How to choose songs in EA FC

“For most musicians, one of our dreams, one of our goals – it’s not a Grammy, it’s not an Oscar – is to get a song on FIFA, man.”

Femi Koleoso from Ezra Collective talks about why joining FIFA (now known as EA FC) is so important.

Every year, approximately one hundred songs are chosen to soundtrack the world’s most popular football video games.

But how do they stand out from the sea of ​​celebrities hungry for fame?

“It’s a tough question, and it’s hard to answer,” EA Music president Steve Schnur told me, giving the BBC a rare behind-the-scenes look at how game studios make decisions.

“We listened to thousands of songs,” he said

“In the beginning, I was flying around like a maniac, looking for the next big thing.

“Now, humbly speaking, everyone wants to join EA FC, so people come to us.”

But of course, this process isn’t really about the behavior, it’s about the players.

“I can’t always make decisions based on who we like or who we’ve been involved with,” Schnur said.

“Ultimately, my bosses are the gamers, the people who buy copies of games, sometimes with their parents’ money.”

He told me that the tune had to “fit the mood,” although there was no specific genre.

“Even if a song doesn’t end up in the game, you might hear a lot of songs on Radio 1, like EA FC bands, or EA FC songs,” he told me.

“They might be popular – it could be Skepta, it could be Dua Lipa – but we also want to make sure it’s that band from York that you haven’t heard of yet.”

But if you were an unheard band, how did EA find out you existed?

Simply put, it’s a lot of digging.

“I recently came across a band from Yorkshire online who were aged 15 and 16 and I contacted them and said I was Steve Schnur from EA Sports FC,” he said.

“They immediately sent me these Instagram messages saying, ‘Is this a joke?'”

It’s exciting for the band, which Mr. Schnur declined to name, but he said it’s exciting for him, too.

“There’s nothing better than reaching out to that band and suddenly saying, ‘Hey, I want to get you in this year,'” he said.

For bands, it can be transformative – for the likes of Kasabian, Catfish and Bottlemen, exposure on FIFA helped them become household names.

One of the tracks in this year’s competition comes from British band Good Neighbors, consisting of Oli Fox and Scott Verill.

They may be a long way from a Kasabian-style stadium tour, but they have a song in EA FC 25.

“It’s unreal,” Scott told me.

“I’ve been playing this game since I was a kid, and I’ve always discovered bands by playing it.”

The connection with the game also extends to their fans.

“Ever since we started releasing music online, all our fans have always said: ‘Get this on EA FC,'” he said.

Where once the band might have hoped for a surprise appearance from someone from the record label, there’s now much hype surrounding the possible appearance of a gaming industry representative.

“Someone teased us with a rumor – that someone from EA is going to be on your show tonight – which is crazy… and then we had a sick show, I guess,” Scott said.

But that’s not the only connection between Good Neighbors, football and EA FC.

Ollie’s brother, Morgan Fox, plays professional football for QPR and has been featured in FIFA since making his debut for Charlton in 2013.

“He’s been doing this for a while and it’s frustrating to me,” he joked.

“Literally, we’ve been playing this game together in a terrible rivalry since we were kids, and it wasn’t even possible for us to exist in the same game until about 10 years ago.

“Our parents would be so proud of us in the end, all those nights wasted playing FIFA in our childhood and when we finally completed it we got great news from our mum and dad saying how proud they were. “

Who needs a Grammy?