By Antony Bruno, Denver

Fans of the music-based games "Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock" and "Rock Band" have purchased and downloaded more than 7 million additional songs - beyond the ones included on the games -- since they were released late last year.

"Guitar Hero III" was released Oct. 28 and began offering new downloadable songs the following week. The game's publisher Activision tells Billboard more than 5 million songs have been downloaded since, in three-song bundles, consisting of both new songs developed for the game as well as songs that appeared in previous versions of the game.

MTV, responsible for "Rock Band," reports that 2.5 million songs have been downloaded, both as singles and three-song bundles, since it began offering them Nov. 20.

LINK (via Billboard) 

Def Jam CEO Jay-Z ponders his role as a music executive now that the increasing shift from CDs to digital distribution points once again to an industry desperate for new monetization strategies. Before you bail Jay, check us out!

JAY-Z

[Gail Mitchell, Billboard.biz]:
So, what about the all the rumors that you're leaving Def Jam?

[Jay-Z]:
The rumors are about only because my contract is up. If we can work something out that's beneficial to all parties involved, we'll see. But it's not about money. It's really about trying to invest in the future, trying to invest in maybe coming up with a new model. Because going in hard making records with artists and throwing those records into a system that's flawed is not exciting for me. It's not the music; people ingest music the same way. It's just that the model of selling CDs has changed. So doing things the typical way is not in the best interests of anyone and not exciting for me. My whole thing is, how do we invest in the future? If everyone is committed to doing that, then I'm sure there's a deal to be made. 

LINK (via Billboard.biz) 

At least one artist featured on Guitar Hero III has seen boosts in sales of its singles and CDs since the game's release.

According to Roadrunner Records, sales of "Through the Fire and Flames," an unlockable track by DragonForce, have increased 183% over the week previous to Guitar Hero III's release.

While it's somewhat unlikely that older bands like Foghat or The Who will see a similar benefit--if you want those songs, you probably already have them--but it looks like Guitar Hero and Rock Band may swiftly become key marketing tools for promoting up and coming bands. After all, what better way to get your music in front of your target audience?

What I'm curious about is how much you enjoy having tracks from bands you don't know on Guitar Hero or Rock Band. Do you enjoy getting exposed to new music that way, or do you simply prefer to play the songs you're familiar with?

LINK (via Game|Life)

By Chris M. Walsh, N.Y.

A full HD concert download from Canadian metal outfit Finger Eleven will be available for free to all Xbox LIVE Marketplace users starting tomorrow (Nov. 6). The set, from the Berkeley Church in Toronto, Ontario, will be placed on the Xbox servers for sixty days.

"It's great to have partners like Wind-up Records to deliver new music experiences to them," said Xbox senior global marketing manager Peter Orullian.

The 58-minute set features the songs from the quintet's Wind-up Records album "Them Vs. You Vs. Me," the band's self-titled release, and earlier repertoire.

LINK (via Billboard.biz)

Officials from Activision have announced that consumer sell through for Guitar Hero II: Legend of Rock has exceeded $115 million within seven days of the game’s North American release, becoming the single largest product launch in the publisher’s history.

Activision claims that Guitar Hero has remained the number one best selling franchise in the U.S. throughout September, according to NPD Group data. All three games, and expansion pack Rocks The ‘80s, have now sold more than six million units worldwide, according to combined data from The NPD Group, Chart-Track and Gfk.

Guitar Hero III was launched on PlayStation 2, Wii, Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 on October 28th in the U.S. and is due for release in Europe on November 23rd. A PC version is also due for release later this year, although a much rumored Nintendo DS version has still yet to be confirmed.

The game’s first song pack has already been released for download online, with The Interscope Soundtrack Pack available exclusively for the Xbox 360 version. Three additional song packs for both the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 3 versions are due to be released in November, containing three songs each. Activision has expressed interest in releasing downloadable content for the Wii version but none has been formally announced.

“Guitar Hero III is the game that everyone is talking about. It is the only video game to make the Toys ‘R’ Us Hot Toy list for 2007 and Toy Wishes’ Hot Dozen 2007, which forecast the most popular holiday gifts of the season. Despite having significantly increased our production capabilities for the holiday, there is still a high likelihood that we will not be able to meet demand for this game on every platform,” stated Robert Kotick, Activision chairman and CEO.

