The music industry isn’t dead yet, but musicians are increasingly looking for new ways to get out its product. Many classic rockers are turning to popular video games as a prime conduit.
Games like “Guitar Hero,” “Rock Band” and “SingStar” are introducing a bevy of young players to bands their parents (or grandparents) might’ve listened to. These players can download game-ready songs right off the Internet (Motley Crue sold five times as many copies of its new song “Saints of Los Angeles” for “Rock Star” as for iTunes) and, as these players grow more familiar with these bands, they often head to iTunes or other music outlets to hear (and buy) more.
Of course, if you’re a real rock star, you might just get your own special variant of one of these games. Activision and Neversoft recently released “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith,” which allows the player to become lead guitarist Joe Perry and perform at a variety of venues from Nipmuc High School outside Boston (one of the first venues Aerosmith played) to the halftime show at Super Bowl XXXV.
“I guess it’s one of those rewards that we get for keeping the band together,” said Aerosmith bassist Tom Hamilton. “Far more of this audience will hear our music via this game than if we had attempted to talk them into buying all of our CDs.” (Associated Press)
