I don't know where the idea came from to sell the soundtracks, but historically it seemed to be included in collector's editions with many other items. Some of the soundtracks' pages look like the page for the game itself, even citing all the features of the game, but don't include the game. I almost bought a couple of soundtracks because I knew the title of the game I wanted to purchase, and when I searched it I chose the soundtrack version because I couldn't read the end of it stating what it was. Luckily I realized it was odd that there were two versions of the game and wanted to see the difference between them. I could personally care less about a soundtrack, but I'm sure some do. I just wish there was a specific section for them and they didn't show up when searching for games in the games section. I forget which game it was, but it had this impressive title and significantly higher price for the edition and the only inclusion was the soundtrack. I had to actually google the edition of the game to find out exactly what it came with, which was only the soundtrack and no additional content.

Another issue I have is with preorders like Necropolis. This game looks spectacular and I will probably buy it, but I won't preorder it just for a soundtrack. If you want me to pay for something before I can actually inspect its quality or read a review, you have to do better then that. What about a choice between an in-game item or the soundtrack? What happened to the benefits of putting your faith in a team and paying for a game before it was finished? What about a discounted price, a special character, a pet, a set of armor (just for looks, not stats), a weapon, some extra dungeons, or just something to make it worthwhile? Even at its current price, if Necropolis had some preorder bonus other than the soundtrack, I would probably own it right now because it looks like it's going to be good.

The other thing is DLC. Some of the DLC for some of these games are really criminal, making you pay for something that should come with the game. Star Wars Battlefront is a great example, a half-ass, half-finished game that you have to pay for twice in order to experience what was initially promised. I hear they're adding real single-player support to it, but I would have to buy the original game along with a DLC for as much as the initial purchase. It's a shame EA got the Star Wars contract, previously a Star Wars title was an autobuy for me.

Some of the games on GoG have near ten DLC, most of which are worthless. A map-editing tool should not be something you pay for, it should be a free download to extend the life of the game and possibly sell additional copies. This seems an awful lot like greedy marketing and I'm afraid that these tactics, along with pay to win, will be the downfall of the gaming industry.

I just want to make it clear, I don't hold GoG accountable for any of this and I don't expect anything to change because I complained about it. The only thing I would ask of GoG is to make a soundtrack section and not have soundtracks showing up in the games section.

Being a gamer for around thirty years now, I've seen the industry go through some significant changes, some good and some not so good. Maybe I'm just not adapting well to some of these changes, or do I have a legitimate gripe?

You are just not adapting well.

I was once like you and I still have my gripes, but I accepted it.

Now I only buy DLCs I care about.

Like for Total War Warhammer I am waiting for DLC for factions I care about like the Elves, Daemons of Chaos, and Ogre Kingdoms.

That is one thing I can't accept, DRM and crap like steam. I would love to get empires total war and all the new warhammer games, but I won't do it as long as I need some viral client installed and a connection.

I agree that all of this is terrible. It's nonsensical also. I'm not here to shop for music (I generally hate it to the point that I'll often disable it depending on how irritating it is.) This site often requires buying the game in order to buy its soundtrack. That's no prerequisite. FLAC and MP3 files do not require a game to play them, any media player will do, and soundtracks already exist in game files, and can typically be extracted. Suppose the game is no good, but the soundtrack is; the composer's exposure is then held back by the work being from a bad game. Soundtracks are something that could be filtered out in searches on gog but they aren't. We only have a DLC filter that ignores compilations of DLC, which are most definitely DLC as they require a base game to run. These failures in the design of the search and multiple editions of games (particularly years-old games that have no business offering multiple editions; just put everything into a definitive package for posterity, if you want to be taken seriously) make the site frustrating to use, to the point that I'll stick to watching sales and I won't spend more than the cost of a kombucha on a game unless I know it's a favorite. There is also a steady stream of "In Dev" excrement on here in recent years, being sold before it's even finished. Really you are much better off supporting modding communities than developers, as modders actually care about the quality of their work.

I suppose that soundtracks sold separately allow for price discrimination. You get to charge a few people much more for essentially the same effort.

That being said, there are a few soundtracks where greed overwhelmed any sense of rational pricing.

Metal Wolf Chaos XD. 35.95AUD. The soundtrack? 28.95AUD
Furi. 23.99AUD. The soundtrack? 17.99AUD

For Furi, the soundtrack cost significantly more than the game in the last sale.

It makes it seem like writing the music is 95% of the effort of developing a game.

The really offensive DLC in my opinion belong to the pay to win category.
Legend of Heroes Trails of Cold Steel II stands out in particular There are at least 7 of those that you can buy for that game alone.