Can Video Games Save The Music Industry?
Feb 15, 2008
The music industry is changing, and fast. The old model based around full album consumption simply doesn't work anymore. Single track downloads grew by 53 percent in 2007 to $2.9 billion and digital sales account for 30 percent of sales in the US and 15 percent worldwide, all while CD sales continue to dive like broken Xbox 360s, falling between 10 to 20 percent in 2007. Heck, 2008 had one of the least-watched Grammy ceremonies in television history.
And yet in less than three months, Harmonix's video game Rock Band notched 2.5 million song downloads at around two bucks per -- twice as much as a regular iTunes song retails. Everyone who buys Rock Band downloads at least two songs, on average. With a little over one million copies of the game sold, that's some sexy math.
The relationship between games and music is only getting peachier: coming this June, Activision is planning to release a Guitar Hero game dedicated to Aerosmith and "celebrated artists that the band has either performed with or has been inspired by in some way." Clearly, bands are taking notice of gaming's reach and influence. Here's a look at the past, present and future of the mutually beneficial relationship between music and games.
Early Days: iD's Nine Inch Nails
One of the standout events in the merger between games and popular music came when Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails fame scored iD's seminal shooter, Quake. Worlds collided, as music fans who'd never looked twice at gaming suddenly took interest in online fragfests. Ironically, Reznor has since become a staunch opponent of the music industry's old guard, going so far as to leak his own tracks and remixes.
Old Tunes, New Audience
Where new audiences might once have been introduced to classic tunes through movies (think Martin Scorsese and his love for The Rolling Stones, or Wes Anderson's faithful use of The Kinks), now new generations get their musical education from games.
Rockstar lived up to their name and built radio stations right into the Grand Theft Auto series that cemented gamers' love for tracks like Ice Cube's 'It Was A Good Day' and introduced many to stuff like Gary Numan's 'Cars'.
Rocking in the free market
Dueling arena-rocking franchises Rock Band and Guitar Hero have only amped up that trend by going far beyond the niche track selections of older rhythm games. While labels struggle to sell CDs, Rock Band has already pushed well over 2 million songs. That sales market developed overnight; Rock Band has only been in stores for a few months. But it's consistent with the music industry's current trend towards single-track downloads, which have been increasing weekly.
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Activision, meanwhile, has trumpeted NPD research group numbers citing over one billion dollars in North American sales for the Guitar Hero franchise, with Guitar Hero III becoming the best-selling game of all time for any given calendar year. Whew. The company further claims users have downloaded five million songs since the advent of Guitar Hero III. And since Activision charges something like $2.50, one thumb and a heart ventricle per song, that would count as an unqualified cash cow.
No surprise, then that downloadable content is proving to be a legitimate way for labels and artists to distribute and profit from their music.
Who needs radio when you've got DLC?
Such astounding numbers makes gaming not only a new listening platform, but a possible new distribution method. MTV, for instance, has a deal in place to exclusively release the first single from Metallica's new record through Rock Band. While once we relied upon radio or MTV for new music, there's now the potential for spanking new tunes to be delivered straight to your console. Seems like a perfect avenue for Trent Reznor's new anti-label tendencies, doesn't it?
Experimenting with the future
Beyond the big name games and bands, however, lies a fertile development ground for experimental music. The kooky, infectious pop of Katamari Damacy wasn't a familiar sound to most players, but encouraged fans of the series to investigate the more adventurous end of the musical spectrum. Games like Elektroplankton and Everyday Shooter offer a sort of impulsive and free-thinking control over music that wasn't possible just a few years ago. The latter's lead developer, Jonathan Mak, even wrote all of the music for his quirky action game, his riffs reaching more people than he could have ever dreamed imaginable.
Band Aid
And plenty of other bands are enjoying boosted sales. As reported by USA Today, digital downloads of Dragonforce's "Through the Fire and Flames" went from roughly 2,000 per week to a staggering 37,825 during the last week of 2007. Thank Guitar Hero III for that; the game introduced the band to a whole new fanbase by making its fret-burning song the final unlockable track.
Older bands have benefited from Activision's guitar monster, too. Cheap Trick saw digital sales of "Surrender" go from 58,000 in 2006 to 161,000 in 2007, and classic rockers Kansas watched downloads of "Carry On My Wayward Son" more than double from 119,000 to 297,000. Kansas also claims a more visible result of the video game effect: younger crowds. Where previously their shows might have been attended almost exclusively by an audience old enough to worry about interest rates and cholesterol, now they've got front rows "filled with young teenagers."
It's a whole new ballgame, all thanks to video games.