Duck Down Records and 2K Sports hosted a competition for a song placement on the official game soundtrack. After parsing thousands of entries down to 10, by popular vote the producer Alex Kresovich (Ithaca, NY) and the rap group D.J.I.G. (Glassboro, NJ) were named the winners. The song by D.J.I.G. "Now's My Time" and Kresovich's "The Return" will appear on the official soundtrack.

The winning instrumental from the Duck Down contest, "The Return" by music producer/composer Alex Kresovich, was also featured in the debut commercial which aired on ABC on May 31, 2011 during Game 1 of the NBA Finals between the Dallas Mavericks and Miami Heat.

The complete NBA 2K12 soundtrack was announced on August 11, 2011 and mostly consists of hip hop and indie rock songs.