Minecraft - Volume Alpha

Minecraft – Volume Alpha is the first soundtrack album by the German electronic musician Daniel "C418" Rosenfeld. Created for the 2011 video game Minecraft, it is the first of two albums by Rosenfeld to come from the game's soundtrack. It primarily consists of simplistic ambient music, though some tracks are more upbeat. The simplistic nature of the album's music was caused by the technical limitations of Minecraft's sound engine, which made earlier concepts unfeasible. Volume Alpha was released digitally in March 2011 as Rosenfeld's first commercial release, with record label Ghostly International releasing the album in vinyl record and CD format in 2015, and in cassette format in 2025. Since release, Volume Alpha has been lauded by critics, who praised its usage in the game and its merits as a standalone ambient work. It has been considered to be a major part of Minecraft's popularity, and seven of its tracks are among the most streamed video game compositions on Spotify. Due to its association with Minecraft, some have considered it to be an influential album, as well as one of the best video game soundtracks ever made. In 2025, the soundtrack was selected to the National Recording Registry by the Library of Congress as being "culturally, historically, and/or aesthetically significant", making it the second piece of video game music to do so after the Super Mario Bros. theme. A second Minecraft soundtrack album, Minecraft – Volume Beta, was released in 2013. A third soundtrack album by Rosenfeld has been completed, but remains unreleased.