NEW MEDIA = NEW MUSIC SOURCE

Grand Theft Auto 4 is now seeping into the public consciousness, and soaking up the free time of gamers worldwide. 

GTA4 racked first-week sales of more than $500 million, now considered the biggest entertainment release in history (five times what Iron Man did in its first week, for example).

Step into the arena that is GTA4’s “Liberty City,” and city life is scarily realistic.  The complexity of characters, scenery, and automobiles is impressive.  And so is the violence.  The protagonist—Niko Bellic—routinely rips people out of cars, mauls pedestrians, gets into bloody street fights, and guns down police officers. 

And what about the music?  Most cars in the game have a stereo system, and users can easily flip between stations.  That includes Classics 104.1 (Main Source, Jeru the Damaja, Group Home), Vibe 98.8 (Ne-Yo, Isley Brothers, Jodeci), Tuff Gong (Bob Marley), San Juan Sounds (Daddy Yankee, Don Omar, Hector El Father), Liberty Rock Radio (David Bowie, Black Sabbath, The Who), and various talk radio stations.

Some of the songs are familiar hits, others are lost classics and lesser-known cuts—depending on the perspective and interests of the listener.  And for the artists involved, the upside opportunities run from modest to potentially massive.

The upside is already proven in the games Guitar Hero and Rock Band.  Of those who have played either or both games, 30% say they've purchased music that was featured in the games. 

That says a lot about the role that new media plays in music sales, even more about the power and influence of games.

Amazon.com established a dedicated Grand Theft Auto splash page offering a listing of the featured songs, one of the few places the titles are actually shown.

At this year’s SXSW (South By Southwest) music gathering in Austin, Steve Schnur, head of Music and Marketing at Electronic Arts, a major games producer, took pride in the place his company has in breaking new artists. 

Schnur told attendees, “I want someone to hear a song in a game that they’ll hear on the radio two years from now.”

Now that’s planning ahead!