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MAY 19, 2005
By Olga Kharif From Beeps to Billboard [Page 2 of 2] WHAT A BLAST. Even game-music ring tones could attain hit status. Composer Jack Wall, responsible for the score in several Myst games, is in talks with Britain-based Retro Ringtones, which has expressed interest in offering video-game sound effects to cell phone users. Imagine hearing a loud explosion every time your mom rings you up. Game publishers are just now awakening to gaming music's possibilities. Game scores and songs are finding their way into films, movie trailers, and television commercials. "The TV and movie business is starting to look to us for new ideas," says Richard Jacques, whose Headhunter game score will accompany a movie trailer from Columbia TriStar Films this summer. Activision (ATVI ) is starting to use game-music for marketing its new titles. This summer, the company plans to give away, through retailer Best Buy (BBY ), 40,000 free CDs featuring songs from its upcoming Fantastic Four title. The world's largest game publisher, Electronic Arts (ERTS ), has promoted games by allowing fans to download soundtracks from its site. "VITAL PART OF THE PLAN." Of course, most game publishers aren't ready to evolve into music publishers, particularly considering that not all soundtracks do as well as Halo 2. Instead, some are working with outfits like Sumthing, a record distribution company created by Nile Rodgers, who produced the record-breaking Halo 2 soundtrack (as well as David Bowie's "Let's Dance" and Duran Duran's "The Reflex"). Perhaps later, more game publishers will change their minds about getting into the business, as game music's fan base grows. Attesting to the genre's increasing importance, most music labels pitch their artists' songs to video game publishers before shopping it to movie studios and radio stations. "The games are a very vital part of the plan now," says Daniel Glass, CEO of Artemis Records, which has signed performing groups Sugarcult and the Baha Men. "People go to video games now to find new music. The exposure factor and the coolness factor is what the artists want." Money, more so than fame, will turn the tide. Already, during the last four years, video-game composer compensation has grown by 60%, to about $150,000 per game, estimates Bob Rice, an agent representing top game composers. That's still a far cry from the $1 million-and-up a star composer typically gets from a big-budget Hollywood movie, but the gap is narrowing. After all, as video games realize their place as the new Hollywood sound-movies, they are where artists like Outkast, Avril Lavigne, and -- oh, yes, Aerosmith -- will want to go.
 Kharif is a writer for BusinessWeek Online in Portland, Ore. Edited by Beth Belton
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