The News:
According to Reuters , the chief executive of Warner Music – the world’s third-largest music company -said Guitar Hero and Rock Band music games need to pay more to license songs.
Edgar Bronfman apparently compared the state of the music licensing in music games to MTV’s launch 25 years ago and the iPod’s launch five years ago.
“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”
Techgoondu’s take:
The music industry is in trouble. Sales of music CDs continue their decline year after year and the increase in digital music sales has not made up for the loss. As U2’s manager Paul McGuiness aptly put it when I was in Hong Kong two months back: “The music industry is in a crisis.”
When Red Octane started the first Guitar Hero, they could not get the music companies to license a single original or what they call master track. They were all cover versions. Of course all that is now changing, with bands like Aerosmith and Metallica desiring their own special expansion pack where their songs dont only appear in the game, the band members themselves also show up – at least their virtual avatars.
Now that Guitar Hero has become a billion dollar business, the music industries wants more money for their licenses? Greedy bastards. No wonder we have all been milked on paying $20-$30 for an album all these years when we only want to listen to 2-3 songs from the list. Hey music companies, please, it’s time to “wake up your idea.”
Thing is, these guys live in the past. They still believe they can charge any price they want because only they have the content, and creativity (in movies, music) is sold to the highest bidder. This is all fair and fine, until you realise how this stifles innovation which gives better value for paying users. For them, it’s simple – why sell downloadable tracks for $2 each when you can charge $20 for a CD?
The big-4 record labels need to stop making new demands with reference to past benchmarks. Yes, they made more money in the past. Yes, nothing slipped through their monetising net in the past. But those days are long gone and never coming back. Junk DRM, respect users, and embrace middle-of-the-road IP-protection schemes like Creative Commons before the abolitionists decide to junk copyright altogether.