Music

Music in RuneScape is mostly in-game background music (music tracks) designed to enhance a player's gaming experience and fit with the environment the avatar is in. Music in RuneScape draws inspiration from progressive rock, with elements of classical and world music.

Players need to unlock most tracks during game-play by going to a particular place, completing a quest, or performing some action (such as reading a particular book). As of 12 October 2015 there are 1065 music tracks available via music player. As RuneScape ages, many more music tracks may be distributed.

The 500th track was Tournament! (now unlocked automatically) which was released on 20 November 2007. Unlocking 500 tracks will also unlock the Air Guitar emote. It is notable for being one of the few emotes with audio.

The 1000th track is Book of A Thousand Songs, which was released on 4 August 2014. Unlocking 1000 tracks will also unlock the Demonic Rock Off emote.

Currently, the player does not receive a message when he/she unlocks every music track (though one does appear every time an individual track is unlocked.)

The volume of the music can be controlled through the Audio Settings on the Options screen.

Unlocking all song tracks is a requirement for the untrimmed version of the Completionist cape.

Genres
Music in RuneScape is divided into many genres, with the genre depending on the location that they unlock and play. Once you go to a location, any music that you unlocked of that genre will play, not just the music that unlocks there. Most genres include:



Musicians


Musicians are NPCs found throughout the game who play certain tracks with different instruments. Players can listen to them by right-clicking them. While listening to the musician, players increase the rate of their Life Points regeneration and energy restoration. As shown in the picture to the right, multiple players can listen to music at once and restore their energy.

Musicians play various instruments, including a violin, flute, drums, snake charming flute (pungi), a lyre and bagpipes. The music the musicians play is based on actual tracks, as the guitarists play a variation of Harmony, the flutists play a variation of Al Kharid, and the fiddlers play a variation of Spirit

Music Player
On 9 February 2010, a Music Playlist was added in an update. This feature allows players to choose a list of tracks that will be played when the Playlist feature is turned on.

The music player is the screen on the interface that lists all music tracks. The titles of unlocked tracks are shown in green, and those of locked tracks are displayed in red. It also features a button at the top which, when activated (in green), continuously plays the same track as a loop. If not clicked, different tracks are played after the end of each. The music playlist can fit a total of 30 tracks. A search option was released August 19, 2010.

Tutorial music
As of 24 October 2012, all F2P players will have the following 57 tracks unlocked upon starting the game or during the events:

Tracks that are considered difficult to unlock

 * Victory is Mine - This requires one of the Champion's Challenge rounds, and requires an extremely rare challenge scroll.
 * Yakamaru I and Yakamaru II - require killing Beastmaster Durzag and reaching mirage phase of Yakamaru
 * Any track from Grandmaster quests such as Recipe for Disaster, While Guthix Sleeps, Nomad's Requiem, The Void Stares Back or Ritual of the Mahjarrat.
 * Any track that requires high skills, such as The Task at Hand (completed 350 tasks).

Renamed tracks

 * On 4 June 2007, Jagex renamed Gnome to Goblin Village and Gnome Theme to Dwarf Theme.
 * At a later date, Jagex also renamed Wolf Mountain to Wild Isle.
 * The song "Final Destination" was called "Angels & Demons" until changed by Jagex. The song is still called "Angels & Demons" on the Game Guide.
 * With the release of RuneScape 3, Jagex renamed Lightness to Darkness and Still Night to Busy Night.

Deleted tracks

 * Scape Summon - The main tune during the Summoning Update on 15 January 2008 was deleted from music log with an Update on 5 February 2008, although it continued to play on the Summoning loading and login screen. It was a bug which Jagex reports on their site:
 * "Audio &gt; Subcategory:" Added By: mod_clark on 5 February 2008. "The ScapeSummon track has done a runna! We are aware of this and will hunt it down and secure it with big 'stop running away chains' - in the meantime it is an issue that we are aware of and there is no need to report it.'".
 * See also: Update:Music system temporarily off - 9 February 2008.
 * Scape Summon back on list with the Catapult Construction update on 13 February 2008.
 * Spiritual has been deleted, because it sounds too much like Taverley Dreams.

Required skill levels
These are the minimal levels (or quest points) needed to unlock all music tracks.

Trivia

 * In the music Norse Code (playing while in Jatizso), the high pitch flute plays the Morse code letters for RuneScape. With short notes being dits, and long notes being dahs: dit-dah-dit R, dit-dit-dah U, dah-dit N, dit E, dit-dit-dit S, dah-dit-dah-dit C, dit-dah A, dit-dah-dah-dit P, dit E.
 * The following sounds may be heard on the FunOrb game Armies of Gielinor: Legion (Lobby), Principality (Misthalin Map), TzHaar! (Desert Map), Poles Apart (Snow Map), Dead Quiet (Swamp Map) and Attack 1-6 (In Battle). Campaign mode also includes Brain Battle, Faithless, Fight or Flight, Kingdom, "Life's a Beach!" Soul Wars, Strength of Saradomin, The Other Side, The Shadow, The Sound of Guthix, The Terrible Tower, Zamorak Zoo
 * Life's a Beach! can be heard on the Mos'Le Harmless arena on the FunOrb game, Arcanists.
 * Occasionally The Horn of Chill, normally unlocked at Ghorrock during The Temple at Senntisten quest will play when encountering Evil Elder trees.
 * When unlocking the 500th track, players get the message "You've unlocked 500 music tracks and can use a new emote!".
 * "Beneath the house" is the only music piece without the proper name (house) capitalized.
 * More than 100 of the existing and new tracks have been recorded with a live symphony orchestra with the release of RuneScape 3.