Fakebit, Fans, and 8-Bit Covers

Musicians have for centuries reinterpreted and recontextualized the music of other songwriters, composers and performers, and this chapter explores how this musical reinvention has manifested itself as part of the contemporary chipscene. The chapter explores how in the early days of 8-bit gaming, game soundtracks often borrowed heavily from the popular electronic music of the time, often featuring arrangements of Jarre, Vangelis, and Yellow Magic Orchestra. The chapter also explores how, today, there are bands who take those classic video game themes and perform them as live five- or six-piece rock bands. It discusses how social media has provided a platform for the performance and distribution of video game covers and examines how, as musicians have demanded simple, self-contained production environments to develop chip music, new hardware and software synthesizers have been developed to meet that need, an approach that is known as fakebit and that highlights the value that different participants in the scene place on authenticity.