You know what’s awesome? Guitar Hero.
While flailing away on a plastic guitar might seem pretty lame to those who haven’t played, those who do know that the experience is pretty awesome. Doubly so for the current iterations of the game, Rock Band, and Guitar Hero: World Tour which incorporates drums and a microphone into the mix, allowing you and a couple of friends to climb the ranks in rock godliness.
Record companies are loving the games too, with a reported increase in sales of songs featured in the game. Hell, I’ve bought a couple of CD’s just because “a song was on Guitar Hero”…
…However, it’s not all kittens and rainbows, apparently. Despite the desperately needed increase in sales, record companies feel they’re got getting enough money from the music rights, according to the LA Times.
My first reaction is a pretty resounding “what the hell?”, at a reported $25,000 to use a master recording for the game, and $10,000 for a cover, I don’t really see the record companies losing out much here. Sure, it’s not even scratching the surface of the millions of dollars they might earn, but it’s still money Bobby-Joe average never really gets to see. Not to mention the fact that music companies are seeking a 4 to 8 cent royalty for every game sold. Doesn’t sound like much, but considering the games’ popularity, it adds up.
And yet, the companies still aren’t happy.
“The amount being paid to the industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content that we own and control, is far too small,” says Edgar Bronfman jr. chairman of Warner Music Group.
Bronfman suggested that he wanted Warner to be less a supplier than a partner. “If that does not become the case, as far as Warner Music is concerned, we will not license to those games,” he said.
Set your reactions to facepalm, people. I know I am.
While I understand that downloading music may put the hurt on the music biz, at the same time, crying poor when you license your music out to video games which are primarily based around music? How about the fact that the music featured in the games is finding more and more new fans who would have otherwise not bothered with the likes of Aerosmith or Faith No More, who -in turn, are paying for the songs they heard by downloading them from iTunes?
Yep, you’re totally losing out here. Maybe you should charge ridiculous prices for CD’s and not give the artists a decent enough cut, leaving them to rely on touring and merch sales to get by. That’ll show ‘em.
…Oh wait.
As far as game developers go? Activision’s response isn’t that much better, with Activision’s CEO Robert Kotick suggesting that music labels should pay them for putting their songs in the games.
“When you look at the impact [Guitar Hero] can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it’s really significant,” Kotick told the Wall Street Journal. “So much so that you sort of question whether or not, in the case of those kinds of products, you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse.”
I’m curious as to how Kotick came to this conclusion without tripping balls. I weep for the future of Activision and Blizzard, seriously.
If you ask me, with the music business as it is now, record labels need all the help they can get. Why throw mud back in the faces of people who are making you money? As far as Activision goes, I think Mr. Kotick needs to be put back in his box.