Will Video Games Save the Radio Star
The overwhelming popularity of play along games like Rock Band (MTV Games/Harmonix) and Guitar Hero (Activision) isn’t just a boon for the video game industry, it seems to be breathing a little life back into the music business as well. These games not only provide a new, and younger, audience for older, established rock acts like Aerosmith, the Rolling Stones and Metallica, newer acts like Coldplay and Radiohead are also utilizing the platform to reach broader markets. In addition to the song downloads for the games themselves (”Rock Band” recently passed the 12 million mark), since downloads cannot be transferred to a CD or mp3 player, players are going to other sources to download copies for their personal use. With almost one third of surveyed players reporting that they purchased songs featured on Rock Band and Guitar Hero, all this is adding up to big money for the music business.