On the game

The music industry says ok computer

What?: As physical CD sales rapidly plummet artists are turning to a physical format that is booming. Music is muscling in desperate to get a slice of the console game action.

Electronic arts launch the EA Amplify Artist Search in conjunction with EMI. The competition gives artists in the Asia Pacific region the chance to win a record deal and have their music used in an EA game.

Microsoft -to tie up with the much-anticipated release of leading Xbox game Halo 3 – will launch a Halo-themed Zune player in June. The player will come pre-loaded with music, video and artwork.

Madden NFL 2008 will feature an Ozzy Osbourne track ‘I Don’t Wanna Stop’ showcased from his latest album.

Destiny’s Child have released their mobile dance video game Groove via AT&T Wireless. The game is similar in style to console-based dance mat games, requiring the user to press certain keys in line with the music and on-screen prompts.

Microsoft Xbox and Enter Shakari are inviting computer game users to compose the soundtrack to forthcoming games trailers. The winner will get time to record a demo in a professional recording studio.

So what?: “For this generation, the song now becomes real when they play it,“says EA’s executive of music marketing, Steven Schnur, “soon these games will become the new radio, the new MTV and the new record store all in one.”

In-game music is fast becoming the launch pad of choice for artists as the lure of the CD fades in comparison to the surge in gaming activity. The race is on to capitalise upon user uptake. With Web 2.0 pushing a composing agenda, could the next wave of artists come directly from the gaming industry?

The figures speak for themselves. Last year’s Madden NFL 2007 sold more than 7M copies. In comparison the top Us album sold 3.7M and the top UK album 1.5M. In total the franchise has shifted more than 60M copies and generated more than $2B in revenue over the past 18 years.

According to EA research more than half of America’s gamers aged 13 to 32 have discovered a new band from a game soundtrack. More than a third of them have downloaded a song after hearing it in a game and more than 20% actively purchased an album because of a game tie in.

www.eaamplify.com

www.xbox.com