Who's getting over on who in the music game biz?
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal (subscription required), Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick fired yet another salvo at the music industry, and what he describes as persistent demands for greater licensing fees.
With the amount of attention and free publicity that Guitar Hero and its ilk provide for the music industry, Kotick remarked that "you sort of question whether or not... you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse."
This isn't the first time Activision and the music industry have come to verbal fisticuffs. But Kotick's argument does have merit.
The music industry is providing the content on which Guitar Hero and Rock Band have shot to success; that can't be denied. But how about some perspective: Aerosmith's popularity was already on the wane when I was a kid. Why should my little brother care about their music?
Without these rhythm games to make the content palatable to an entirely new generation of wallets, who exactly would the music labels be hawking their wares to?
That being said, once we're faced with Rock Band 5: Marching Band Edition and Keytar Hero, repurchasing for our consoles the songs we once bought on cassette and then again on CDs (and maybe a third time, via iTunes or Amazon), what exactly is going to keep fans coming back for more? It's not the seductive allure of repeatedly spending hundreds of dollars on plastic instruments – it's the content. Music labels and rhythm game developers need to lock themselves in a room and sort this mess out, before consumers finally wake up and realize they've been had.
Activision: Maybe music labels should pay us [Edge]
Image: Wired.com
