Rock Band/Guitar Hero
Does anybody want a Palm Pilot? How about a Zip drive?
Technology moves fast. Declaring obsolescent yesterday’s uber-desirable product. The key is to ride the wave, get in at the right time, delivering what the public wants, and then get out.
But the music industry doesn’t seem to get this. It believes there’s going to be a new CD. A new MTV. So busy waiting for the next "standard", the music business sits on the sidelines, missing out on revenue and becoming further marginalized.
Ringtones were supposed to save the business. But they peaked long ago. Even the iPod has morphed into the iPhone, barely half a decade after the original was introduced. It’s no longer about the music, but the apps. Labels are arguing about pricing and device owners aren’t even referencing music. iPod Touch sales are booming and the old standby? The hard-drive based mega-capacity iPod is now called the Classic. And comes in only one model. SMALLER than the previous iteration.
And now comes the decline of Rock Band and Guitar Hero. Why should these last forever? The game doesn’t change, only the songs. You play for a while and you get over the thrill. But the labels want to argue with the manufacturers about how much money they’re getting for tracks, as the business evaporates.
In the digital world, you license now, then you move on to the next technology. You license Napster, knowing that in a matter of years, most people will no longer want to own. You sell tracks at the iTunes Store in cheap bundles, knowing that no one’s going to want such a horrible-sounding file in the future, if they can even hold on to it, if it will even play on their new computer. The song remains the same, but how you deliver it, how you consume it, that keeps changing.
Instead of worrying that some entity is going to steal the business’ thunder, make all the money, the key is to license everybody. Knowing that the music will survive, but the companies won’t. Sure, MTV is still broadcasting. But now it’s not an island unto itself. It’s just another cable channel fighting for teen viewership. As for its assets… Does anybody want to view its old programming? Whereas labels own the catalogues of Led Zeppelin and Billy Joel, never mind the one hit wonders featured on the music television outlet. The music has intrinsic value. It will last. Take the long term view.
As for Guitar Hero and Rock Band… How many guitars do you need? The new games are overpriced and they under-deliver. Sure, some people own multiple cars, but for most, one is enough. And cars get you somewhere, whereas the games are ends unto themselves.
And then you’ve got the curious case of the Beatles. Who show up at the party when the janitor is just about to lock the door. If Apple Corps is going to ride the digital wave, buy a surfboard, paddle out into the water, now. If you think CDs will support you, you probably didn’t notice the Virgin Megastore closing in New York City. What comes first, the death of the CD or the Beatles on iTunes? Right now, it looks like the former.
What we’ve got here is pure, unadulterated greed. From Activision and MTV/Harmonix. It’s no different from Wall Street. They feel ENTITLED to their money. There’s no pricing for consumer affordability, no contemplation that the bottom can fall out. But it just did.
