"Grand Theft Auto" simplifies song purchasing

By Antony Bruno

DENVER (Billboard) - The emerging effort to use videogames as a channel for selling music is entering its next phase with the recent release of "Grand Theft Auto IV."

Phase I has proved a phenomenal success, with "Rock Band" and "Guitar Hero III" selling millions of songs through their respective platforms. But it has been a limited victory.

Both are music-based rhythm games that use master recordings and cover songs to let gamers "play" along to the tunes using special controllers shaped like musical instruments. Purchased songs can be used only as elements of the game itself. They can't be transferred to an MP3 player or stored in users' digital music libraries.

But "Grand Theft Auto IV" includes a feature that lets players tag any song in the soundtrack in order to receive more information about the title and artist, as well as store tagged tracks in a custom playlist on the Amazon digital music store for later purchase.

"GTA IV" is not a rhythm game. It's a story-driven interactive "film" with plenty of side missions that add up to 100 hours of gameplay and features a soundtrack of more than 200 songs -- the largest in videogame history.

PRESS "BUY"

It's been well established how TV shows, ads and videogames are growing areas of music discovery and promotion. But until "GTA IV," there's been no construct that allows for the immediate identification and purchase of those songs from videogames. "GTA IV" has added that "buy" button, and record labels welcome the innovation.

"It's a very big deal for us," says Cynthia Sexton, senior vice president of marketing and licensing for EMI Music North America. "We're continually looking for new ways to sell our music. There are millions of people buying 'Grand Theft Auto,' and we hope they will enjoy the music and in turn buy those tracks."