Record shops are closing, illegal downloading is flourishing and the way music is promoted is changing – utterly. Now old bands are learning new tricks and selling their music to video game producers. Getting just one track on games such as Guitar Heroor Rock Bandcan up your online download sales by hundreds of per cent. BRIAN BOYDreports on the brave new interactive musical world
'PRETEND to play rock music by hitting scrolling notes on the screen of a video game". This was the back-of-an-envelope idea for a cultural phenomenon; an idea that was as unlikely sounding as it has become commercially successful. The two main players in the market — Guitar Heroand Rock Band– have now sold 35 million units between them, generating $3 billion in sales. But look a bit more closely at the figures and you're looking not just at a runaway growth sector for the music industry but something that will have implications across the board.
Last year, the spend on video gaming overtook the spend on music purchases for the first time. It was always the case that music had an pre-eminent place in the disposable income market, but any number of factors (the poor quality of releases, the free availability of the product on the net) meant that gaming became the new rock’n’roll.
The attraction is simple: games are fast and buzzy affairs that are more in tune with how people interact with technology. The traditional, basic “shoot ’em up” affairs have been replaced with any manner of complex and innovative features that, in an attention-deficit culture, can hold interest levels for hours on end.
The “action” genre of gaming still dominates, but the music “rhythm” games are closing fast. With these, gamers play along with the songs on instrument-shaped plastic controllers (guitars, drums, microphones). The game part is still intact, but the soundtrack being used is contemporary rock music.
Guitar Heroand Rock Bandcan be played on Microsoft's Xbox, Sony's PlayStation or Nintendo's Wii. It is said that the use of music on these games will have the same popularising effect as the rise of the music video (and MTV) in the 1980s.
Consumer studies show that every song included in a new Guitar Heroor Rock Bandgame produces a boost in download sales. These increases have been shown to be anywhere between 15 per cent and 843 per cent. Online gaming networks now sell additional tracks for gamers to play along to. These tracks, which retail at an average of $2 (€1.40), are more profitable for record companies and musicians than iTunes sales.
A tipping point has now been reached: a big rock band will now avoid servicing a new track to radio or putting it up on iTunes immediately, instead they will try to license it out first to Rock Bandor Guitar Hero, knowing that the exposure it receives there will drive more sales than other traditional marketing platforms.
When Guns N' Roses made their much-publicised return last year with Chinese Democracy, they went against record company wisdom and released the new song Shackler's Revengeto a Guitar Herogame a full two months ahead of the album's release. The sales of that particular version of the game saw a huge sales spike as die-hard Roses fans rushed to buy it.
When Mötley Crüe returned with their Saints of Los Angelesalbum last year, the single of the same name sold 14,000 copies on iTunes in its first week of release, but 48,000 copies were sold at the Rock Bandonline store during the same time period. For the now-vintage band, the predominantly young and male demographic of Rock Bandand Guitar Heromeans a new audience. "I credit Rock Bandfor bringing in the younger audience," says Mötley Crüe's manager Allen Kovak. "The people who downloaded that song aren't just listening to it, they're interacting with it."
This week sees the release of what could become the biggest-ever selling music video game. Guitar Hero: Metallicais only the second time a band has been allowed to "curate" its own game (the previous time was an Aerosmithrelease).
" Guitar Hero– that's about guitar and about riffs and about banging your head. There's a few people who say the same thing about Metallica. I think Metallica and Guitar Hero is the perfect marriage," says Metallica drummer Lars Ulrich.
Ulrich admits he only became aware of Guitar Herolast year, but for him the attraction is "to still be able – 28 years into a career – to do things that are somewhat new and cutting-edge".
While normally a Guitar Herogame will feature a wide variety of tracks from different artists, this special edition of the game allows Metallica to draw up their own song selection and come up with their own graphics and storylines.
“I sat down and approached it like a show – a set-list,” says Ulrich. “There are a few songs that you would be probably be tarred and feathered if you didn’t play – the so-called hits – but there are some deeper album tracks and cover versions in there also, and there will be some tracks by some hard rock bands who are friends – Foo Fighters and Slayer.”
For Ulrich, these games represent the future of the music industry. "In five or 10 years' time I think we'll find that this platform of getting music to the fans is probably the one that is going to be very viable – a pretty major source for people to get access to music. I think that bands and artists will be releasing records directly into Guitar Heroand all their competitors' platforms over the next few years," he says.
The Guitar Heropeople report that some of the biggest names in the music business are now approaching them – the same bands who just a few years ago wouldn't allow the company to license their songs for use in these games.
For the mega-bands it may be just about consolidating their success and adding on new fans, but for younger bands exposure on Guitar Heroor Rock Bandcan dramatically change their commercial status – the little-known English power metal band, Dragonforce, who featured on Guitar Hero 3reported a 300 per cent rise in downloads of their music.
With record shops closing every day, illegal downloading still flourishing and traditional approaches to music promotion no longer working, for bands old and new, known and unknown, the message is clear: get with the game.
Let the games begin: fab four fever
In September, the mother of all music video games will be played out between Rock Bandand Guitar Heroas both titles unveil major new products. Rock Bandhave struck gold by securing the rights to release The Beatles: Rock Band – the first time the band have ever agreed to license their jealously-guarded back catalogue to a video game.
The security around The Beatles Rock Bandis such that no one knows what the final content will be but it is known that Paul McCartney and Ringo Starr are involved at every stage and will do everything to promote the product.
This game could bring the music gaming market firmly into the cultural mainstream. The game will be released on September 9th.
A week before sees the release of Guitar Hero 5, which will have a heavyweight tracklisting with songs by The Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Johnny Cash, Coldplay and The White Stripes.
While Guitar Herois more popular than Rock Band, the latter features the most popular band in the world. With so much revenue at stake – it should be some skirmish.
Singing in Simlish: the Pixie proposition
A major new talent – the 19-year-old English singer Pixie Lott, will be unveiled next month on The Sims– a popular "life-simulation" computer game. The first recording artist to really take advantage of The Sims was Lily Allen, who re-recorded her first hit single, Smile, in "Simlish" (the language of the game). The resultant video was watched over five million times on YouTube. Some would say it was an improvement on the original vocal.
The plan for Pixie Lott is to incorporate her into a new version of the game which will see her be turned into an avatar called Sims Pixie, which can be downloaded by game users. Her "Simlish" version of her first single, Mama Do, will be made available on iTunes only.
Pixie Lott will also feature heavily in the first Sims Festival to be held this August and is a key part of the company's expansion plan. To date Simsgames have sold more than 100 million units worldwide since becoming available in 2002.
Guitar Hero: Metallica (playable on Xbox360, PlayStation and Nintendo Wii) retails at about €70
