Wednesday 27^th of May will see the release of the next game in the guitar hero series – Guitar Hero: Metallica. This type of game is a breakthrough for the music industry amidst the uncertainty and fear surrounding the internet and the ability to obtain music for free, often illegally. A breakthrough because of the extraordinary amount of money one of these games can generate. Labels and artists are continually being forced to create and explore new avenues of promotion and distribution to stave of what at one point seemed the imminent death of the industry.

In 2007, Radiohead revolutionised the album release when they allowed listeners to download In Rainbows and pay what they thought it was worth. They followed this by releasing special addition CDs and Vinyl to entice the audience to purchase something more than they would have got with the downloaded version. In 2008 Pennywise gave away Reason to Believe for free for the first two weeks on Myspace in an attempt to expose themselves to an audience who otherwise wouldn’t have bothered. Artists such as Prince and Trent Reznor have also given away free music and made all their money back through sell out concert tours and merchandise. A band like Metallica however, well they would never in a millions years give anyone a free song would they? Remember the Napster debacle? Lars Ulrich became the most hated man in rock music when he spearheaded the campaign to shutdown Shawn Fanning and his Napster software. However Metallica allowed fans to download Death Magnetic to play it on Guitar Hero III. Encouraged by that success Metallica have jumped at the chance to do a full game.

In June of 2008 Activision released Guitar Hero: Aerosmith and the effects were seen instantly. The game sold half a million copies in the first week and made $50 million in its first 3 months of release. It didn’t stop there though, Geoff Mayfield, the director of charts at Billboard stated the Aerosmith’s back catalogue of albums had received a 40% increase in sales when the game was released. Activision CEO Bobby Kotick said that “Their version of Guitar Hero has generated far more revenue than any Aerosmith album ever has.” But is this a one time thing or will it continue to provide bands and labels with a way to put their music out and make more money. Whilst there are circulating reports that Guitar Hero is experiencing a drop in sales, it is only natural that this will start to happen at some stage, we must remember though this franchise has made well over $1 billion in revenue in North America alone.

Guitar Hero: Metallica has been out for 2 weeks in North America but the full effect for the band won’t be known until the game hits Europe and the rest of the world. Undoubtedly their sales will increase as their music is exposed to a whole new generation of kids with plastic guitars.

Is this the saviour of rock music? Perhaps not, however labels are quickly starting to understand that to continue to make the most out of the artists that they must look to these new avenues of cross promotion and synchronisation and this is a prime example. Really though, do Metallica need anymore money? The real problem exists at the grass roots level. How are new bands going to force their way into this carnivorous industry. Myspace? Youtube? Perhaps this one is best left for another day. I think it was put best during a conversation I had with Pennywise guitarist Fletcher Dragge when he said, “If there is a band you like, you need to support them and go to their shows and buy their CDs. We could miss the greatest artists of this generation because instead of concentrating on their art they are working 9 – 5 at subway just trying to survive.”

- Tim Chapman