Warner Music CEO Edgar Bronfman recently expressed his belief that video game companies should pay more royalties to record labels and that they are currently paying "far too small" amount than they should, considering that rhythm titles are "entirely dependent" on content controlled and provided by them.
But Activision Blizzard CEO Bobby Kotick thinks that it is the other way around.
"There's a misunderstanding of the value we bring to the catalog," Kotick told the Wall Street Journal. "When you look at the impact it can have on an Aerosmith, Van Halen or Metallica, it's really significant, 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."
To prove his point, Kotick noted that Activision's Guitar Hero: Aerosmith generated more revenue for the band than any individual Aerosmith album.
The Activision Blizzard CEO doesn't even believe that rhythm games are that dependant on record labels. "We have lots of music to choose from, lots of artists to choose from. A 12-year-old kid has no idea who Steven Tyler is or who Aerosmith is. The bulk of our consumers 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."
