Warner Music: Game Companies Are Cheapskates

[CoFree]

Warner Music: Game Companies Are Cheapskates
By Kris Graft

The music industry isn't seeing enough benefit from the hugely successful music game genre, according to a Warner Music exec.

Warner Music chief Edgar Bronfman said in a Forbes piece, "There is what I would call a very paltry licensing fee per song" in music deals with game companies.

Warner Music has big-name bands appearing in Actvision's Guitar Hero, not the least of which is Metallica. Activision is set to publish Guitar Hero: Metallica, and will also release Metallica's upcoming album, "Death Magnetic" as downloadable content in Guitar Hero III and Guitar Hero World Tour.

In January, Activision Blizzard announced that its hit Guitar Hero franchise had generated over $1 billion in sales. That amount is growing, as the company introduces new iterations of the series and releases more paid downloadable music.

MTV Games' Rock Band has sold over 1.5 million copies.

Both franchises have sold millions of individual songs through digital distribution via online marketplaces such as Xbox Live and PlayStation Network.

Bronfman said, "I think the [games] industry as a whole needs to take a very different look at this business and participate more fully and in a much more partnership way. And if that does not become the case, as far as Warner Music is concerned, we will not license to those games."

The exec also stated in a separate Reuters report, "The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small."

[CoFree]

Yea
just like the Music company to say some thing like that.
They are the one Over Charging for there crap.
when most of us just want a song or two from the album,but to get it we have to buy all the other shit.

UP YOUR
music company.

[sadalius]

Same thought here man..... All they think its about is money, money and more money. Thats all they freakin' think about. That and invading people's privacy to see if they downloaded something illegally.

[Sesshomaru]

Bronfman said, "I think the [games] industry as a whole needs to take a very different look at this business and participate more fully and in a much more partnership way.

The only partnership the RIAA knows is the consumer bent over, spread-eagle.

[CoFree]

Activision Boss Fires Back at Warner Music

By Kris Graft

Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick has taken Warner Music cheif Edgar Bronfman to task for saying game companies don't give music labels enough licensing fees for titles like Guitar Hero.

“I think his view was ... that [Warner Music] should be compensated the way they might for a performance on iTunes,” Kotick told the Financial Times. “But this is an entirely different business that is very technically complex. We’re going to favor those publishers that recognise and appreciate how much we can add value to their artists.”

During a Warner Music earnings call last week, Bronfman called licensing fees for videogame music "paltry."

Kotick told the Financial Times that the fellow exec's comments were "one-sided" and not “respectful of how much we’ve done to bring new audiences into the market."

Kotick's statements echo those of industry analyst Michael Pachter who told Edge last week that Bronfman "misses the point that there is significant value added by Activision, and his comments reflect his lack of understanding about the business."

Pachter said at the time, "[Bronfman's] flip comment disregards that the songs downloaded on Guitar Hero are not songs--they are videogame files with an embedded sound track."

Warner Music currently licenses songs to Harmonix's Rock Band and Activision's Guitar Hero franchises.