Can video games save the music industry? Probably not. But video games are emerging as a powerful distribution channel for digital music downloads. Players of Grand Theft Auto IV can buy the songs they hear in the game from Amazon by making their characters dial a number on their cell phones.
Now the rock band Mötley Crüe (yes, they are still alive) is getting in on the action as well. They released a single from their latest album, Saints of Los Angeles, both in the video game Rock Band and as download on iTunes, Amazon and elsewhere. In the first week that the digital single was available for sale (the physical album won’t be released until June 24), it was downloaded 47,000 times on the Xbox alone compared to 10,000 times on iTunes and other digital download stores on the Web.
Maybe people who play Rock Band are just naturally drawn to the Crüe. Or maybe video games are just a better way to sell music. You get to hear the whole song as part of a more immersive experience. And if you just scored high in the game, you are probably more receptive to shelling out some cash for the song that helped you get there. All those feel-good endorphins have to be channeled somewhere.
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Completely unsurprised by this news. Rock Band & Guitar Hero have been a phenom. in the VG space for years now. It seems obvious to me, as someone that works in the VG biz. But I can see how this would be a shocking headline to someone that didn’t follow games…
Maybe Grand Theft Auto can save the Automotive industry! oh wait, you’ll just steal the car…
This is amazing! Interested to see how this develops and how well it works for other bands and other games.
There’s a discussion over on Seeed right now about web apps and the music industry: http://seeed.org/forums/1/topics/86
Did anyone see that the Interscope rock band Rev Theory just released their new music video exclusively to the Xbox LIVE marketplace?
http://music.ign.com/articles/877/877479p1.html
Interesting indeed!
iTunes has about 5 million songs competing for buyers. Rock Band has about 103 as of May 13 (according to Wikipedia). So, if you’ve played through a few of those, there’s a good chance you want some more game-time.
Rock Band and Guitar Hero are fantastic additions to the sphere of music consumption, but I doubt it will ever be able to serve a significant number of artists, rather than a select group of superstars + specific promotional exclusives like Rev Theory.
It would be great if the consoles and developers opened up the distribution channel to indie artists, labels and aggregators to deliver song files into the Rock Band, Guitar Hero and other music game marketplaces. Even if the overall sales was small, the extra value for the core fanbase would be there and in aggregate sales would likely increase and drive greater engagement. Consoles are still too much like cellphones with a closed marketplace. Allowing some labels and musicians to be more innovative in product bundling and pricing will only grow the pie.
thats really interesting…i wouldn’t have expected such a large difference, but its an example of where the buyer has clear intent (playing rock band with motley crue’s song) vs random browsing (eg, itunes)…can draw a crude parallel to purpose-driven online searching (and the higher ad revenues) vs random browsing of social nets
Wow, this is a surprising stat. Go Xbox Live!
Ryan
lessons in brevity: http://www.mofata.com
Wow this IS amazing!! 57,000 people actually paid for the new Motley Crue song!
yes ai iem
Kudos to Motley Crue for experimenting with alternative forms of distribution. Who cares about saving the music industry (RIAA & Assoc)? This is yet another way to directly compensate independent artists that make the music. IMHO, that’s the more interesting storyline.
Motley Crue sucks and have aways sucked and the gaming industry wont change that not now and not ever.
I’d think the obvious answer would be that Rock Band fanatics are, generally speaking, always anxious for new content, and if you want that content you are going to pay for it. On the other hand, if you want an MP3 of ‘Saints of Los Angeles’, there are probably around a million ways of tracking that down for free, rather than buying it through iTunes. And frankly, while I buy more cds than anyone I know, I can’t imagine wanting to pay anything to listen to ‘Saints of Los Angeles’ either.
This is an endorsement of in-game advertising for music. Great music is great music, but it doesn’t sell until someone hears it. The worst part of the entire music industry is actually not the major labels, it’s the radio stations (it’s a very close race, however). Radio execs act like children, only play songs from the majors now–killing any new music they could otherwise expect 5 years from now–and still take payola daily no matter what the government says. But unless you get played on radio, your sales will be a fraction of what they would otherwise be because it is focused, targeted and easy for listeners. The Internet is now too large and noisy to aim music at anyone.
Hence the headline of this post is misleading. Xbox didn’t “beat” iTunes in any 1:1 contest. We’ve simply learned that direct advertising with attached sales is a very good thing. But how many video game titles get released each year to wide sales, and how many songs can you legitimately stuff into each one? Not enough to support thousands of artists, whether or not they are on a major label (or at least with a good publisher/placement service) to arrange such a deal in the first place.
the downloads of the crue late at night, drunk strumming on your rock band should not count.
Whoa! Yeah!! B-b-b-b-b-b-baby!!! Music is always attached to people’s emotions. When a song sucks it won’t sell. However if it sucks and people relate to it in another way, such as playing the song on Rock Band, it takes on a whole new meaning. It triggers emotions. emotions = money.
The music execs have realized that, however there are few technologies available like Rock Band or Guitar Hero that can spawn this type of jump in sales. Just keep doing what your doing. Trust me, when people start following suit, there will be more than enough outlets available for people to make money on.
Great article. So is it the older generation (ie. Motley Crue’s age) purchasing the tracks or is this a burst of new young fans?
As previously stated in others comments on here competing between 103 tracks to five million i think Xbox wins hands down.
Is this the way for the industry to wing their way back into consumers after they have already purchased a video game?
Be good to get thoughts on the below:
http://themusicvoid.wordpress......le-income/
The sales are great for the artist and computer gamers.
But most girls and women still buy music and most likely do not purchase and enjoy their music through this method.
Saw the Crue concert last night at Jones Beach. They need all the help they can get. It was not a rock concert, it was a porn video. The fact they have to rely on XXX porn videos in the background to keep people’s interest speaks for itself. I just came with my husband to hear the music, he’s been a fan since he was a teen - of the MUSIC. They have sold out tremendously and you sit there bombarded with images of XXX videos throughout the concert. I am not a prude, just not a hooker, and thought I was seeing a rock concert. Not a feminist at all - just a normal woman who thought at most she would see groupies dancing sexy - not full on XXX porn to make the music more tolerable. Just unreal how low they have sunk. They need help from anywhere they can get it - even with video games if need be!
Hey guys! Looking forward to your tour!
I love the crystal microphone (www.crystalroc.com) you use on your last tour!
Show it off!
Keep Rolling!!!