Warner Music wants more money for licensed songs
by Jason Dobson 
{ Aug 7th 2008 at 4:00PM }
Says Bronfman, who compared the relationship to the likes of MTV or Apple's iPod, "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." Given Warner's interest in music currently flowing through both Guitar Hero III and Rock Band, not to mention the war that is about to unfold on living room stages later this year, it will be interesting to see who will 5-star this game of financial tug-of-war.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
Anam @ Aug 7th 2008 4:06PM
Boo.
Ghen @ Aug 7th 2008 4:06PM
Warner better shut their mouths and reap the extra benefits of being in this game in the way of audio sales. There's no WAY this will fly with Activision considering the bump in sales every single GH3 song got.
Knight Marquise @ Aug 7th 2008 4:08PM
Leave it to the music industry to whine about not getting a big enough slice of the pie.
AnotherCracker @ Aug 7th 2008 4:10PM
Fix to this problem: ignore all Warner music, get your license elsewhere. There's a whole world of small labels and independent artists that would be willing to work out deals with Harmonix just for the exposure. Look at were Freezepop is in thanks to Harmonix, I'm quite sure they'd still be known only in small circles or at least their growth would have been much slower without the exposure.
Seriously, they want more money, than just move along because I don't find a majority of Warner's music to be of a decent quality.
xandeR- @ Aug 7th 2008 4:13PM
They are aware of the sales boost that the industry gets from these games right?
If I were a music exec, I wouldn't mind giving Rock Band and Guitar Hero my music for FREE given the exposure they get.
VaultICEE @ Aug 7th 2008 5:46PM
But thats the sad thing - even if you, the artist, want to give your music away for free, your label wants teh monies.
Petras @ Aug 7th 2008 4:17PM
Warners is on crack...considering how popular these games are warners should be begging to get their songs in the game. The record industry never ceases to amaze me with their warped view of reality. People are stealing music left and right and here they have a legitimate way to get people to actually pay for music again and they are gonna look this gift horse right in the mouth.
Mike918 @ Aug 7th 2008 4:24PM
Is far too small...you know what is FAR TO SMALL...the money that artists gets when we buy their music online that is FREAKING SMALL!
Mr. Bungo @ Aug 7th 2008 5:12PM
Once again the music industry is full of greedy luddites for whom the sky is always falling. Back in the early days of radio, record labels didn't want their music played over the air. The fear was that people wouldn't buy records if they could hear msic for free. They comepletely missed the fact that having their songs on the radio was the best possible advertising. Once they caught on, they cmeplyely changed their tune. Then you got stuff like the payola scandals over bribing stations to play certain records.
Sure, the music industry is in trouble these days. But one of the best things they've got going for them is the boom in music games. I know I've been turned on to music I'd never heard of by these games, and have bought albums as a result. If they try to squeeze the game companies too hard, they may well kill this new source of revenue and publicity for their artists.
[.sm0ke.] @ Aug 7th 2008 4:32PM
We want moar moneh...
nyboy42 @ Aug 7th 2008 4:36PM
And they wonder why piracy is so rampant....
kojo87 @ Aug 7th 2008 4:37PM
what? a music company wants to suck more money out of consumers? im sure that will all go directly to the artists pockets too...
Snowblind @ Aug 7th 2008 4:38PM
Wow, is the music industry really this retarded? If they actually try and pull this kind of crap, they should just pull their support and hire some indy bands, who I'm sure would gladly allow their music to be used free of charge.
I'd certainly love to see an indy Rock Band/Guitar Hero game.
E.J. @ Aug 7th 2008 4:52PM
Yes, they are that retarded. Greed knows no limits.
Hafk @ Aug 7th 2008 6:05PM
Honestly, I would buy the bonus setlist from Guitar Hero 1 for $50. It was THAT good.
Cheat on the Church, All of This, Get Ready 2 Rokk, Decontrol, and EVEN RATS! It was amazing.
Too bad we'll never see it. Harmonix needs to release All of This as DLC. I sing along EVERY TIME.
AwesomeTown @ Aug 7th 2008 4:44PM
I'd love to see the kind of people these music execs are outside of work. (Or maybe I wouldn't..)
Saria the Cat @ Aug 7th 2008 5:16PM
They're doing this because they've now seen how successful the rhythm game industry can be and is. They want to pocket some of that success for themselves. Well, I say that it's hard enough for most of these games to purchase licensed music, so upping the prices will only hurt the rhythm game industry, especially those games that don't have as large a financial backing.
Hafk @ Aug 7th 2008 6:02PM
Honestly, that's not so bad.
Rock Band has it's daddy (MTV), and Guitar Hero has it's daddy (Vivendi).
Actually, I shouldn't exactly say that.
Ultamate Band has it's daddy too (Disney).
So in the end, Konami is screwed.
Now someone take out Disney, and we are golden.
shouston @ Aug 7th 2008 4:48PM
The recording industry continues to amaze me!
Sam Houston @ Aug 7th 2008 4:49PM
Recording industry continues to amaze me!
PirateMusic @ Aug 7th 2008 4:57PM
screw the music industry. greedy bastards. if warner gets more money, is it going to the artists? no. more artists need to do what Trent Reznor is doing, saying "fuck you." I don't pay for music. if the artists want my money, play a show in my neck of the woods. they dance with the devil in order to get mainstream recognition. good for them. eventually they all fall from grace and end up sucking because they become influenced by the shit label to be more radio friendly and pick up a wider audience. you want to support your favorite band, go to a show. their latest album sounds like shit? don't buy it. show the record industry how evil they are.
AlwaysOn @ Aug 7th 2008 5:28PM
Come on guys whats the problem here? This guy is an exec at a company and ofcourse he want his company to earn as much as possible. So if he can make that happen through higher royalty rates it is his god damn duty to the company to do so. If that means that prices on songs for DLC stuff goes up to like 3 or 4 dollars per song and you guys don't like it, guess what, DON'T BUY IT!
The only way to get the message through to theese guys is to vote with your wallets. It is that simple...
J.D @ Aug 27th 2008 2:15PM
Just because my food bill has gone up doesn't mean I'll stop buying food.
Hafk @ Aug 7th 2008 7:46PM
Food = Need
Music = Want
Completely different.
Ghen @ Aug 7th 2008 10:41PM
In what world do you live where music = want? Turn in your ROCK card my friend. You can test for a new one in 6 months.
Hafk @ Aug 7th 2008 5:58PM
FUCK!
Roadrunner records is under Warner Music Group.
Damnit, I WANT MORE DREAM THEATER.
Full discography Dream Theater DLC! Guitar Hero: Dream Theater. I don't care, I don't want money to get in the way of me and Dream Theater!
{and there goes the Dream Theater fanboy inside of me}
glutto @ Aug 7th 2008 6:21PM
Like big, fat pigs to the trough...
The money trough!!! BA-DA-BING!
Kiros @ Aug 7th 2008 8:27PM
Hopefully some Prince tracks are in the works...would make my year.
TP @ Aug 7th 2008 10:17PM
"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." If that were true and the games WERE entirely dependent on the music, then why don't the music industry make these games? Because it's the GAME that makes these so successful, not just the tracks. Absolutely clueless - it's why the music industry is in the toilet.
Matty @ Aug 8th 2008 4:16PM
Why should they get more money? It's not like I get a copy for my MP3 player when I buy Rockband DLC; it's stuck on my 360 in a game. I have to hit all the notes just to hear the song properly.
Let me have a copy of the music to listen to outside of the game then we'll talk about raising the price.