Bomb the Music Industry! Pictures

Guitar Hero, Rock Band and the Rock 'n' Roll Money Machine

The booming success of the Guitar Hero and Rock Band franchises has dropped a bomb on the music biz. Record labels and rock stars alike are eyeing new revenue streams as gamemakers compete for musical talent, scramble to secure rights to original master tapes and bring in aging artists to re-record classic rock hits. Activision Blizzard -- publisher of Guitar Hero, the groundbreaking videogame that lets wannabe rockers tap out songs on Les Paul-shaped controllers -- raked in a reported $830 million in 2007, an annual record for any game franchise. Now an industry reeling from the disruptive effects of technology is looking at music games as a lucrative new income stream. Here are a few ways that Rock Band and Guitar Hero are changing the game for the record industry: Old bands, new fans Young gamers are getting turned on to classic rock songs recorded before they were born, with videogame consoles functioning almost like radio did in its hit-making heyday. "Guitar Hero is a really funny craze, kind of like the Hula-Hoop," says Nancy Wilson of Heart, whose 1976 hit "Crazy on You" appears in Guitar Hero II. "It also is one big reason why so many really young kids are showing up at Heart concerts these days." Musical mimicry "Crazy on You" might be winning Heart new fans, but it's not the original recording that gamers are playing along to. Of the 106 recordings featured in the first three releases of Guitar Hero, only nine are original recordings. The other 97, including the Heart hit, are re-recordings done by a stable of studio hired guns at WaveGroup Sound in Fremont, California, according to Will Littlejohn, WaveGroup's president. "We usually shoot for the same vibe, and pick players and vocalists that will work with the song," says Littlejohn. "We don't over-think it, we just have them play the song as they hear it or sing the tune with their own voice. In terms of the arrangements, we often make changes to the guitar and bass parts in order to

Published: 2008-08-02 Provider: Wired

The Reign of Usher is Over

Things just aren't going Usher's way these days! His 2004 release, Confessions, sold 20 million copies worldwide. But, this year's Here I Stand has only sold 2 million worldwide to date. BOMB! We doubt the new stuff will fare as well as the '04 mega hit! And, industry insiders revealed to us that he couldn't even sell out [...]

Published: 2008-12-04 Provider: PerezHilton Keywords: Music Minute, Usher, Chris Brown, NeYo