Music Ally

Bad news for labels hoping to rake in buckets of cash from music videogames, as Viacom’s president and CEO Philippe Dauman has told financial analysts that he hopes to find ways of paying the music industry less for the use of tracks in Rock Band. According to Dauman, Viacom is “looking to reduce the cost structure associated with Rock Band, being selective in the music titles that we choose for Rock Band based on their cost. The music industry will assist with this category (more…)

There could be even closer links between the way music and music downloads for videogames are sold, according to MTV’s games boss Paul DeGooyer.

“We would love to see a world where in your premium bundle for the next Muse album, you’re able to also receive that album on your console of choice, and be able to play it,” he said, speaking at MIDEM’s Images & Brands summit this morning.

That’s ‘play’ in a game sense, obviously. DeGooyer also said that the launch of in-game download stores for Rock Band has changed the way the music industry sees gaming – it’s no longer just a licensing opportunity. The Rock Band games have now generated more than 60 million downloads, according to DeGooyer.

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2009 has seen the rise of streaming services Spotify and Pandora (and the fall of several of their rivals); governments grappling with anti-piracy legislation; The Pirate Bay trial – and then its tragicomic sale saga; and hundreds of bright-eyed music start-ups and thousands of iPhone apps. And STILL no Yellow Submarine iPod.

We rounded up the key trends from the year for our final Music Ally Report of 2009, and the article is republished below in full. If you’re interested in our service in 2010, with its daily bulletin and fortnightly analytical report, click here for a free trial.

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The sharp decline in music game sales continues: new stats from analyst Wedbush Morgan claim that Activision made $55 million from its music franchises DJ Hero, Guitar Hero and Band Hero in November – down 65% year-on-year.

Meanwhile, it claims Rock Band sales were $31 million that month – down 59% from November 2008.

“Sales of music genre games have suffered mightily in 2009, with sales through November totalling $620 million, compared to $1.19 billion in the same period a year ago,” says analyst Michael Pachter. “The $570 million decline in year-over-year music sales is responsible for two thirds of the overall decline in software sales thus far in 2009.”

There’ll be a bump in December as people buy games as presents – with retailers already discounting the Beatles and DJ Hero titles. Meanwhile, GamesIndustry.biz quotes Microsoft’s David Dennis as saying downloadable content for music games continues to sell well.

The Beatles: Rock Band has now sold more than one million copies, according to the game’s publisher MTV Games.

However, that rosy figure is somewhat undermined by the fact that the company laid off 39 staff at the game’s developer Harmonix yesterday – 13% of its workforce. “This was a process and business decision unrelated to the performance of any MTV Games / Harmonix product,” says a spokesperson.

“The reason for the restructuring is due to better aligning our staffing to best suit our product development plans and schedules moving forward.” They also stress that no future games have been canned as a result of the layoffs. Which is good news for all the rock bands lobbying to get their own Rock Bands. If that makes sense.

Were The Beatles worth the huge advance paid by MTV and Harmonix for the rights to make The Beatles: Rock Band? It’s looking likely.

The game sold 595,000 copies in September according to NPD Group – a figure that includes hardware+game and game-only bundles. NPD and analyst Wedbush Morgan now say the average selling price was $100.

That means $59-$60 million of revenues in September alone – 9% of all games revenue that month.

In other marvellous music game news, two companies – Altec Lansing and Polk Audio – have launched dedicated stage monitors for use with console music games. We just hope they go up to 11…

EA Mobile has launched its Rock Band iPhone game, complete with a four-player Bluetooth mode for simultaneous rocking out on vocals, drums, bass and guitar.

All those are played through tapping the screen, of course, including vocals. 20 tracks are in the game, including the likes of Lynyrd Skynyrd, Smashing Pumpkins and Joan Jett, with more available to buy as downloads (the full tracklisting is below.)

Rock Band might have beaten its console rival Guitar Hero to iPhone, but it will face entrenched competition from Tapulous’ Tap Tap Revenge, which recently launched its third incarnation with a similar in-app track buying feature.

EMBED-Rock Band: Radiohead Edition – Watch more free videos

See above for why.

MTV has guaranteed a minimum royalties payment of $10 million to Beatles rightsholders for its The Beatles: Rock Band game, which comes out next week – but if it sells as expected, the payments will top $40 million.

“The royalty rates on this are not even comparable to anything that has been done before,” Sony/ATV Music Publishing chairman Martin Bandier tells the Los Angeles Times. MTV is clearly counting on the Fab Four’s console-owning fanbase being willing to shell out for the game, which includes custom-designed instruments.

Meanwhile, MTV has launched a new initiative called Rock Band Bar Nights, to support bars holding Rock Band Nights. Participating pubs get a free five-song playable demo of the Beatles game.

And in not-necessarily-related news, Apple has confirmed that it will hold a music-focused “special event” on 9th September, the same day as The Beatles: Rock Band goes on sale – not to mention the band’s remastered back catalogue on CD. It could be co-incidence, but expect plenty of chatter about a Beatles iTunes deal in the days ahead.

(If Apple launches a Yellow Submarine iPod touch next Wednesday, remember, you heard it here first).

We’ve covered Rock Band Network before: due to launch in November, it will let any artist or label create downloadable tracks for MTV’s Rock Band games – as long as they can find a developer trained to use the system.

More details have emerged now: tracks will cost between $1 and $3 with artists setting the price, but free one-minute demos will also be made available, inviting players to try before they buy. Interesting, given that you can’t get demos of existing tracks in the Rock Band store.

Meanwhile, the game’s developer Harmonix will increase the number of genres available on the store, allowing artists to categorise their tunes as speed metal or rockabilly, among other new additions. It’s a fairly big deal, this network – right now Rock Band is a closed store, with Harmonix only able to create a handful of new downloads every week.

Opening it up will vastly increase the number of tracks available, and help artists to make use of this new distribution channel for their music.