Could the gaming industry, and more specifically, the rhythm game segment, be beneficial to the music industry? Some CEOs of big music companies suggested that games like Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour should pay bigger royalties to their companies, which offered them the rights to use various music tracks.

Activision Chief Executive Officer Bobby Kotick said in August that music companies should appreciate the services his company released. The musicians that provided their music for the game also had an advantage from their presence in the conscience of the public.

The argument might be settled by recent data coming out of the NPD Group showing that Rock Band 2 and Guitar Hero World Tour actually helped big music companies make more money.

The NPD Group announced that demand for music fell by 2% in the United States in the third quarter of 2008, but the fall would have been much bigger if the same period had not seen the release of Guitar Hero: World Tour, from Activision Blizzard, and Rock Band 2, from Electronic Arts and Harmonix. It seems that 22% of those who bought music during the third quarter told NPD researchers that they had played a music simulator or rhythm game during the previous three months. Playing these games opened up new bands they became interested in and led them to buy their music.

Russ Crupnick, who is the entertainment industry analyst for the NPD Group, stated that “Even though gaming competes with music for the consumer's entertainment wallet share, music-related games are evolving into an important source for music discovery that can have positive revenue implications for the recording industry,” while Anita Frazier, who is the gaming analyst for the same company, added that the rhythm game genre was the best selling one for the industry, making up 16% of the US videogame sales for 2008.