it, whats the trouble to use SE past songs, since SE own the rights of everyone of them?

[Enkidoh]

Intellectual property reasons from what I can gather, surprisingly. Most older FF soundtracks were composed by Nobuo Uematsu who is no longer directly employed by SE, instead he is a freelance independent composer, and it seems he owns the rights to all the FF soundtracks he composed himself, SE only owns the FF name connected to them (hence this is why Uematsu was able to make use of the Final Fantasy theme in his own independent composition Phantasmagoria, he owns the rights to the actual score).

Also it should be noted both SE nor Uematsu even still possess the original scores to a lot of past FF game music, which would only complicate things (this was confirmed at the A New World FF concert that I attended earlier in the year, where conductor and arranger Arnie Roth admitted that they specifically had trouble arranging FFVIII's Fragments of Memories because neither SE nor Uematsu physically possessed the actual score to it anymore for some reason, and thus they had to transcribe it manually from a recording of the original track - it wouldn't be a stretch to then think this might also explain the troubles remixing past FF music for FFXIV).

Either way SE would have to negotiate with him to make use of earlier FF themes on a case by case basis (this is why we already have a few remixed tracks of themes from past FF games like Matoya's Cave and Battle II in the game, SE have already gained permission to use them).SE still has a working relationship with Uematsu (he composed a significant portion of FFXIV's OST as it was), so as mentioned in that earlier post, we will see more classic tracks appear in the future, just what they will be is something we will find out.