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Warner Music: Game Companies Are Cheapskates
See also: Guitar Hero Cheating Music Labels?
The music industry isn't seeing enough benefit from the hugely successful music game genre, according to a Warner Music exec.
Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman said in a Forbes piece, "There is what I would call a very paltry licensing fee per song" in music deals with game companies.
Warner Music has big-name bands appearing in Actvision's Guitar Hero, not the least of which is Metallica. Activision is set to publish Guitar Hero: Metallica, and will also release Metallica's upcoming album, "Death Magnetic" as downloadable content in Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour.
In January, Activision Blizzard announced that its hit Guitar Hero franchise had generated over $1 billion in sales. That amount is growing, as the company introduces new iterations of the series and releases more paid downloadable music.
MTV Games' Rock Band has sold over 1.5 million copies.
Both franchises have sold millions of individual songs through digital distribution via online marketplaces such as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.
Bronfman said, "I think the industry as a whole needs to take a very different look at this business and participate more fully and in a much more partnership way. And if that does not become the case, as far as Warner Music is concerned, we will not license to those games."
The exec also stated in a separate Reuters report, "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."
toadwarrior,
warner bros sold off warner music a few years ago to broffman. it isn't part of the warner family anymore.
brian
www.brianwoods.com
They were late to the dance to begin with !
Now they complain about the quality of the girls ?
Don't like the deal then don't agree to it or, since WB has WB Interactive, make your own game.
though i'm not privy to the specifics, I would assume that Warner Music had to agree to the amount of money allocated to license their songs. So, if they think the finances are lob-sided, then they shouldn't have agreed to them. No one to blame but themselves for that. Now, i assume with every subsequent game, they will try and negotiate a higher licensing fee for their music. The question is, will game companies pay? Or will the they just take the money to other record labels who are willing to pay their price? Regardless, Warner will get no sympathy from me.. Next time, do your homework before signing on the dotted line.
Interesting comments, that's exactly where YouLicense.com the open online music licensing marketplace comes in to play. YouLicense lets indie artists interact with video game makers and allows them to quickly and inexpensively license their music.
Warner's decision maybe the right business decision from their end, but it opens the doors for many other labels to offer their music to the video games industry. With resources and marketplaces like http://www.youlicense.com , video game makers can license music through a more convenient channel.
Heh.. Pot meet Kettle. Kettle meet Pot.
The record companies said the same things when iTunes became the second largest music retailer in the U.S. Then Steve Jobs told them nothing was changing and they could leave if they wanted. Almost nobody did because iTunes was the second largest music retailer in the U.S. at that point. Activision and MTV should realize they hold the power here and stick to their guns.
You can also read this as: "We've been too naive to realize the potential of licensing our music to these games and failed to see that we should have opted for a better deal than the [insert percentage] that we got now. Since we do not want to come across like this, we'll issue a statement saying that the games industry consists of a bunch of cheapskates and we're the victim in their evil schemes."
While I am doubtless ignorant to many of the details, but surely the contract cannot have been a one-way decision. Perhaps there is an element of Warner Music underestimating the success of these videogames...