Video Games Are Launching Rock-n-Roll Careers

jillduffy writes "Steve Schnur, a high-level music exec at Electronic Arts, talks about how video games are launching the careers of top musical artists these days. Some of his examples: 'Avril Lavigne was first introduced to European audiences through FIFA 2003. Fabolous was first introduced in America via NBA Live, and went on to sell over 2 million albums here. JET got their American iPod commercial based on exposure in Madden 2004. Avenged Sevenfold were an unsigned act when we featured them in Madden 2004...' Schnur explains how the phenomenon is made possible by the new generation of media junkies, who feel a song becomes real when they 'play it.'"

WHAT???

[zappepcs (820751)]

You mean to tell me that the RIAA are NOT the only ones who launch big music careers?

Somebody better tell them quick, surely this means the end of their business model?

http://www.riaaradar.com/ [riaaradar.com] is a place to look for other artists that are not associated with the RIAA if you are interested.

Turning it around

[decipher_saint (72686)]

A better question would be why aren't these groups getting exposure in Europe / United States in the first place? Isn't that what organizations like RIAA are for?

I find it interesting that a video game soundtrack or an iPod commercial might be a better distribution system for pop music than radio or television. Something seems broken here.

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[TheLink (130905)]

AFAIK, lots of people heard Avril Lavigne before FIFA 2003 was released.

So I don't know what this story is really about.

I agree

[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

Nearly all the music I have (that was made in this decade or the previous) has come from video games. There is very little I like in the music industry, but video game music provides me with music backed by experiences, settings, characters. It creates a strong connection that evokes thoughts and images far better than detached music does for me. I hate lyrics, which really reduces the set of enjoyable music for me, but video games provides some of the widest variety in music I like.

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[DwarfGoanna (447841)]

Wow.

One one hand I want to find this fascinating, but it kinda seems horribly sad (in b4 "must be new here"). I mean, you do realize that outside in the big world music (the best of which you simply aren't going to find in a LCD medium like console gaming) functions much the same way, right? Music is fairly ubiquitous IRL, and aside from the appeal of one taste or style versus another is usually reinforced by "experiences, settings, and characters". That your appreciation of something so broad and potential

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[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

I forgot to qualify my first post as an agreement that video games are a good source of music, even more than a launch of "Rock-n-Roll careers," but still I agree with their statements. I have odd and specific tastes, very little of which is popular. For instance, in addition to a dislike of lyrics, I *mostly* dislike acoustic/electric guitars. Something about the vast majority of music featuring them just grates on my ears (there are a number of exceptions, of course.) Video games just happen to provide a

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[rishistar (662278)]

So how do you feel about music now Audiosurf [audio-surf.com] has come out!?

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[Dr. Eggman (932300)]

It is nice to see that at least a few other people listen to my (extreme taste-exception,) E.G.G.M.A.N. Doc. Robeatnix Mix -- and show them whose the best mono, mono pro, and mono ninja of it! Kind of disappointing no one plays Mad Matrix, anything from SimCity 4, or Bioshock...

Re:I agree

[moosesocks (264553)]

Music today has boundaries that stretch unfathomably far beyond what gets played on the radio.

For starters, there's the absolutely massive "indie" community that fosters a fantastic amount of great music.

If you prefer ambient/electronic music with few or no words, quite a lot of artists have cropped up in this genre thanks to the magic of file-sharing and the internet, given the genre's relatively specific audience, and the difficulty for such bands to effectively promote themselves.

There are a whole slew of artists in this genre worth checking out: 65daysofstatic, Mogwai, Sigur Rós, Four Tet, Explosions in the Sky, The Books, Battles, Boards of Canada, Aphex Twin, and a thousand others that I've either forgotten or never heard of.

No matter how obscure you might think your musical tastes are, chances are good that there are many, many others like you. Don't be confined by video game soundtracks!

That all said, I've never been all *that* impressed by a video game soundtrack, with the very notable exception of the Final Fantasy series.

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[zaguar (881743)]

But artists like Aphex Twin (SAW 85-92 for example) were popular before the internet became the massive file-sharing place it is today. I'd argue that whole genres of music were created out of the internet, rather than the internet popularising it.

Ambient/IDM artists like Helios, BT, Solar Fields are products of the Brian Eno 70's and 80's, which created AFX and then led onto the ambient/techno, but EITS and Mogwai are post-rock and are more influenced by the more instrumental indie like Hex and Slint.

