Neoseeker : News : Warner Music: music games aren't paying enough for licensed music

Warner Music: music games aren't paying enough for licensed music
Leo Chan - Thursday, August 7th, 2008 | 12:01PM (PT) 0 Like


Record label holder WMG thinks it ought to be entitled to a bigger cut of music gaming success

The music gaming genre is increasingly lucrative thanks to the mainstream success of franchises like Guitar Hero and Rock Band, soon to be joined by Konami's Rock Revolution. However, music company Warner Music Group believes that producers of such games will need to start paying bigger dues to the music industry when licensing tracks for use with their titles.

WMG itself already licenses tracks from artists and labels included in various Guitar Hero games.  Speaking to Reuters, WMG CEO Edgar Bronfman sees the growth of music gaming as a signifigant step akin to the launch of Apple's iPod, or MTV:

"The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small."

Looks like it's wants a bigger share of that growing pie, in which case we can expect WMG to start bumping up licensing fees for upcoming music game sequels and expansion packs. Will the music gaming market decide to stand firm against the labels like Apple did?


Warner Music: music games aren't paying enough for licensed music Image 1

Source: Reuters

Section: Console Games

  • 0 thumbs!
    DeathMonkey since Sep 2007 | Aug 7, 08
    I hope they decide to stand firm, record labels should realise that they benefit from music games. The games often help to make these songs better known and therefor increasing their sales. For example look at Dragonforce, before the Guitar Hero 3 only me and my friend seemed to know about them but thanks to the game they became much better known (because the song is so damn HARD)
  • 0 thumbs!
    Dragons Call since Oct 2002 | Aug 7, 08
    I hope they do too. I mean, clearly the music industry isn't making enough money on its own.

    Besides, more money to the music industry means higher prices for the game, not to mention it may hit the indie bands hard. :/
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