Warner Music Group Getting Greedy, or What It Deserves?

In Warner Music Group’s (WMG) Quarter 3 earnings call, Edgar Bronfman, chief of WMG, made it clear that he thinks games like Guitar Hero and Rock Band are great opportunities and are going to be a major player in the music industry. Wow, that sounds great! Does that mean WMG will support them even more? Not quite. WMG wants mo’ money and says they won’t license those games anymore if they don’t get paid.

WMG is in much the same position as they were with iTunes. They wanted more money from Apple because iTunes is based off their music. The same is true for games like Guitar Hero. If there were no music, then there would be no Guitar Hero.

Bronfman says that the money received from these games that are “entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small.” WMG wants to be properly compensated for their music. That’s all well and good, but, as we all know, big companies like WMG don’t have the best reputation for properly paying their artists.

Could it be more beneficial to the artist to have more people exposed to their music (and thus gain more popularity) or to have WMB raise the price of licenses so that they can get a bit more money?

If worse comes to worse and WMB decides to withdraw their licensing for Guitar Hero, Rock Band, and other games, consumers will be the ones hurt the most. If they really want all the money, they can go ahead make their own game. With the likes of AC/DC, Black Sabbath, and Led Zeppelin, they shouldn’t do too bad.