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Activision CEO: Music labels should pay us

Activision Blizzard CEO Robert Kotick is a pretty opinionated dude. With the music and rhythm games skyrocketing to popularity

, Kotick sees the games as a means to bring new consumers to the bands, not vice versa. "When you look at the impact [Guitar Hero] can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it's really significant," Kotick said, further adding "so much so that you sort of question whether or not, in the case of those kinds of products, you should be paying any money at all and whether it should be the reverse."

Kotick backs up his point even more by stating that the games "have lots of music to choose from, lots of artists to choose from" and that a "12-year-old kid has no idea who Steven Tyler is or who Aerosmith is," but that the game can introduce them to that particular artist. Kotick went on further to say that the majority of people who enjoy these games "will tell you they're not purchasing the products based on the songs that are included. They're purchasing based on how fun the songs are to play when they're playing them."

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[Via CVG]

Source (subscription required) - Activision's CEO speaks