Warner Music Wants More Cash from Rhythm Games

It’s not much of a secret that the music industry is chocked-full of the greediest people on earth, and we’ve seen evidence of that time and time again, especially when talking about iTunes. Well, it seems like such rhythm games as Rock Band and Guitar Hero are no longer safe, at least if music execs have their way.

Since the execs now see the potential in these games (took them long enough), they feel like they should get their cut. You know, because $2.00 per song isn’t enough for consumers as is. The record company in the hotseat is Warner Music, who are quoted as saying, “The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small”, which probably equates to, “We are clearly making enough off these songs as is, but can see potential to get even more.”

The solution to this problem is a rather simple one. Companies who produce the games could just say no way, because seriously, are these companies going to want no money? If their songs are selling well for the over-inflated prices as they are now, it’s going to be unlikely that gamers will pay even more. These developers need to start using publicly available songs, or songs that bands donate. All the record industry does is screw us.

We see a similar effect developing with rhythm games. The games now sell so well that inclusion in the track listing isn’t just good for the games, it’s good for the bands. As our own Ben Kuchera pointed out recently, new versions of both major series will ship with built-in music stores, and big-name classic rock acts stand ready to rake in the dough.