Spokesmodel

[Doc Ruby (173196)]

That's not "rock & roll". That's pop drivel, that's not even primarily a music product. It's primarily a video product. The music is manufactured as a prop in a photoshoot for some model to sell units of some crap no one will like after the marketing push is done.

Notice how none of this crap stays in anyone's playlists or even radio stations a few years after it's new? Because it doesn't speak to, or for, anything real. It speaks to some manufactured hype of the moment. Which is all it can, because the artists are commercial artists.

That's not "rock & roll". That's corporate rock. The same manufactured pop that real rock & roll, from real people, chased from the charts back when it was real.

Re:

[corychristison (951993)]

Yeah.
I wanna be real, okay! [youtube.com]

Re:Spokesmodel

[jadin (65295)]

You have a point, to a degree.

The Beatles were pop, same as Britney Spears is pop. Don't hate pop music just "because", there is quality in the genre.

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[Doc Ruby (173196)]

Rock & roll wasn't corporate before Elvis. It was Black. And a little bit the White people who corporations tried to pretend didn't exist. It was Elvis getting on Ed Sullivan that showed corporations that rock & roll could be exploited. And then the stuff that was corporate stopped being rock & roll.

Videogames aren't responsible for shit music. It's the music industry that's found a great vehicle for its shit music in videogames.

Best Soundtrack

[autocracy (192714)]

Back when the PS2 launched, one of the best games around was SSX [wikipedia.org], and it had a soundtrack worthy of the game. I enjoyed, and acquired, much of the music I heard from playing that game.

Full Throttle

[jannone (1145713)]

The Gone Jackals.

Only band "from games" that I really cared about.

Whew

[cjfs (1253208)]

For a second I thought the "Rock Band Experts start Real Band" stories had started.

I dread that day.

Sweet

[zaunuz (624853)]

Considering the fact that i have three different people wanting to use my music in their games, i guess i've got a chance :D
Small indipendent games, but atleast it's a start..

1990s called...

[vertinox (846076)]

And they want John Romero back... Oh wait. Never mind, they said to keep him.

Re:

[Degreeless (1250850)]

We don't want him! See if the 70's will have him.

John Romero: Nomad in Time

Assosciation

[Degreeless (1250850)]

There's definatly something in this, when I'm playing a game the music becomes assosciated with something from the game; a plot point, a grand set-piece, or even just the elation of victory. From this an assosciation is built so that when the music is heard its subconsciously linked to those gaming moments and if these moments were good it can fire the desire to hear the song again.

Perhaps not the most scientific of proofs but from personal experience it holds water.

The claim about Avenged Sevenfold is disingenuous.

[Mr. Heavy (1128153)]

With their usage of the term "unsigned," they're trying to imply that nobody had heard of the band previously, when they were in fact on two labels that were at the time pretty well-known in the metalcore and punk scenes (Good Life and Hopeless). They happened to be in between contracts. Whoop-dee-doo.

newsflash:

[stormguard2099 (1177733)]

Large media exposure is good marketing. No seriously, anything that gets your music out there to a large audience is a good thing. The more people that play videogames, the more this influence will be. Why would it be any different for games?

What would make an interesting article is if music in videogames doomed bands to fail.

What?

[Opportunist (166417)]

You mean, like, artists that are marketed primarily to people with computers can sell CDs? I was under the impression that everyone who has a computer doesn't buy music anymore but only swaps it through P2P.

Dammit, did the RIAA lie to me?

Journey tried the reverse

[zakezuke (229119)]

I think Journey can be credited with the first video game tie in with their Journey Escape [wikipedia.org] game in 1982. Wiki says it was released for the 2600, however I do recall a coin up version, but as I remember it from a disused machine in a pizza place circa 1986, I imagine it could have been their later release.

Journey [wikipedia.org] attempted to tie in their 1983 Frontiers album with a coin-op arcade game which featured a cassette of their music on a loup. Given Dragon's Lair was also released in 1983, there was not enough time to learn how unwise it was to use a mechanical system in an arcade box.

They get points for being innovative, but given the limits of technology at the time, someone who even knew their music would have a hard time recognizing the vintage beeps and boops [youtube.com]. It didn't help the fact that the game it self wasn't very good, but the idea was sound.

But needless to say the band was already successful before this tie in, and the tie in was hardly what I would describe as being successful.

