p2pnet - rss feed: Warner Music: ‘unparalleled display of greed’
p2pnet news view Games | Music:- “Hey Jon!” - emails the Reverend Keith A. Gordon from Dancing On The Edge.
“I saw this article this afternoon on Warner Music and thought that I’d write something up about the absurdity of it all.”
He wasn’t kidding.
He goes on »»»
Warner Music Group Corp announced today that, much like Nero fiddling while Rome burned, they expect video game manufacturers to start coughing up their fair share of penance to license music for smash hits like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.”
In an unparalleled display of greed, ignorance, and just plain old blatant disregard for the current zeitgeist in the recording industry, Warner Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman compared today’s successful video game companies like Activision Blizzard and Harmonix with the 1981 launch MTV and Apple’s iPod.
Both of these cultural phenomenon, of course, built their successes on the backs of the hard-working execs of the music biz without tithing a red cent back to the “Four Families.”
Bronfman expects a few more pieces of gold if you want to license songs from Warner’s catalog for your game.
“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,” Bronfman is quoted by Reuters.
Edgar, old pal, you really should get out of the house more often. The joy of playing these games is in the action, the controls. The music is just part of the game.
The kids just like to rock, you see, and although the use of major label music adds an air of authenticity to the play, the games themselves are not “dependent” on your content.
If the major label gangstas price themselves out of the video game market by demanding too high a price for licensing, manufacturers will simply turn to cheaper indie label fare or…gasp…hire studio bands to record cover versions of classic rock songs to use in the games.
Either way, the labels won’t make a dime from the video game market, one of the few places they can still demand top dollar for their wares and get away with the extortion.
Definitely stay tuned.
JN
.
.Stumble It!
New York Times - xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx, August xx, 2008
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August 7th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
I dunno. . .I rather doubt anybody would play Generic Guitar Hero. People play it (and buy new versions) because of the songs they know and want to rock out to.
August 7th, 2008 at 2:19 pm
My kid has guitar hero.
Some of the songs sound as though they are already
done by cover bands and not the original ‘artists’ .
My kid still manages to ‘rock out’ just as much on the cover versions.
So then, even if kids stop buying it because they are cover versions, does it hurt only the game
maker ?
Seems to me it eliminates yet another opportunity for the artists to be heard, and one more
revenue stream disappears completley. Go for it RIAA, keep shooting yourself in the foot.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:28 pm
All they have to do is find a few popular artists that are willing to break with the industry, and the RIAA is screwed! And, getting your song in a popular video game would be hard to pass up.
August 7th, 2008 at 3:49 pm
These genre’s of games have already made a name for themselves and a market that wants these types of games. So it’s not about building a market to get it going. It’s now about greed and what more can I get. I agree the solution is having bands that are seeking fame do covers. The cost will in the end be far less with more value coming out of the game for just who the majors are seeking to cut out of the money stream. While I don’t play these games myself, I have noticed off and on in passing that covers are becoming mainstream music fare.
If you’re an indie band, seeking fame this is made to order for you. Cut the gaming house a good deal and short circuit some of the dues to be paid to become famous. It won’t hurt a bit to cut the majors out of the cash flow while you’re at it. In fact it will save you some hassles, like dealing with the latest highway robbery scheme they have cooked up (such as this one) to milk yet more money for a product increasingly no longer worth the cost. Were I the gaming house, I would commission covers to be made for my games, just so that I would own the recording copyrights and there would be no issue with who is owed money nor at a later date, how much more when the rules are attempted to be changed once again. Far better to cut this part out of the budget.
I understand that right now these games are very expensive. I am sure that the additional cost increase would be added to the price of the game. Are you willing and ready to pay an extra $20 dollars for no other benefit than to fund Mega-media? If so, how about $40 dollars the game after that? How long does it go before they are priced out of the range of gamers? Better to cut this giant’s knees out from under it at the start.
August 7th, 2008 at 6:28 pm
If Edgar Bronfman wants to see who the real enemy of organized
music is, he only needs to look in the mirror.
It is obvious that he does not have the best interests of major label
artists in mind when he spouts drivel such as this.
The artists, on the other hand, are scrambling left and right to get
their music licensed for these games (with one notable exception:
Led Zeppelin.)
August 8th, 2008 at 4:37 am
child #1 says - that music is made by a bunch of “old-dudes”
August 8th, 2008 at 8:41 am
Hmmm, Bronfman mentions MTV. I remember reading somewhere that MTV went from playing music videos 24/4 to reality shows, MTV sports, and other non music programs right around the same time the music industry started charging them to play videos. It got to the point where MTV went from being the no 1 promotional vehicle for new artists, to becoming irreverent, as they hardly played music videos anymore. Very unhelpful to artists(and themselves, as the promo was great for album sales), as will trying to rape the guitar hero company will be, but record execs never learn.
August 8th, 2008 at 11:09 am
What is the time line in regards to mtv not playing vidos anymore and the supposed decline in cd sales (didn’t they break records again last year?)
August 8th, 2008 at 11:47 am
“Go for it RIAA, keep shooting yourself in the foot.”
Six toes down, only four more to go!
August 10th, 2008 at 7:09 am
[quote]“Go for it RIAA, keep shooting yourself in the foot.”
Six toes down, only four more to go![/quote]
Id have thought with the incestuous nature of the music industry , it would be more like “six toes down , six more to go”
August 10th, 2008 at 11:19 pm
Stupid idea. Some bands break thanks to music in games. Before I playd GH III I had never heard of a band called Priestess. Now I’m gonna purchase their album. Same thing happened with a band called Poets Of The Fall and Max Payne II. They made the song that plays in the final credits and got off the ground at breakneck speed. So yeah go ahead and make them pay more to scare off the last of them, stupid idiots.