Leaning with Intent

Games and the Music Industry

The music industry is experiencing some problems, as more and more people download music for free from the Internet. People also have many other hobbies besides listening to music, so there are not that many CDs being sold anymore. That is why those in the music industry are doing everything they can to release music video games, in order to encourage consumers to buy music. Games like Guitar Hero or Rock Band are quite promising, but I do not think that they will be enough to save the music industry. That is because, believe it or not, music is not such as attractive as it was a few decades ago. There are various kinds of entertainment right now, and the market is different right now.
Of course, it does not mean that music will cease to exist. Other forms of entertainment, such as games, are going to promote music. For example, Grand Theft Auto IV, which is a bestseller, has a lot of innovative features. I noticed that there was not a lot of discussion about music in GTA IV. The reason why I want to discuss it is that GTA IV has a very interesting way to buy music while playing the game. Generally speaking, GTA is an action game which features driving cars among other vehicles, and allows the players to listen to the in-game radio while you are driving around. In total it features around 200 tracks, which is the largest amount in videogame history. The feature that is especially interesting lets players tag any song in the soundtrack in order to receive more information about the title and artist. It also stores the chosen tracks in a playlist on the Amazon digital music store in order to purchase them later. I think that GTA is a proof that music will always be popular.