Beatles to Join Licensing Gold Rush?

Financial Times: Fab Four-Themed Video Game in the Works

Posted by Mike Tunnicliffe on 06.26.08 @ 11:14 AM

A report in the Financial Times suggests that representatives from (the Beatles') Apple Corps are in talks with both Activision and MTV Games, the companies behind the highly successful "Guitar Hero" and "Rock Band" games, respectively.

Whilst the notion of a Beatles video game is interesting in its own right, the report also suggests that this could be the precursor to a broader licensing of The Fab Four's back catalog for more commercial opportunities. Martin Bandier, chief executive of Sony/ATV Music Publishing, which controls more than 200 Beatles copyrights, told the FT: "To my view, it's only a matter of time before we see Beatles songs that are the original recordings in motion pictures, in television work, and yes, maybe even one day in a commercial."

SFS thinks that this is exciting news and further adds to the notion that we've been pushing in recent posts and on conference platforms, that music-brand partnerships are going to develop into a major part of the fabric of the music business going forward. Our post on Led Zeppelin/"Stairway" earlier this week pointed out that not only does a broader approach to licensing tap into rich and growing revenue streams but also gives some of the "oldies" an opportunity to introduce their music to a younger audience.

It's great to see music licensing grow, but the licensing of songs is almost always a reactive business. There must be dozens of songs from our heritage artists that are not "sweated" as hard as they could be, and they could benefit from their own tailored marketing plans to help attract more interest from brands.