Quote:Virtual Soundtrack
The distant cousin of the SongFic, this is the practice of
annotating a FanFic with music cues in such a way that, if
followed, produces the rough equivalent of a motion picture's
soundtrack for that fic.  Very often these are same pieces of
music that inspired the author as he or she was writing. 
Regardless, they are intended to provide extra atmosphere and
drama to the written material.
The cues themselves can range from inobtrusive citations styled
like pullquotes and set off from the story text proper, to
elaborate instructions as to where to start playing on the track
and for how long, often delivered by the narrative voice as part
of the story. 
Some authors may provide soundtrack listings in separate files,
but these qualify more as [[AllThereInTheManual supplemental
material] than examples of this trope.
One key element which defines a Virtual Soundtrack is that it is
''optional''.  You can ignore a Virtual Soundtrack cue without
losing anything in the story, unlike the SongFic, where you must
wade through the lyrics to extract the story.  Also, if the
music is part of the ''action'' -- for instance, in the
description of a concert -- it does qualify as this trope. 
(Although a listing of all the pieces played at the concert would
be a good candidate for supplemental material.)
This trope is usually limited to larger pieces of {[fan fiction}},
on the order of a novellette or longer.
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!!Examples:
* The "pullquote" version is a common feature in stories produced
by EyrieProductionsUnlimited, although it is by no means universal.
It is particularly prevalent in the Future Imperfect era of
''UndocumentedFeatures'', especially works written mainly by
Gryphon.
* Chapter six of Eric Hallstrom's epic ''Ranma And Akane: A Love
Story'' begins with the explicit note, "By popular demand, the
majority of this episode should be read to Fortuna Imperatrix
Mundi from Carl Orff's Carmina Burana" and offers a (long-defunct)
link to an [=MP3=] of the piece.  When the great battle in
Hell begins, the narration pauses to specifically inform the
reader to start playing it, and much later bookends the action
with the note "You can turn it off now."
** ''RAALS'' verges on this trope elsewhere, as well, with a
large number of songs, often from British/Irish/Scottish folk
music tradition, that are sung throughout the story by the
various characters.  [=MP3=] links were provided for these as
well.  This only edges up to the trope because the song lyrics
are provided whole within the story, and are ''part'' of the
story rather than supplemental atmosphere.  In this regard,
''RAALS'' is much like a {{musical}} rendered in text.

ECSNorway Wrote:Oh, and Ranma was the only one who did the singing thing in RAALS. Love that story.

Quote:Admiral Tigerclaw's My Little Blackbird had some music links, IIRC.

Quote:Lemon Sherbet by John Biles was well-known to have a bunch of those.

Quote:Very often these are same pieces of music