Fox Music

Lore & Background

Fox Music supervised music for 20th Century Fox Television hits starting in 1994. Its television soundtracks included worldwide platinum albums from Ally McBeal and The X-Files, plus hit compilations from The Simpsons, Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad!, King of the Hill, Bob's Burgers, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Dark Angel, Roswell, Glee, It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 24, and Sons of Anarchy. The label also handled soundtracks from 20th Century Fox and Fox Searchlight Pictures films such as Titanic, Waiting to Exhale, 28 Weeks Later, Moulin Rouge!, Garden State, Romeo + Juliet, The Full Monty, Hope Floats, Dr. Dolittle, Bulworth, Anastasia, Walk the Line, Alvin and the Chipmunks, Once, and Juno.

Reader's Guide

Fox Music played a central role in the commercial and critical success of many film and television soundtracks from the mid-1990s onward. Under Robert Kraft's leadership, the label sold over 60 million albums worldwide, producing 3 Platinum, 6 Multi-Platinum, and 6 Gold records. It garnered 10 Academy Award nominations (winning 4), 14 Golden Globe nominations (winning 4), 58 Emmy nominations (winning 11), and 46 Grammy nominations (winning 12). Following Disney's 2019 acquisition of 21st Century Fox, Fox Music became part of the Disney Music Group and was distributed by Universal Music Group. In 2020, due to Disney dropping the 'Fox' brand, Fox Music was folded into Disney Music Group, with 20th Century Studios releases now under Hollywood Records. Fox Music is only used as a legal name for 20th Century Studios' soundtrack labels before Disney's acquisition.

Did You Know?

• Fox Music used unaffiliated record companies for distribution; for example, Glee Cast albums were released by Columbia Records.
• The 20th Century Fox TV Records imprint was introduced in 2009 as a joint venture of 20th Century Fox and Sony Music.
• Fox Music was located in Century City, California.
• Following Disney's acquisition, Fox Music ceased as a distinct label and its catalog was integrated into Disney Music Group.

Founding & Mission

Sebastian Wolff launched Materia Music Inc. in 2015 out of Seattle, driven by a conviction he formed during his time at Loudr, a startup handling the distribution of cover songs. There, he observed that video game music was largely invisible in the broader music landscape and decided to build a label dedicated entirely to that niche. The company operates as both an independent record label and a music publisher, partnering with game composers and independent developers to produce original soundtracks, license cover and remix albums, press physical vinyl and CD copies, and publish sheet music books. It also handles copyright management for its roster of artists. Structurally, Materia splits its operations into two divisions: Materia Collective, which serves as the primary artist-facing publishing arm, and Materia Community, which supports the broader fan and producer ecosystem. This dual structure allowed the label to grow from a single-artist publisher into a platform hosting hundreds of releases while maintaining a personal, community-oriented identity.

Roster & Signature Releases

Among the most consequential signings in Materia's history is Toby Fox, the creator of the role-playing game Undertale, which sold over one million copies and earned Fox a spot on Forbes' 2018 Games 30 Under 30 list. Wolff has repeatedly called Fox one of the label's favorite clients. The partnership produced the Undertale Soundtrack publication and a piano sheet music book titled Undertale Piano Collections. On the community side, the MATERIA: Final Fantasy VII Remixed project stands out: a five-disc, 87-track tribute to Nobuo Uematsu's original score that drew more than 200 emerging producers. By 2018, Materia had released over 300 titles spanning original soundtracks, covers, remixes, and compilations. Other notable roster artists include Lena Raine, Cris Velasco, Neal Acree, and Martin O'Donnell, whose 2017 album Echoes of the First Dreamer served as a musical prequel to Halo's Golem. Malukah's 2020 Mass Effect tribute Reignite and Rozen's 2018 Zelda tribute Children of Termina—winner of VGMO's Best Album (Fan Arranged) and a Billboard Top 10 Classical chart entry—further cemented the label's reputation.

Ecosystem & Expansion

Beyond its core video game music catalog, Materia Music Inc. has cultivated a broader label family. Curaga Records focuses on jazz and lo-fi, while Firaga Records specializes in EDM, house, and drum and bass, giving the parent company a diversified musical footprint. In 2017, the label formalized a partnership with San Francisco-based music rights company Loudr to handle licensing operations, including processing license requests, securing mechanical licenses, and administering royalty payments to artists. The most significant expansion came in December 2023, when Materia acquired Boss Battle Records, a video game music label founded in 2017 by Fabian Malabello. Wolff and Malabello had been in acquisition discussions since 2019, and Wolff framed the deal as a critical step toward growing the video game music industry in the ANZ region. This acquisition added another layer to Materia's already substantial catalog and reinforced its position as a central hub for game music publishing worldwide.

Controversies & Community Tensions

Materia's growth has not been without friction. In January 2021, composer 2 Mello publicly accused the label of withholding royalty payments owed to him and at least three other contributors to the Celeste B-Sides project, with payments reportedly overdue since July 2019. His claims were echoed by Laura Intravia, Alex Parrish, and Danilo Ciaffi, and he cited eight additional accounts expressing dissatisfaction with the label's payment system. Materia acknowledged the problem and committed to resolving the missed payments by mid-February. A second controversy erupted in January 2024 when the Undertale Yellow team reported that YouTube copyright strikes were being applied to their remixes of Undertale tracks, contradicting what they understood to be Toby Fox's permissive stance on fan works. Wolff pushed back, stating no clearly defined permission existed. Fox ultimately confirmed the lack of explicit prior permission but urged that well-meaning fans who made mistakes should be helped rather than punished, and pledged to clarify the licensing guidelines going forward.

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