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Bill Gates rocking out on Guitar Hero III  (Source: Kotaku)
Digital music downloading stretching over to video games

Games such as Rock Band and the Guitar Hero series have helped create an entire extension to the music and video game industry. While music-based games are not a new concept, the growth of the latest rock-focused genre captured the attention of the recording industry.

Now more than just a closed-package experience, both Rock Band and the latest Guitar Hero games offer new music tracks for consumers to purchase for download on a periodic basis. Activision, publisher of the Guitar Hero series, said that it sold more than 5 million songs for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock across Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on each console’s respective online service.

Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock is also available on the PlayStation 2 and Wii, but those versions do not feature downloadable content.

Rock Band, which was released after Guitar Hero III, has sold over 2 million songs since release. MTV declined to provide any solid sales breakdown for its DLC, but say that the majority of the downloaded songs were purchased by Xbox 360 as opposed to PlayStation 3 users.

"With such a low installation base, we didn't think that there'd be 2 million songs sold in eight weeks," MTVN Music Group/Logo/Films division president Van Toffler said in a Reuters story. "We live in a rough time around music where our audience struggles to pay $20 for a CD but don't hesitate to pay $50 for a game. The notion to pay 99 cents or $1.99 to have a song and repeatedly play with it apparently isn't a big hurdle."

Classic metal band Metallica was one of the most outspoken against emerging digital music technologies on the Internet, but seemingly has opened up to the concept of its original music in video games. Its track One is featured in Guitar Hero III, and Enter Sandman is included with Rock Band. Furthermore, a downloadable track pack featuring Ride the Lightning, Blackened and And Justice for All is available for Rock Band and is the top selling add-on for the platform.

Music featured in Guitar Hero and Rock Band games also appear to boost the sales of the same songs for digital download. Sales of the Metallica songs available in the Rock Band download package increased between 31 and 48 percent for the month following the release of the track pack.

DragonForce’s track Through the Fire and Flames was featured as the ending song and bonus track to Guitar Hero III. Sales of the DragonForce album Inhuman Rampage increased 126 percent week-on-week following Guitar Hero III’s release.

With music sales now being driven by the latest video games, bands now have an entirely new avenue for expression of new music and promotion of old catalog.

“We are talking to tons of bands, from indie to the most established ... to release not necessarily their entire catalog, but maybe some of their classic albums and do special packages around that,” Toffler added.

MTV also said that its plans make Rock Band more than just a game, but rather a full platform, that will extend to more than just new songs. Currently listed on GameStop for pre-order is a Rock Band Stage Kit, which appears to be an “interactive light and smoke stage show” accessory that aims to further bring home the real rock performance experience.

While Rock Band is just starting to take off, Guitar Hero is already a household name. Activision recently announced that its Guitar Hero franchise surpassed $1 billion USD in North America in 26 months, perhaps demonstrating the true mass market appeal of music and video games together.

“Guitar Hero is one of the biggest brands and one of the most powerful distribution platforms in all of entertainment today," said Michael Griffith, president and CEO, Activision Publishing. “Guitar Hero's popularity with broad audiences is a confirmation that video games have become a true mass medium.”

Video games have long tried to tap into the movie business, feeling that emulating cinema would be the next big thing. While a few franchises have had limited success with Hollywood, it appears that the best cross over partner for video games is with music.

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Big difference
By Bioniccrackmonk on 1/22/2008 12:55:43 PM , Rating: 4
quote:
We live in a rough time around music where our audience struggles to pay $20 for a CD but don't hesitate to pay $50 for a game.


$20 for a CD you might listen to once or twice and wish you could have just a few songs. (most cd's, not all)

$50 for a game you will love and play so much, that the cost is worth the time you will get out of it.

As soon as the music industry figures this out, they will make a ton of money.




RE: Big difference
By PitViper007 on 1/22/2008 1:19:40 PM , Rating: 2
quote:
As soon as the music industry figures this out, they will make a ton of money.


