Soundtrack

Main articles: Grand Theft Auto IV soundtrack and The Music of Grand Theft Auto IV

Like previous games in the Grand Theft Auto series, Grand Theft Auto IV features a soundtrack that can be heard through radio stations while the player is in a vehicle. Liberty City is serviced by 19 radio stations, three of which are talk radio stations. The other stations feature music from a large range of genres. There are notable inclusions to the game's soundtrack, such as tracks fromJean Michel Jarre, Genesis, David Bowie, Smashing Pumpkins, The Sisters of Mercy, Seryoga, Bob Marley, Don Omar, The Who, Electric Light Orchestra, Queen, Black Sabbath, Philip Glass,Simian Mobile Disco, Nas, Ne-Yo, Kanye West, R. Kelly, Lloyd, Miles Davis, Loose Ends, Elton John, ZZ Top, R.E.M., MC Lyte and Barry White.

The theme song of Grand Theft Auto IV is "Soviet Connection" composed by Michael Hunter, who also composed the theme for Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.^[25] People who provide voices for the radio DJs include fashion designer Karl Lagerfeld, musicians Iggy Pop,^[26] Femi Kuti,^[27] Jimmy Gestapo^[28] and Ruslana,^[29] and real-life radio talk show host Lazlow Jones.^[30] Saturday Night Live actors Bill Hader and Jason Sudeikis appear on the liberal and conservative radio talk shows respectively, with Fred Armisen playing several guests on Lazlow's "Integrity 2.0". Numerous other comedians, including Jim Norton, Patrice O'Neal, Rick Shapiro, and Robert Kelly, as well as radio hosts Opie & Anthony appeared on the radio and/or as characters in-game.

The game uses a similar music system to that of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. In other games in the series, each radio station was essentially a single looped sound file, playing the same songs, announcements and advertisements in the same order each time. With the radio stations in Grand Theft Auto IV, each sound file is held separately, and sequenced randomly, allowing songs to be played in different orders, announcements to songs to be different each time, and plot events to be mentioned on the stations. Certain songs are also edited to incorporate references to the fictional Liberty City.^[25]

Following a partnership between Rockstar Games and Amazon.com, players are able to purchase real world MP3s through GTA IV's in-game mobile phone.^[31] Players are able to mark radio songs that they like by dialling ZIT-555-0100 on Niko's phone. They will then receive a text message providing the name of the song and the artist. If registered on Rockstar's 'Social Club' website, a player will also receive a real world e-mail with a link to an Amazon.com playlist where all of the player's marked songs will be listed and available to purchase.^[32]

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