LINK (via Gamasutra)
 

According to IGN's GamerMetrics, music and rhythm games have generated a total 70 million page views thus far in 2007, compared with 20 million page views in 2006 -- a 250 percent increase.

It's safe to say that Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock and Rock Band are the two upcoming titles at the forefront of this surging popularity for rhythm titles -- so which one will take top billing this holiday season?

All of the areas GamerMetrics examined point to Guitar Hero III as the clear favorite. In particular, the Xbox 360 SKU is the most desirable, ranking 10th among all anticipated video games, capturing 1.43 percent of total mindshare -- though the Xbox 360 SKU of Rock Band is very close behind, ranked 11th and capturing 1.38 percent of mindshare, a promising result for the 360, showing favoritism for the console among fans of the leading music games.

The Wii SKU of Guitar Hero III is next, ranked 12th among all anticipated titles and capturing 1.35 percent of total mindshare. From there, it's a big jump down to the PS3's Guitar Hero III SKU, ranked 25th and capturing 1.25 percent of mindshare. The PS3 SKU of Rock Band comes in more modestly, ranked 33rd overall and with a mindshare percentage of 1.10.

Interestingly, a rumor of a Wii Rock Band SKU registers on the charts, even though such a title has never been confirmed, coming in at a ranking of 145th with .25 percent of mindshare.

IGN GamerMetrics analyst Nick Williams found that Guitar Hero III still maintains a lead in three key areas: pricing, brand recognition, and the fact that it'll be the first one to market. Its high price point and numerous accessories also represent a possible risk for Rock Band during the holiday rush -- while the success of past Guitar Hero titles suggests that gamers are somewhat flexible in regard to such issues, Rock Band pushes the envelope a bit further, and it remains to be seen where the threshold lies.

Overall, Williams concluded his comments on the battle by explaining: "Whatever the case may be, the future looks bright for the music/rhythm genre. All signs indicate that Guitar Hero III is the heavy favorite heading into the holidays, but Rock Band represents an exciting and logical next step for the genre. By improving upon the interactive and collaborative elements of Guitar Hero, MTV Games and Harmonix are not only looking to change the way people play games, but redefine the way they consume their favorite music."

LINK (via GamaSutra) 

Remixes of Soulja Boy's debut single "Crank That (Soulja Boy)" are flooding the hip hop world, but it hadn't occurred to anyone to mash it up with The Shirelles' 1962 hit "Soldier Boy"... until now.

(Soulja Boy has taken some flack from a rapper called Souljah Boy who has been using that moniker for the past 12 years, but both of them borrowed from The Shirelles; maybe everybody should just calm down a little bit.)

Listen: Javelin - "Soldier Boy (Javelin Mix)"

According to a pair of new surveys released by IDC and IDG Entertainment (IDGE), the booming market created by online-capable consoles means that online console download revenues will triple from $133 million in 2006 to $583 million in 2007, with bigger increases expected in the future.

Billy Pidgeon, IDC’s program manager for games research presented his report analyzing the booming popularity of online capable video game consoles, and projected that by 2008 the North American installed base of such consoles will be over 37 million units.

“By the end of 2007, over 31 percent of online capable video game consoles in North America will be in active online use by 14 million online console gamers,” said Pidgeon. “The increase in revenue derived from the online use of game consoles, including subscriptions (mostly Xbox Live), downloadable content, and advertising represents the largest growth in the console software sector. In North America alone, online console revenue will triple from $133 million in 2006 to $583 million in 2007. Consumers are increasingly purchasing games by non-traditional means such as downloads or subscriptions.”

LINK (via Gamasutra)

JazzMutant displayed their new Dexter touchscreen Digital Audio Workstation (DAW) controller at MusikMesse 2007 igniting the imaginations of musicians worldwide. Not that their previous product, the Lemur, didn't spark quite a few discussions, but the multitouch Dexter, which is DAW specific, has inched the industry closer to the future of music production.

Is this the future of the Digital Audio Workstation?

Dexter redefines the very interaction between Digital Audio Workstations and the users. This tablet-sized control surface has been designed with only one purpose in mind: controlling a Digital Audio Workstation by touching a user interface directly on the screen...

Link (via FutureMusic) 

Play the following video a few times in a row, and you'll notice the
scale continuing to rise in pitch, despite the fact that the same sound
file is playing over and over. This proves how powerful selective
hearing can be; we literally hear what we want to hear:

(via B3ta)