From The Wall Street Journal.
Aerosmith Stars in Guitar Hero Videogame
Other Rock Groups Are Expected to Follow
As Sales of Traditional CDs Continue to Slump
By NICK WINGFIELD and ETHAN SMITH
July 1, 2008
Guitar-heavy grooves have helped Aerosmith pack concert halls and sell
more than 150 million albums during its nearly four-decade career. Now
they’ve landed Aerosmith and a growing lineup of other rockers a new gig:
headlining videogames.
Last weekend, a new game called Guitar Hero: Aerosmith went on sale, the
latest installment in the hot-selling Activision Inc. franchise and the
first to let players jam along with music centered on a single act. A
version of Guitar Hero featuring the metal band Metallica is due out
within the next year, and Activision is in serious discussions with Van
Halen about showcasing that band in Guitar Hero as well, people familiar
with the matter say.
[…snip…]
The success of Guitar Hero and Rock Band have made them important new
sources of income for bands. Irving Azoff, whose Front Line Management
manages Aerosmith and other major artists, says videogame deals can be
“much more lucrative than anything you can do in the record business.”
Industry executives say bands can receive millions of dollars up front,
plus a generous royalty on sales. A person close to Aerosmith says the
band expects to make more money from the game title than it has from any
of its dozen-plus studio albums.
Since the last versions of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, game companies have
paid artists a royalty on sales of their games in exchange for rights to
use their master recordings in the games. Before that, music games
typically featured covers of famous songs by sound-alike bands.
Mr. Azoff says music videogames can also help his clients by boosting
traditional music sales. Sales of Aerosmith’s “Same Old Song and Dance”
shot up 130% in the week following the release of Guitar Hero 3, which
included the track, Activision says.
Clients including Van Halen, the Eagles, Steely Dan and Guns N’ Roses “all
have deals of varying types in the works with one or the other or both of
these companies,” says Mr. Azoff, referring to the makers of Guitar Hero
and Rock Band.
[…snip…]
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More rumors of a “Guitar Hero: Van Halen” game in this article from Kotaku.com:
Activision CEO Bobby Kotick: “If we’re […] creating a whole new group of consumers, six to eleven year old consumers, who are being exposed to Aerosmith for the first time or Van Halen for the first time, whatever that might be we need to capture much more of that upside opportunity.”
Now, Kotick may just be a big fan of Eddie Van Halen, but the profits to be had selling a licensed Kramer 5150 Guitar Hero guitar controller may have just gotten Bobby a bit too excited. Based on what the Activision CEO said, expect more artist-only titles, and consider Van Halen a fairly safe bet.