Does "Guitar Hero" Owe Artists Money?
Kristina Dillon
Issue date: 10/23/08 Section: Impact Staff Blogs
This past Sunday I was attending a family dinner, and where were the boys? Upstairs playing Guitar Hero of course! (And by boys I also mean my 30-year-old uncles.) Guitar Hero is the new phenomenon of a rhythmic game that has taken over all three main gaming systems, and their players live's everywhere!
Yes Guitar Hero is constantly making headlines with its record-breaking sales; The franchise surpassed the $1 billion mark in a record-breaking 26 months this past February.
But the CEO of Activision (the game developer and publisher for Guitar Hero) Bobby Kotick has recently been making headlines of his own.
"Record labels should be paying us," stated Kotick in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.
This was said after allegations from big company music labels such as Universal Music Group (UMG) recently stated that they feel that music labels deserve more money from theses gaming devices for using there artists' songs.
Artists of UMG include Bon Jovi, The Killers, Aerosmith, and The All American Rejects. All of which have multiple of songs in the games.
"The bulk of our consumers will tell you they're not purchasing the products based on the songs they include" Stated Kotick. "A 12 year old doesn't know who Aerosmith is."
Kotick's interview with the Wall Street Journal has been stirring up a lot of controversy among music labels, artists, and consumers everywhere.
And why wouldn't it. Since the 1930's if you wanted to use a particular song in a movie, or in a television show you had to pay for the rights to that artists music label. So why should games be any different?
And say the music labels pay Activision --where is this money going to go? Will the games now be given away to the consumers for free?
Highly doubtful!
"We compensate artists and publishers very well, millions and millions of dollars are being made and paid," said Kotick.
Yes Guitar Hero is constantly making headlines with its record-breaking sales; The franchise surpassed the $1 billion mark in a record-breaking 26 months this past February.
But the CEO of Activision (the game developer and publisher for Guitar Hero) Bobby Kotick has recently been making headlines of his own.
"Record labels should be paying us," stated Kotick in a recent interview with The Wall Street Journal.
This was said after allegations from big company music labels such as Universal Music Group (UMG) recently stated that they feel that music labels deserve more money from theses gaming devices for using there artists' songs.
Artists of UMG include Bon Jovi, The Killers, Aerosmith, and The All American Rejects. All of which have multiple of songs in the games.
"The bulk of our consumers will tell you they're not purchasing the products based on the songs they include" Stated Kotick. "A 12 year old doesn't know who Aerosmith is."
Kotick's interview with the Wall Street Journal has been stirring up a lot of controversy among music labels, artists, and consumers everywhere.
And why wouldn't it. Since the 1930's if you wanted to use a particular song in a movie, or in a television show you had to pay for the rights to that artists music label. So why should games be any different?
And say the music labels pay Activision --where is this money going to go? Will the games now be given away to the consumers for free?
Highly doubtful!
"We compensate artists and publishers very well, millions and millions of dollars are being made and paid," said Kotick.
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