Re:

[Stormwatch (703920)]

I think Journey can be credited with the first video game tie in with their Journey Escape game in 1982. Wiki says it was released for the 2600, however I do recall a coin up version, but as I remember it from a disused machine in a pizza place circa 1986, I imagine it could have been their later release.

Journey Escape was for the 2600, Journey [wikipedia.org] was the arcade. They were different games.

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[zakezuke (229119)]

Might have gone over better if the game included banging chicks back stage instead of 'evading sneaky photographers'

Well, ironically enough the band broke up after the release of this game, though I doubt there was a connection.

Freezepop, etc.

[Mathonwy (160184)]

I'll admit. I had never even heard of freezepop until they became popularized by harmonix. Same goes for Bang Camero.

Now I find myself actually interested in their music, thanks to the magic of Harmonix's rhythm games.

Great...

[Perseid (660451)]

"Avril Lavigne was first introduced to European audiences through FIFA 2003" Are they trying to blame ALL the evils in the world on video games now?

Avril Lavigne .. sk8er boi

[pbhj (607776)]

>>> "Avril Lavigne was first introduced to European audiences through FIFA 2003"

That may be true, but in the UK at least I'd have thought it was not through Complicated but through her second top 10 UK single (charting at number 8, 5 Jan 2003) "sk8er boi" from December 2002 that she was widely aired.

Who even knew she sang on Fifa 2003? Fifa 2003 was apparently released in UK in Oct 2002, some reports say November - which means it would have targetted the christmas market ... Complicated was on "Top

So, what you're telling me is...

[straponego (521991)]

JET got their American iPod commercial based on exposure in Madden 2004.

A product that was advertised by one megacompany got so much exposure that it was also advertised by another megacompany? Did I mention I'm impressed?

I don't buy it...

[93 Escort Wagon (326346)]

... and I won't until I hear one of the Mario Bros. themes on the radio.

But seriously - given most of the examples cited, it seems more likely that some already up-and-coming bands just happened to catch the ear of the music honchos at various gaming companies. To provide a counter-example: It's not like any J-Pop tune is sweeping the US, despite the popularity of all those DDR variants currently out there.

It's not the music but the experience

[Sean0michael (923458)]

I think the reason video games are a good platform for music because of the attachment of the experience. When gaming, people become engrossed in what they are doing and absorb all elements of the game, including the music. For me I easily recall the different themes from some of my favorite games. Over-world themes in particular are very stuck, but games I loved to play over and over (Banjo-Kazooie, various Zelda games, etc.) are songs I won't forget.

More to the point though, I am also attached to whatever music I put on while I was playing. Whenever I hear some songs, it instantly takes me back to playing that game. The same goes for pop songs today. If you put the song in an engrossing atmosphere, people get attached. It's no different than hearing the "NHL Tonight" theme and thinking hockey, or hearing "Zombie Nation" and thinking college hoops.

I'm not surprised that people like the songs, and then seek the artist. Any exposure to the music in these environments is good for the artist.

It isn't all about rock

[westlake (615356)]

Consider the video game credits of Grammy award winner Michael Giacchino (The Incredibles, Ratatouille):

The Lost World - Jurassic Park
Medal of Honor
Secret Weapons Over Normandy
Call of Duty

Michael Giacchino [wikipedia.org]

Re:They already had their break

[Brian Gordon (987471)]

I was introduced to a lot of great artists that I had never heard through Guitar Hero and its sequals. How else do you expect a slashdot nerd to be introduced to that kind of music-- by my first birthday, the 80s were over. I've also been pleasantly surprised by SCGMD2 [kongregate.com].. you'd think that some indie music ripped off newgrounds would suck, but some of those are real pro-quality music (here's looking at Hollywise)..

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[R2P2 (193577)]

One of the reasons I bought Rock Band and skipped Guitar Hero 3 was that GH3 didn't include the "bonus" bands that the first two games introduced me to, and Rock Band did. Anarchy Club and Freezepop FTW!

