Record Companies Asking For More Of Rock Band Profits

Record company executives think they deserve a bigger piece of the profits from games like Rock Band and Guitar hero. The games success (in the eyes of the company) are almost completely dependent on the music they choose to include. In a conference call discussing company earnings earlier this month Edgar Bronfman Jr, the chief executive of Warner Music Group Corp. said "The amount being paid to the industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content that we own and control, is far too small"

Currently record companies receive licensing payments from game publishers, and a ton of free publicity. Games like Rock Band and Guitar Hero bring some music into peoples home that they might not have otherwise listened to.

Sales from music-based games is reportedly expected to hit around the 1.5 billion dollar mark this year. With CD sales failing it's not surprising that record companies would be looking for a bigger piece of the pie as far as game sales are concerned. Currently they receive somewhere between 10k and 25k per song included in the game, record companies are now reportedly asking for 4 to 8 cents per game copy sold in addition to the initial royalty payment.

[via ChicagoTribune]