Thursday, September 10, 2009

The Beatles: Rock Band

I've been hearing about The Beatles: Rock Band a lot these past couple months. Typically, any coverage of the game is paired with interview snippets from Paul or Ringo approving of the game.

Paul and Ringo's approval got me thinking about Metallica back in the days of Napster. In case you don't remember, Metallica sued Napster back in 2001 for helping distribute their music for free. Compare that to Radiohead who did the exact opposite and let fans name the price they'd like to pay for the band's new album, In Rainbows.

Basically, one band tried to fight change as much as they could. It got them a lot of bad press and probably caused them to lose a lot of fans. Radiohead chose to embrace the change of the music industry, and in return they were met with favorable coverage.

Paul and Ringo could have bashed Rock Band and said that it is a cheap imitation of their legacy. Instead they decided to support the outlet. They chose to see the game as a way of getting their music out to new fans. Their support helped the game and their music sell.

The faster we embrace change, the easier it will be to adapt to today's environment. Advertisers are having a hard time because their are so many different outlets for new media sprouting up every day. We just need to keep an open mind and make sure we aren't making the same mistakes Metallica did.

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