Video game tune chooser has wind in hair, sound up.

DRIVING and listening to CDs doesn't sound taxing, but for Tim Riley it's work.

Riley, 35, is the new worldwide executive of music at Activision Inc., the Santa Monica-based video game developer and distributor. His job: integrating music into the games Activision is developing. Because he receives so many CDs to evaluate, Riley listens to a lot of them in the car.

"We get 20 CDs minimum per day," he said.

Prior to joining Activision, he was a founding partner of Westies Music, a Venice company that provided music supervision for action sports films and video games. He started out at Geffen Records as a street scout and then moved to Giant Records. He then spent three years at Jive Records and Zomba Publishing.

"At Geffen I got to go out and see shows, and I spent every night out seeing three or four bands a night," said Riley, who lives in Venice. "It's fun when you're young."

Riley then worked for a DVD-based music magazine, but when it went under in 2001, he started his own business, GoBig Entertainment Inc., a music/lifestyle company and independent record label.

"I had it as side job, and it made enough money that I could do it as a full time job," he said. "That was how I met the people at Activision."

Later, at Westies, those Activision contacts developed into project collaborations.

At Activision, Riley hopes to use popular music to lend authenticity to each video game. "Most consumers buy the game because it's a fun experience, not because of the band," he said.

A St. Louis native, Riley moved to Los Angeles three years ago and enjoys spending his free time riding motocross.