Bands and Artists are falling over each other to get their work showcased on the video games such as “Guitar Hero” and the new MTV game “Rock Band”. This is obviously making the game-makes themselves rockstars in a way due to their demand. The work of these bands either get put into the newest releases of thegames or into special downloadable packs. Aerosmith has just launched their own version of the popular game last week… “Guitar Hero: Aerosmith”.
This new interest shows that even the rock gods of Aerosmith are keen on getting into the video-game crowd. This is not just about interest and “what’s cool”, it’s all about the money as shown by the Ad Age article…
”… Aerosmith sold 2,041 digital copies of its 1974 song “Same Old Song and Dance” — which was on the then-new “Guitar Hero III” game. It doesn’t sound like a lot, but it was a one week total — the last week of the year (which included Christmas) — and more interestingly was a 446% increase over sales the week before, according to SoundScan data provided by Activision.
They were far from alone. Alice Cooper’s 1972 track “School’s Out” sold more than 12,000 copies for an increase of 453%. Kiss’ “Rock and Roll All Nite” from 1975 sold more than 18,500 copies for a 485% increase. Newer music did just as well, such as Senses Fail’s “Can’t Be Saved,” released in 2006, which sold 8,600 tracks, jumping 386%. Sales of all but one of the 63 songs on “Guitar Hero III” jumped by more than 100% that week, with the bulk in the 200-300% range.
While a connection between the increase in digital sales at sites like iTunes and Napster and “Guitar Hero III” isn’t definitive, the evidence strongly suggests that the game played a role in the huge increase in single sales. “
This shows that the music video game category and its creators have hit a very sensitive touch point in the intersection between video-games and music. This new area gets people interacting with the music of bands on a whole new level, and hence the increased sales.
This is a very interesting marketing case study when it comes to marketing music in our New Media world.
: Marketing, Music, Video Games, Aerosmith, Guitar Hero, Rock Band