Their already making a ton of money (even with pirating and declining CD sales), just not as much as they'd like.


RE: Big difference
By masher2 (blog) on 1/22/2008 5:40:21 PM , Rating: 2
> "Their [sic] already making a ton of money..."

Warner Music Group( owner of Atlantic Records, Electra, Rhino, Ryko, and about 50 other labels) lost money last year.

EMI, which also owns Chrysalis, Capital Music, Blue Note, Angel Records, Virgin Records, and many others lost money last year.

Sony BMG, which owns Columbia, Tristar, Epic, RCA, and many others, lost money last year.

I think Universal made a profit, but I could be wrong.


RE: Big difference
By Samus on 1/23/2008 1:35:02 AM , Rating: 2
2007 wasn't a very profitable year for movies. Neither was 2006. I'm sure the music divisions of those labels made profit, but as a whole they lost money because the motion picture industry just isn't doing as well as it did through the 90's and early millenium. Cost of movie production is extremely high compared to pre-90's era, and less people are going to the movies these days because of price, piracy and fast-to-DVD production (the rental industry has grown exponentially over the past 10 years.)

It's like saying Microsoft lost money last year because XBOX was dragging them down, when infact Vista sales offset XBOX losses by a 20:1 margin, if not greater.


RE: Big difference
By masher2 (blog) on 1/23/2008 9:02:55 AM , Rating: 2
> "2007 wasn't a very profitable year for movies. Neither was 2006. I'm sure the music divisions of those labels made profit"

Oops-- the results I quoted were for the Music divisions. Warner Music, EMI, and Sony BMG don't produce movies. They are 3 of the "Big 4" labels which control nearly all the recording business.

Sony Pictures, Warner Brothers, Universal...those are movie studies.


RE: Big difference
By JimmyC on 1/25/2008 8:24:53 PM , Rating: 2
To add to this I wanted to note that Warner Music is not affiliated with Warner Brothers Studios, the division was sold to Seagram's or Bacardi-some foreign hard liquor company, can't recall who.


RE: Big difference
By nafhan on 1/23/2008 8:59:28 AM , Rating: 2
I have to point out the difference between "a ton of money" and making a profit. The major lables may have lost money last year, but they still made quite a bundle. They need to trim down excess staff and focus on digital distribution. If they can handle that, I feel they could easily move back to profitibility. Not as much profit as before, but it's a different world now.

Ars has an interesting article about this up right now. Here's a quote:
quote:
EMI boss Guy Hands asked rhetorically, "Can you imagine what would happen if most consumer industries over-shipped by 20 per cent? Can you imagine any consumer industry having 10 per cent of employees as middle management? Can you imagine only 6 per cent of staff in production?"


RE: Big difference
By MangoSRT8 on 1/23/2008 10:22:55 AM , Rating: 2
And why do you care? The RIAA is a terrible organization that only exists to pad it's own pockets. We don't need them.


RE: Big difference
By masher2 (blog) on 1/23/2008 11:07:18 AM , Rating: 3
Personally I don't care...but then, I don't listen to music. At least not anything recorded in the past decade or two.

For those of you who do, yes you should care. How does a record label have billions of dollars in revenue, and still lose money? By spending more than it brings in.

Now ask yourself, what does a label spend money on? Primarily, on paying (and more importantly, promoting and marketing) bands. When all the labels are losing money, that means soon those budgets are going to decline. And that means fewer bands, getting paid less, and less promotion of those bands.

Of course, we know everyone here really doesn't care about all that promotion. You're all into it just for the art. Uh-huh. That's why you ignore all the tends of thousands of no-name bands willing to give their music away for free, and instead listen to all those big-name bands with the name recognition only a billion-dollar marketing budget can bring.

The simple fact is that the widespread cash hemmorhaging among the big labels IS going to change the music industry. And it's going to change it in ways that most "average" listeners probably aren't going to be too happy about.


By Acanthus on 1/22/2008 9:54:48 AM , Rating: 3
It's just not utilized by guitar hero.

