I've been using custom music for Toy Story 2 and it's causing some controversy, so allow me to explain why it isn't a problem. First off, editing music and SFX files doesn't affect gameplay whatsoever, it only affects the in game music and SFX files, unless the music is copyrighted, then you're going to have to deal with the OST. Second, other speed games do allow this, for example, Undertale speedruns change some of their music and that also doesn't effect gameplay at all, if Undertale can allow this, then I see no reason why this game shouldn't. Finally, I know it can ruin the original soundtrack of the game which maybe a turn off to some people, and I get that, but some players can do what they want to do, as long as they abide by the most important rules. If you have any other concerns, please let me know about this.

First of all, anybody that runs this game could simply remove BGM and play the game without any music whatsoever and just have the coin/enemy/laser etc. sound effects and submit a run; this basically means that you could play with sound only (no music) and submit a run and it should be accepted.

Second of all, because of what's said above, the difference in someone playing without BGM or using a different song/playing Spotify or other songs while streaming or doing attempts is basically non existent; there's frankly no reason whatsoever for this to not be allowed.

Third of all, like Electric said other communities allow for it and unless your run is WR and a showcase of the game, there's not really a reason to gatekeep anyone from having fun however they want to have fun (e.g. changing songs) if they're not hurting anyone.

Runs getting rejected because of editing music is the most silly thing on the planet, specially considering Electric's 40 Token run was accepted which edits songs but his 100% run was rejected. Make it make sense. Also there was never a set rule about any of this, people can just listen to Spotify, turn off music etc. and it would be equivelant to the same exact thing [as mentioned before].

But alas, arguing in this community about anything is a waste of time.

it doesn't make sense, i use modded music all the time for other game runs and they don't get rejected

Let's have a conversation then. First off Electric Mans 100% run was not rejected I verified it myself and I told Electric Man that it would be accepted. I was then told that he was appealing the muted audio on his video and when he got it appealed he was going to reupload the run, which I have since verified as well just like I told him we would. Second, I'm willing to listen. Instead of just saying everything we did was stupid maybe we can try to have a conversation about this and come to something that the whole community can agree with. So, I have a proposal to make and feel free to comment on what you think.

The propsal is this: We allow people to have custom audio if they so choose, however, the in game sound effects must still be on and audible. Now in the event that your video gets muted for whatever reason, it'll be up to the runner to appeal the video, or provide video with complete audio, which to Electric Mans credit he did do that with his video. It also isn't lost on me that recently people have had issues with Al's Toy Barn getting muted on Twitch, so I'm hoping people local record if they can. To Solar's point about WRs, if we have a rule in place where at the start of any run your s.o.b. is equal to or less then the current WR for the category, then all in game audio must be present and especially if the run is WR.

That's not what Electric told me. He told me that the run was rejected because of custom music but the 40 Token run was accepted; when I checked the run it had perfect audio everywhere so obviously I wasn't awere of it. I also don't think a run should be rejected if the audio cuts off in some parts of the video if the rest of the run is perfectly fine. Also if the run was streamed on Twitch or etc. it should be taken into account even if audio is missing or video freezes for some periods.

As for everything else that was said, I agree.

Okay. It seems like that must've been Electric Mans reuploaded run after the appeal. I do agree that if a run is streamed on Twitch, or other streaming site, that should be a factor. Twitch is especially weird when it comes to muting audio on games and it can become frustrating to deal with. That's why I do hope most people local record, if they have the ability to do so. I also understand that sometimes technology issues happen with recording and that can leave recording messed up in areas.

I'd love to hear from Electric Man as well and see if he has anything further to bring up about this.

Thank you for the useful information and your music. This topic is close to me because I love writing tracks. Last year I had few listeners. But after I found out about soundcloud followers buy my music became more popular. I have a lot of listeners and many share my songs.