Re:They already had their break

[billcopc (196330)]

Yep, that's because GH3 wasn't made by Harmonix. I'm not at all implying that Aspyr isn't a decent game house, they've got quite a few massive hits to their credit, but Harmonix are the people who made the music game genre popular in North America. DDR already existed, but its uber-cheesy eurodance and J-pop soundtrack was too lame for the 3-chord jock tards of the USA and Canada. Harmonix released Frequency and Amplitude, which featured popular acts known to average suburban white kids like The Crystal Method, BT, No Doubt and Run DMC. Then of course, they threw in a few catchy indie tunes from their musician friends. I also found out about Freezepop through Frequency, and immediately fell in love with their sound. If I ever make another musically-inclined piece of software, you can bet your spleen it's going to feature some local talent. It's a no-brainer: little or no royalties to pay, tons of exposure for your friend's music, and of course lots of extra tracks for your game.

Then Guitar Mania came along, with the same weak-ass euro-J-dance and even weaker Bon Jovi tracks :P Harmonix took the concept, gave it some real rock'n'roll tunage and the star power bonus just like they had done for Frequency/Amplitude, and history was made. Come on, it took some serious awesomeness to include the Trogdor song from Homestar Runner :)

To most people, Rock Band is the true sequel to Guitar Hero 2. GH3 is okay, and has a decent track list, but it is inevitably inferior than the first two, simply because its creators are obviously not music lovers of the same caliber.

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[HAKdragon (193605)]

For what it's worth, Aspyr is only responsible for the PC and Mac port of the game. The PS3 and 360 versions of the game were done by Neversoft.

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[MMMDI (815272)]

Wait, what? GH3 has the bonus bands this time around...

An Endless Sporadic - Impulse
Backyard Babies - Minus Celsius
Bret Michaels Band - Go That Far
Die Toten Hosen - Hier kommit Alex
Dope - Nothing For Me Here
Dragonforce - Through the Fire and the Flames
Fall of Troy - FCP Remix
Gallows - In the Belly of a Shark
The Hellacopters - I'm in the Band
Heroes del Silencio - Avalancha
In Flames - Take This Life
Kaiser Chiefs - Ruby
Killswitch Engage - My Curse
LA Slum Lords - Down N Dirty
Lacuna Coil - Close

Re:

[R2P2 (193577)]

I meant the *same* bonus bands that were in the first two Guitar Hero games:

Anarchy Club
Count Zero
Freezepop
Honest Bob and the Factory-to-Dealer Incentives

All of them were in the first two Guitar Hero games, and none of them are in Guitar Hero 3. Count Zero is the only one that's _not_ on the Rock Band disc, and they still got a track in through the Official Xbox Magazine.

And yes, I *know* it's because Rock Band was made by Harmonix and GH3 was made by Neversoft, and I'd say Rock Band has a huge advantage si

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[Tuidjy (321055)]

Having been born in the 60s, Guitar Hero was mostly a trip into memory lane for me. But I did buy Jonathan Coulton CDs because of Portal, and I would have never ended up as one of Chiasm's fans without Vampires: Bloodlines. I have to admit that I have been introduced to quite a few bands through video games. But this is only to be expected. Video Games have completely displaced TV for me, and as for radio, the stations to which I listen tend play songs from the 80s and 90s.

It were not for Oktober/Ozzfes

Re:They already had their break

[Kinthelt (96845)]

Nice theories. Too bad they get shot down by the fact that she writes her own songs.

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[Gibsnag (885901)]

She does? Wow she really is talentless.

Have you heard her Chop Suey live cover? There are no words to describe how terrible it is...

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[Achromatic1978 (916097)]

What crap. JET got their exposure due to Madden 2004?

Or to being a multi charting Australian Top 10 act?

Sorry, Occam's Razor ain't on the EA games' side, on that one.

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[JNighthawk (769575)]

"Wah wah, all new music on a big label sucks. It's drivel and droll for the masses. Here, listen to this underground band that only 20 people have heard of!"

I hate people that say stuff like that. Liking pop music isn't a bad thing, nor is liking or disliking *any* kind of music. Take your tinfoil hat off and listen to what you want, but don't get all high and mighty about it. It's exactly the same way with religion.

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[macshit (157376)]

Avril Lavigne is essentially a product created by a marketing team and her music is written in just the way that it will appeal to a label afraid of risks

What I want to know is, who on the team is responsible for her mascara?!?

...shudder...

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[smitty_one_each (243267)]

Um, you are deaf?

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[IANAAC (692242)]

You're not alone.

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[Bill, Shooter of Bul (629286)]

You stole my post. I think someone should stop putting music in video games to prevent crappy artists from hitting it big. New video game rule: no music created within the last 20 years can appear in any video games.

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[Brian Gordon (987471)]

They're like "so whatever";