Which sucks pretty bad since i have GH III for wii :P




By jbzx86 on 1/22/2008 10:14:10 AM , Rating: 2
1080p is nice for Guitar Hero 3. The notes are more defined :D

One thing I want though is more songs and song packs for GH3. Rock Band is an awesome game if you have 3 or 4 people to play. It also isn't bad if you like to play the drums. But for solo play, the guitar aspect sucks. GH3 is way better for solo-shredding.

More DLC for GH3 please.


By Netscorer on 1/22/2008 9:12:06 PM , Rating: 2
I have both GH and RB games and I don't find guitar play on RB to suck as you say. It is slightly easier to play on the levels up to Expert (which is actually a good thing if you are beginner) but on Expert it is as hard as GHIII.

What exactly makes you say that RB guitar play sucks?


By BMFPitt on 1/22/2008 10:58:37 AM , Rating: 2
I don't think the Wii supports downloadable content that plugs into existing games (i.e. Guitar Hero.) As far as I've seen, all downloads are stand-alone games/apps. I'm sure if it did, then these song packs would definitely be available.

That's one of the reasons I got the 360 version (that and my fiancee liked the 360 guitar better.)


By zombiexl on 1/22/2008 11:28:47 AM , Rating: 2
They are almost the exact same guitar (wii vs 360). My son has the wii version and i have the 360 version. The main difference is you use the wiimote to power/connect the guitar. Other than that they are the same.


RB > GH3
By therealnickdanger on 1/22/2008 11:23:13 AM , Rating: 2
When it comes to music available to download AND a better price, Rock Band is doing it right. I'd still like to pay less... but who wouldn't? "My Curse" by KSE is almost enough to make GH3 better than RB, but vocals and drums are just amazing.




RE: RB > GH3
By Netscorer on 1/22/2008 9:17:48 PM , Rating: 2
I would like to see GH and RB publishers to start to rent songs for, like $.50 per song for unlimited 24hr play. That way I could sample any new song appearing on DLC without spending fortunes in MS points. If I like a song there should be an option to buy it for a full price minus $.50
I think this will dramatically increase both revenue and sales for either franchise and give gamers more fun in the meantime.


RE: RB > GH3
By therealnickdanger on 1/23/2008 8:31:39 AM , Rating: 2
If the recording industry really wants to see a boost in CD sales, they should include a second disc with RB/GH tracks that you can put into your console. I would buy a CD for $13 if it came with RB/GH tracks.


Alternative
By JoeBanana on 1/22/2008 2:09:42 PM , Rating: 2
I haven't tried guitar hero but I tried the free alternative. I don't think it's better that guitar hero but it's free and I had some fun. So if someone wants to give it a try http://fretsonfire.sourceforge.net/




RE: Alternative
By bearxor on 1/22/2008 2:49:37 PM , Rating: 2
FoF is great if you want all of the GH songs in one place. The interface is crappy though. I suspect once people rip apart GH3 for the PC/Mac that FoF will be dead.


RE: Alternative
By idconstruct on 1/22/2008 11:50:44 PM , Rating: 2
stepmania (the open source version of DDR and its superior counterpart ITG (in the groove)) is the mainstream "PC" dance game, despite the fact that ITG has been fully ripped and is freely available. (i personally use ITG for PC and have over 3000 songs including the entire DDR series, my point is that FoF probably isn't going anywhere)


By Chaotic42 on 1/22/2008 5:46:17 PM , Rating: 1
If people want to buy this stuff, I'm all for it, but please God tell me that we aren't on the threshold of thousands of ripoffs that will degrade the video game industry like reality television has degraded the television industry.

These games are the American Idol and Next Top Model of gaming, and I hope that they stay "over there" in their niche.

<End old man rant>




By masher2 (blog) on 1/22/2008 11:21:50 PM , Rating: 2
> "...that will degrade the video game industry like reality television has degraded the television industry."

If the television industry could survive series like Married With Children and The A-Team, I think it'll survive reality shows.


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