According to a Billboard report, the future of Warner Music Group artists appearing in Rock Band is in jeopardy. The report indicates that MTV and the home of some of the world’s biggest artists simply can’t come to agreement about, you guessed it, money.
Last summer, Warner Music Group chairman publicly stated that he didn’t feel labels (his in particular) were making enough dough off of these here newfangled music games. Billboard reports that while MTV and WMG have trade offers, they’ve yet to reach a compromise.
Again, WMG is home to a frightening number of labels and artists, and the loss could be a pretty big hit to the Rock Band series. Feel free to peruse WMG’s site to see what kind of damage we’re talking about here. It’s interesting to note that Metallica is a Warner Act, more specifically, on Elektra; the Activision-published Guitar Hero: Metallica hits stores this month.
On one hand, I just want to shake all parties involved and say “figure it the f**k out! I want artists X, Y, and Z in Rock Band stat!” But on the other, the business of money sure can get trick, and with Variety reporting that MTV is already losing cash on the Rock Band hardware, perhaps it’s not quite that easy. Admittedly, the Rock Band franchise needs the music more than Warner needs its artists to be in the game. It is, however, in the best interest of both parties to come to an agreement.
So yeah … figure it the f**k out, guys. I want artists X, Y, and Z in Rock Band. Stat.
[Via Variety]
