The
Financial Times speaks with Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick, who responds to Warner Music
Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman's recently expressed opinion that music games
should be paying a higher royalty rate to music publishers for using "content [they]
own and control" (
story). Kotick says Bronfman's "one-sided
comments" were not "respectful of how much we’ve done to bring new audiences
into the market." He goes on to say: "We’re introducing a whole new group of
artists to new audiences that is resulting in their iTunes downloads being
exponentially higher than they would otherwise be, [as well as] new album sales
and new merchandising opportunities." In response F.T. quotes a (presumably
different) Warner rep, who says: "We hope that
our partners in the gaming space appreciate not only the value of their own
contributions but also those of the recording artists, songwriters, record
labels and music publishers on which their games are significantly based." Most
significant is Kotick's comment that seems to be a warning that they do not
foresee bowing to pressure to increase royalties:
“I think his view
was ... that [Warner Music] should be compensated the way they might for a
performance on iTunes,” said Mr Kotick. “But this is an entirely different
business that is very technically complex. We’re going to favour those
publishers that recognise and appreciate how much we can add value to their
artists.”