Rock bands in talks to do music games

By Robert Purchese Published 4 July, 2008

GNR! Eagles! The Halen! But not Led Zep.

Famous rockers such as Guns 'N Roses and Van Halen are said to be fleshing out deals to capitalise on the popularity of Guitar Hero and Rock Band.

That's according to Front Line Managemet boss Irving Azoff, who was speaking to the Wall Street Journal. Those groups, alongside others such as The Eagles and Steely Dan, "all have deals of varying types in the works with one or the other or both of these companies" said Azoff, referring to Activision and MTV.

The Front Line music label has Aerosmith among others on its books.

The reason Azoff believes videogames deals are becoming so popular is money. "[They] can be much more lucrative than anything you can do in the record business," he said.

Not only do bands apparently get millions of dollars up front, but also a hefty royalty on all of their songs sold through the games.

The Wall Street Journal claims a source close to Aerosmith says the rock group could make more from its Guitar Hero spin-off than from a dozen or more CD albums.

However, there is one band still eluding the greed grasp of us videogame head-bangers: Led Zeppelin. The world renowned rock group is uneasy with outsiders touching its master recordings, apparently.

Pop over to our Guitar Hero: Aerosmith review to see how that turned out.

Picture of Robert.

About Robert Purchese

Bertie is Eurogamer's Senior Staff Writer. When he's not hunting down news stories he's often found playing with his kids or gabbling about fantasy games and strange online worlds.

Read more articles from Robert by visiting the Robert Purchese archive page.

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Comments (25) Latest comment 4 years ago

Comments threads automatically close after 30 days, but please feel free to continue chatting on the forum!

  • Killerbee #1 4 years ago

    Meh. None of those bands would really persuade me to part with my cash for an Aerosmith-style disk.

    Come on, where's Hendrix?

  • Zomoniac #2 4 years ago

    Here's hoping GnR pledge allegience to GH so my beloved Rock Band will not be dirtied by their presence.

  • kiroquai #3 4 years ago

    £5 quid GNR get a release date for their game and then it gets delayed... and then delayed... and then delayed... and then delayed.. and then it's crap.

  • skillian #4 4 years ago

    Aerosmith can make more from Guitar Hero than from releasing 12 albums? Surely that can't be true.

    They have only released 14 albums in their career (so says Wikipedia), so are they saying GH: Aerosmith will make them as much/more than they've made in total in their career to date?

  • Zomoniac #5 4 years ago

    Probably not, but bear in mind the vast, vast majority of their income will come from radio play royalties, tour earnings and the like. Money from percentage of record sales is most likely a tiny amount of their income to date.

  • johnnybrn #6 4 years ago

    Why all the GnR hate? They are still one of the best bands of our time. Not many rock albums hold up to Appetite to this day!

    It would be Christmas come early if there was GH: GnR!!!
    Edited by 1 at 04/07/08 @ 11:50

  • InsoFox #7 4 years ago

    Personally I'm still waiting for less RAWK! and more rock.

  • optimusprym8 #8 4 years ago

    I hope there are no more stinky band cash-ins like the GH:Aerosmith edition. Just release the song packs as DLC so then can pick and chose which tracks you want. There were two songs on the GH:A that even vaguely held any interest for me. Or at least have that option.

  • NegativeZero #9 4 years ago

    The Eagles in Rock Band? Please stop taunting me, Harmonix :(

  • paulf #10 4 years ago

    gh:aerosmith just isn't very good, I'm a fan of the band and have seen them live but i traded the game in after a couple of days cause it was just no fun to play and at 45 quid far too expensive

  • Saturn_Ascends #11 4 years ago

    "Aerosmith can make more from Guitar Hero than from releasing 12 albums? Surely that can't be true."

    That's what I thought. Unless they mean they net more cash from 1 unit of GH:A than from 12 album sales?

  • daz_john_smith #12 4 years ago

    So are these exclusivity deals that mean a band will be tied into a specific brand i.e. RB or GH?

  • Olemak #13 4 years ago

    All these bands are pretty meh, IMHO.
    Roll on with U2 and we'll talk!

    Oh, and Depeche Mode, except they don't do a lot of the traditional 4-man-band instrument setup, so I guess that will never happen. I'd pay for pretty much any game featuring their music in some form, tho.

  • TONYgr #14 4 years ago

    i want to play achiles last stand NOW!!!!

  • Zomoniac #15 4 years ago

    Why all the GnR hate? They are still one of the best bands of our time. Not many rock albums hold up to Appetite to this day!

    Plenty hold up to it. The greatest hits of McFly and Busted compare favourably.

  • kangarootoo #16 4 years ago

    @skillian

    "Aerosmith can make more from Guitar Hero than from releasing 12 albums? Surely that can't be true. "

    The article specifically mentioned CD album sales. Things ain't what they used to be, and CD sales are crashing these days. I think it means that if Aerosmith released a CD album today, its sales could generate only a fraction of the cash they got paid for their GH release.

    Its a bit of a loaded statement I think. Its not referring to the cash they HAVE made in the past from all format album sales, neither does it consider mp3 sales through iTunes and so on. Still a valid point though. Many music companies are looking for new ways to keep the cash coming in, as album sales just aren't what they used to me. Bands are much keener on touring these days, and that makes more money for them than album sales (which didn't used to be the case in general, though there have always been exceptions).

  • kangarootoo #17 4 years ago

    "Plenty hold up to it. The greatest hits of McFly and Busted compare favourably."

    If that isn't a joke, I am going to dig out my window jump inducing hypnotic powers in a minute.

    /polishes shiny pendulum

  • johnnybrn #18 4 years ago

    @ farticus,

    Mate, I'm going to have to have strong words with you now!

    How many rock singers aren't dickheads, its part of the rock band code! I'll admit Axl is a nob but the music is fantastic and you cant say that he doesnt have a great voice.

    But whereas Hendrix was great for time his music is now dated, so there! ;)


  • coojam #19 4 years ago

    Ironic that the bands probably make more money from these games than the devs

  • skillian #20 4 years ago

    I think it means that if Aerosmith released a CD album today, its sales could generate only a fraction of the cash they got paid for their GH release.

    OK, maybe if they released 12 truly terrible albums in a row that flopped hopelessly.

    I know that it was them who said it, but I still don't believe that over a decade's worth of album sales would earn them the same money as this installment of Guitar Hero.

  • Trafford #21 4 years ago

    @Led Zeppelin Please get over yourselves.

  • sanctusmortis #22 4 years ago

    IIRC Led Zep went through Hell to get their masters, so I can understand the reticence.

    Good bands with singers renowned for being nobs:

    Guns n Roses
    Motley Crue
    Iron Maiden
    Skid Row
    Stone Temple Pilots
    Jane's Addiction

    I could go on.

  • Dr.Mott #23 4 years ago

    MAKE A SYSTEM OF A DOWN ONE!!!

    Ahem.

  • Zomoniac #24 4 years ago

    MAKE A SYSTEM OF A DOWN ONE!!!

    I heartily endorse this event or product.

    And a Radiohead one, too.

  • actionfitz #25 4 years ago

    lol a 'GnR' game...
    good luck getting axl rose and slash etc in the same room to record anything...
    - and if they do one without slash / duff and the rest... then thats just not cricket etc.
    and deserves to rest in the same landfill as ET :p