Today, we’re releasing our new single on Xbox Music, a collaboration with Steve Aoki entitled “A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES.” The song will stream exclusively for 14 days on Xbox Music, Microsoft’s all-in-one music service.  As the founding member of a band that turns down more partnerships than we approve, I wanted to shed some light on Linkin Park and Microsoft, and let you know how we see the future.

The catalyst for this relationship was gaming.  Years ago, our band had legendary Xbox tournaments on our tour bus playing “Halo”—competitions which often included fans and other bands.  As our career has progressed, we have always been attached to gaming, and eventually got opportunities to participate in the space.  We’ve enjoyed partnerships with “Medal Of Honor” and EA over the years, and even released games on our own (this month, we’ve released a new free-to-play Facebook game entitled RECHARGE.)

Gaming and Xbox, however, were just the introduction; it wasn’t the thing that got me interested in Windows.  Recently, my band mates and I had the opportunity to release a fantastic piece of music-making software that we co-developed for Windows called Stagelight, which takes full advantage of touchscreens on Windows 8 devices. 

I mention these things not to shamelessly promote them (although that’s a beneficial side effect!), but really to establish the perspective from which the band sees the next stage in our career.  In working on Stagelight, I was introduced to Microsoft in a way that was surprising and intriguing.  With new Windows devices that come with touchscreens, I saw a potential for the future of music writing, recording, and mixing--I envisioned these computers as the hub of the studio environment, augmenting or replacing the classic mixing consoles that currently eat up the studio space.  As we met various people at Microsoft, I was inspired by the passion and creativity behind their innovations.

A reoccurring theme in Linkin Park’s music is the relationship between technology and humanity.  Besides being the nucleus of the method in which we write (our writing, recording, and mixing processes are software-based), this theme has surfaced in lyrics of our songs and sometimes the video experiences that follow. 

Technology is a part of our band, and we are fittingly hungry for innovation.  We can’t wait to find out what’s beyond the old-generation concepts of “album,” “song,” “game,” “tour,” and “video,” and we’re proud to be a part of the wave of artists stretching out to discover new territory.  We see our partnership with Microsoft to have the potential of finding new ways of creating, sharing, and experiencing things together as a community.  It’s my hope that through new technologies like Xbox Music and Xbox One, we’ll be able to develop immersive, innovative experiences that give the fans the very best experience.

We’ll start by simply streaming a new song.

-M. Shinoda

"A LIGHT THAT NEVER COMES" is available on Xbox Music today.  Check out the Xbox 360 dashboard and online at music.xbox.com to listen and see behind-the-scenes footage.