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Warner Music says music video games must pay more

Two women play the new video game "Guitar Hero: Aerosmith" before the game release press conference in New York, June 27, 2008. REUTERS/Lucas Jackson

NEW YORK (Reuters) - Warner Music Group Corp, the world’s third-largest music company, said on Thursday that video game makers will need to pay more to license songs for music-based video games like “Guitar Hero” and “Rock Band.”

Warner Music Chief Executive Edgar Bronfman drew comparisons between MTV’s launch 25 years ago or Apple Inc’s iPod launch five years ago, and today’s video game companies like Activision Blizzard Inc and Harmonix, a unit of Viacom Inc.

“The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small”

Reporting by Yinka Adegoke

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