Activison-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick Fires Back at Warner Music
By Stephany on Tuesday, August 19th, 2008 at 10:37 AM PST In Activision, Blizzard, Gamer Life, Games, Games Industry, Microsoft, Nintendo, Sony
Despite music executives and the labels they work for commending the recent popularity of music games giving sluggish music sales a boost, Warner Music Group’s Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman recently spoke out against what he feels is “far too small” of an amount to license songs for the ever growing content included within the games.
In defense of the music game genre, and Guitar Hero in general, Activision-Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick fired back at Warner Music stating that the record companies are getting compensated very well, and that Warner Music is failing to see the bigger picture. Kotick also hinted that because of this slam from Edgar Bronfman, the record company may never get the opportunity to have their music featured in future Guitar Hero games again.
Kotick feels that the label’s “one-sided comments” fail to acknowledge the benefit of having songs from their catalog featured in the games. Bands that would not have reached certain audiences through the radio or other forms of media are now being showcased not only within an entirely new demographic, but within the industry as a whole.
According to MCV, during a recent interview with The Financial Times Kotick mused that Bronfman may think that the company should be compensated the same way they are when a song is downloaded via iTunes, but that with games, the technology is vastly complex and different.
Due to these growing tensions, Kotick went on to say that only record companies that appreciate the opportunity that the games provide will be courted in the future:
“We’re going to favor those publishers that recognize and appreciate how much we can add value to their artists. We’re introducing a whole new group of artists to new audiences that is resulting in their iTunes downloads being exponentially higher than they would otherwise be, [as well as] new album sales and new merchandising opportunities.
We hope that our partners in the gaming space appreciate not only the value of their own contributions but also those of the recording artists, songwriters, record labels and music publishers on which their games are significantly based.”
Considering the fact that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock has sold approximately 20 million units and has raked in over $1billion in sales, it would stand to reason that these sales would also have generated more revenue for the artists featured within the game as well as the downloadable content. Many record companies have recently commended both Rock Band and the Guitar Hero franchise for boosting sales, and the proof, as they say, is in the pudding.
For example: during the week that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock was released in October 2007, digital sales of The Strokes’ track “Reptilia” sold 127 percent more than the week before the game was released. Add to this the following week which saw sales for the track leap another 96 percent. Likewise, Slipknot’s “Before I Forget” soared to 75 percent the week the game debuted and took a 140 percent turn the following week.
Large record labels have been reputed in the past to be greedy, soulless, fat-cats, what with the horror stories told over the years of bands getting shafted by the big bad wolves of the music industry. Therefore it is no wonder that this latest comment from Warner’s CEO is being perceived as nothing more than a greedy record executive wanting a bigger piece of the pie. If they want more royalties for the benefit of the artists they represent, the public and even the gaming companies, would most likely be more understanding and supportive of the measures they were taking to protect their clients. However, with the negative publicity that the labels have gotten over the past few years, post Napster, it makes you wonder if they truly want more residuals for the right purpose or just to line their own pockets.
What each record company receives as far as licensing fees for songs contained in these games is not known. Yet, if they end up wanting an exorbitant amount of money to include the bands they represent within the games, it will only hurt the consumer in the long run. You cannot expect a company like Activison-Blizzard to pay out the nose in royalties and not try and recoup that investment from gamers. The price of the initial game disc could go up, and we could be paying larger amounts of money for downloadable content. If such a scenario should happen, not only will the games suffer, but in turn the gamer as well.
While I’m not a huge fan of Activision-Blizzard, Kotick is absolutely right. The music industry should shut the fuck up sometimes. Like people turn on their console to listen to the music through Guitar Hero or Rock Band. No…they do, in fact, go online or go to a record store (if they can find one) and buy the music they like.
Music based games are basically a huge advertisement for music, and the music industry gets paid…to have their songs advertised.
Go Kotick! Don’t put any Warner Music on the next Guitar Hero. I’ll be right behind you!
The way the music industry does business with music artists is shameful; take a look at the business model for a newly-signed artist and you’ll see what I mean. I can only hope that record labels continue to be squeezed as artists find better ways to get their music out to the world.