The saying, music is good for your soul isn’t just an idiom: It’s a fact. According to health experts, listening to music can reduce anxiety, depression and lower the risk of acquiring cancer.
Interestingly, a 2016 study showed that music also improves mental health among prisoners. Naturally, this means music themed games are worth trying out. But should you play music themed casino games?
An Overview of Music Themed Casino Games
In the video game space, music themed titles challenge you to play the piano, dance in front of an audience or run a music production studio. In the casino space, music themed games come in two types: branded games and regular games.
Branded titles pay homage to famous musicians. Take the Jimi Hendrix slot as an example. It’s all about the legendary guitar player. Guns N’ Roses, by comparison, is inspired by the famous metal rock band.
That said, some music casino games don’t feature any famous faces. They are average slots challenging you to trigger music instruments on the reels to win. Or they can recreate live audience performances for the fun of it.
With that in mind, below are the main features of the best music-themed casino games.
1—Artists or Instruments Act as Winning Symbols
In most casino games themed after music, famous artists or common instruments dominate the screens. If you pick a game inspired by the saxophone, there’s a big chance a saxophone will be the best-paying symbol.
If you choose to play a game based on the Beatles, landing John Lennon on all reels will likely earn you decent cash. Casino developers love to keep things simple. In fact, most music themed slots don’t challenge your skills or strategies. They are simple games of luck.
All you need is to find a great casino to play these games. Hint: choose a website that accepts your preferred payment option. Choose a MasterCard casino if it’s your favorite card issuer. By comparison, look for a PayPal casino if you would rather use the e-wallet.
2—Games Come from Renowned Developers
For several reasons, you don’t find many popular music themed slots from upcoming software providers. The first reason is that branded games have copyright laws. Developers must pay fees to create slots based on rock bands, DJs or iconic guitar players.
Many small companies can’t afford these fees. And even if they can afford, they might not have the influence to turn their creations into famous games. The second reason is that music themed slots are a small niche.
It’s not as big as fruits, TV, ancient Egypt, book and Norse/Greek mythology themes. For a music slot to stand out, it needs to be really good. Of course, there are upcoming studios with the resources to produce high-quality games.
But the big brands are better equipped in talent, budget, technical knowhow and management. That said, not all music themed slots are created equal. Even though a game might come from NetEnt or Microgaming, it’s essential to learn more about it before you play it.
3—Live Shows and Competitions
Music themed slots provide a level of interactions not common in the casino space. While fruit slots just show you images of fruits on the screen, some music games provide live performances by famous stars.
The Lady in Red, for example, has an option to listen to the song while you watch winning symbols land on the reels. By comparison, the Karaoke Party slot challenges you to get busy on the floor. And if you can defeat professional dancers, you stand to win real cash.
In all fairness, don’t expect much animation from slots. The dance shows are often short clips of characters moving around. They are exciting to watch, though, especially when a round of dancing leads to a winning streak.
4—Hit Songs as Soundtracks
Many slot machines have subpar soundtracks. They rely on cheap, repetitive beats created by an in-house team. Music-themed slots are a different ball game. They come with soundtracks from award-winning artists.
More importantly, they feature songs from your favorite stars. The Michael Jackson slot, for example, brings all his hit songs to your favorite casino. Think of Smooth Criminal, Billie Jean and Dirty Diana.
You can listen to these songs while you watch him do the moonwalk on your screen. And better yet, you can walk away with money at the end of it all.
5—Jam-Packed with Features
Casino developers are constantly creating new slots. They release games themed after just about any topic in the world. Sometimes they don’t invest a lot of time in creating a slot, except when people have high expectations.
When a developer promises to release a slot honoring Motorhead, everyone wants a stellar game. And as a result, many music themed slots have loads of goodies. You can clinch free spins. Or you can trigger multipliers to magnify your profits.
Wilds appear in regular intervals while avalanche features add on to your profits. In the usual style, games are created differently. Although two music slots might have free spins, one of them could be more generous than the other.
In light of that information, find out more about a game before you play for real money. Consider trying out a free version and only spend cash on an impressive game.
6—Average Payouts
Although music themed slots are entertaining and feature-rich, they don’t always payout as much as regular video slots. The explanation is tied to copyrights. If a developer is required to share their profits from a game with copyright owners, they tend to lower a game’s payout rate.
Luckily, branded music themed slots have higher than average payouts. They might not return 99% of wagered money, but they can pay back 94% to 96%, which is high enough to produce frequent winners.
That said, learn more about variance to know the best games to play for you. Variance is all about the frequency through which a game pays out. Some games pay you often but in small amounts. Others prefer to payout big returns albeit scarcely.
