Playing Music.

Video game makers, popular hands joining forces to market soundtracks for new releases

WHEN the Dub Pistols traveled across America with the Warped Tour this summer, most of the young people attending the alternative music showcase didn't know much about the U.K. big beat rockers, except for one thing.

"They were all saying 'oh yeah, I remember hearing you on the Tony Hawk game."' said Jenn Littleton, marketing manager for Geffen A&M Records, the Dub Pistols' label.

Skateboarding icon Tony Hawk's Proskater 2 is among the most popular video titles ever and its creators have been ahead of the curve when it comes to adding songs by popular bands to its soundtrack. But they are not alone. After tentatively testing the waters over the past couple of years, video game makers and publishers, record labels and the bands themselves are realizing the promotional potential of games tied to music.

"The big thing is with a lot of these bands is the people who purchase their albums are the same people who purchase our games," said John Koller, product marketing manager for Sony Computer Entertainment America.

Video games remain the hottest growth segment in the entertainment industry, with worldwide sales of software and consoles expected to reach a record $7 billion this year.

"It's not just about the games, it's about the lifestyles that accompany them," said David Pokress, global brand manager for Santa Monica based game publisher Activision Inc.

Major bands

To that end, bands with national followings and major label backing are being recruited to lend their tunes to video game soundtracks like never before. That trend will pick up in the coming months as two of the big three game makers, Microsoft Corp. and Nintendo Co., release their next generation consoles with improved audio technology. Sony's next generation machine, PlayStation 2, debuted last year.

"We want to place our music alongside things we think our audience will be into," said Ken Jordan, half the duo that is the L.A. band Crystal Method, which is on the Geffen label. "As a band what we try to do is sell albums. This is another way to promote our album."

In the past year, recording artists from Lenny Kravitz and Limp Bizkit to the Red Hot Chili Peppers and Snoop Dog have licensed songs for video games. That's a far cry from just a few years ago when many game soundtracks were distinguished by droning synthesizer music.

"Now that the quality of the games is better people are more interested in putting their music in them," Jordan said.

Until recently, nearly all the music licensed for video games had been released earlier. Now bands are also selling new music. Crystal Method has an original song on an upcoming Sony. release, Frequency, a game based on the music itself that challenges player to mix the songs and follow the beats.

"The funny thing that happens is that when you sign one big band all of a sudden it's a tidal wave" Koller said of the Frequency game. "The other bands say, 'if they think this is a good thing, we should do it too."'

Jeff Antebi, whose Los Angeles-based Kabuki Digital started a new business doing soundtrack marketing for video game makers earlier this year, said business is booming.

"The licensing opportunities are incredible," he said. "It's especially important for smaller bands who aren't going to get on the radio or MTV".

Lesser known bands might get from $5,000 to $15,000 to license a song to a video game maker while more established groups can command up to $75,000, Antebi said. Those on both sides of the equation, however, agree that the greater value lies in the medium's unrivaled ability to connect the consumer to the product.

"These kids play these games over and over for months and the songs get embedded in their head," Littleton said.

An obvious comparison to video game soundtracks is movie soundtracks, which have done well enough in recent years to carve out a special section in most record stores.

So far, the handful of video game soundtracks that have been released as purely musical CDs have not been big money makers. Pokress and others believe that will change in the not-too-distant future.

"We've been floating beneath the radar, but people are starting to figure out that they were creating very strong relationships between the games and the music," Pokress said.