Aerosmith made more money on Guitar Hero than from any of their albums

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Aerosmith made more money on Guitar Hero than from any of their albums


Matt Novak
7/10/14 12:30pm Filed to: aerosmith

According to the head of Activision, Aerosmith has made more money from licensing their songs and image for the Guitar Hero: Aerosmith game than from any one of their albums. This should really come as no surprise. Even back in the recording industry's most profitable days, bands were almost always making more money from live appearances, merchandise, and (if you go back far enough), selling sheet music. From a business perspective, bands like Aerosmith have always been t-shirt salesmen more than record salesmen. Sweet licensing deals for everything like video games, movie soundtracks, and even roller coasters is where the real money is at.

From PCMag:

Activision says Guitar Hero: Aerosmith has earned the band more royalties than any of their albums. Activision chief executive Bobby Kotick was quoted by MTV Multiplayer at the company's analyst day as saying that the band is enjoying more than just exposure to new fans and renewed interest of loyal rockers thanks to the videogame tie-in. "[Their] version of Guitar Hero generated far more in revenues than any Aerosmith album ever has," Kotick said. "Merchandising, concert sales, their ability to sign a new contract [have] all been unbelievably influenced by their participation in Guitar Hero."

Back in 2008, first week sales for the game topped 567,000 copies and by 2010 more than 3.6 million copies had been sold. On top of the money they made from licensing to Activision, the band saw a huge uptick in sales from their back catalog as well. The game was a great advertising tool, driving more attention for album sales, and continued popularity of the band which expanded further licensing opportunities — the great circle of life in the music business.

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[Rasputin]

No money making records because easy access on internet to listen to songs for free.

[mikeyis4dcats.]

I also believe many of their early albums were raped by the labels and managers, whereas this deal was direct with the band.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

I also believe many of their early albums were raped by the labels and managers, whereas this deal was direct with the band.

There's no way the deal was directly from the band because their record label owns the Master Recordings and their publisher owns the Synchronization Rights.

They earned more money in royalties due to the fact that the Statutory Rate, which is the amount paid by the Record Company to the Publisher, was less than .05 cents per song during their 70's heyday and that's before the Publisher's share.

With Rock Band, Aerosmith would have received 60% of the Sync Fees and closer to .10 cents per song before the publisher took 25%.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by mikeyis4dcats.

I also believe many of their early albums were raped by the labels and managers

I can't speak to their 70's management team but Tim Collins, who managed them from 1984 through 1996, is a very well respected manager who helped them achieve greater success than they had in the 70's.

[Dayze]

curious, how the record labelt / artist thing works.

say a band has 2 hugely successful albums right out of the gate, can they - the band - then record their own stuff on their own label? Or is it a deal where the record label signs a band and has them under contract for X number of albums etc.

...if any of that makes sense.

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by Dayze

curious, how the record labelt / artist thing works.

say a band has 2 hugely successful albums right out of the gate, can they - the band - then record their own stuff on their own label? Or is it a deal where the record label signs a band and has them under contract for X number of albums etc.

...if any of that makes sense.

Generally speaking, a band signs a 2 album record deal with a record company option for a 3rd release.

The record label generally owns the Master Recording Rights in Perpetuity, although smarter bands (like Motley Crew, believe it or not) had their Masters revert to them after 15 years. That allowed them to take their original albums from Elektra Records to Universal Records, along with a hefty advance on future album sales.

Now, there have been many cases in which an artist signed a 7 album deal, which is pretty ridiculous. Don Henley did that with Geffen (who screwed the Eagles pretty had when he ran Elektra, so Henley should have known) and he wanted out of his deal because he felt they weren't marketing and promoting him as he saw fit.

He sued under the California "Indentured Servant" law, claiming that being under contract for more than 7 years violated that particular law. Geffen and Henley ended up settling, with Geffen receiving the Lion's Share of the Hell Freezes Over album.

[eDave]

Originally Posted by Dayze

curious, how the record labelt / artist thing works.

say a band has 2 hugely successful albums right out of the gate, can they - the band - then record their own stuff on their own label? Or is it a deal where the record label signs a band and has them under contract for X number of albums etc.

...if any of that makes sense.

Watch the documentary Artifact:

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt2370718/

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Amazing.

[Dayze]

looks cool.

[Mennonite]

[Toby Waller]

musicians have basically been treated like actors,jocks or porn stars.
you get what we give you and when you suck we dont give you anything.

80s bands in LA got signed all over just as tax right offs for record companies

[DaneMcCloud]

Originally Posted by smellypitts

musicians have basically been treated like actors,jocks or porn stars.
you get what we give you and when you suck we dont give you anything.

80s bands in LA got signed all over just as tax right offs for record companies

Absolutely false

[Toby Waller]

Originally Posted by DaneMcCloud

Absolutely false

I knew that would bait you in and its not remotely false.

I talked to plenty of bands at plenty of clubs when I was 21 to 25
and I dont give a ****ing shit what you think you know.

youve over stepped you ignorant bounds this time.

you arent some corporate authority in the know. Youre just a ****ing studio lackey

[Sweet Daddy Hate]

Originally Posted by smellypitts

I knew that would bait you in and its not remotely false.

I talked to plenty of bands at plenty of clubs when I was 21 to 25
and I dont give a ****ing shit what you think you know.

youve over stepped you ignorant bounds this time.

Oh my....