Guitar Hero and Rock Band Accounting For More Music Sales

Digging deeper into Tech Survey IV, conducted among more than 27,000 listeners to Rock stations from across the U.S., finds music-based video games are having a significant impact on music sales. Not only are video games like Guitar Hero (Activision) and Rock Band (Harmonix/MTV Games) very popular, they are positively influencing music buying habits.

Overall, nearly half of all respondents who participate in video gaming indicate they’ve played either Rock Band or Guitar Hero in the past year. Notably, younger listeners and Alternative Rock fans are more likely to have rocked out on these games, but more than four in ten 25-54 year-olds have also experienced them. And these games are very popular among both men and women.

And playing Rock Band and Guitar Hero directly leads to music sales. Of those who played them, nearly one-third say they’ve purchased songs featured on these games.  Not that long ago, consumers discovered new and different music either on the radio, from music television channels, or from friends and others. Today, there are many avenues for music – new and classic – including video games that celebrate music.  Quite simply, Guitar Hero and Rock Band are having an impact on the way that music is being discovered and sold.

About The Jacobs Media Tech Survey IV

Jacobs Media’s Technology Web Poll IV is the largest such study of its kind, fielded in late February/early March 2008, among more than 27,000 respondents across 69 different Rock-formatted stations. It is the fourth annual poll in the series, conducted among Rock radio listeners who are predominantly members of station email clubs. Participating stations represent Mainstream/Active Rock, Classic Rock, and Alternative outlets in markets around the U.S.

This is a web poll, and cannot replicate all radio listeners or even all Rock radio listeners. As with all Internet-based research projects of this kind, the results reflect only those who chose to participate in the survey, and do not necessarily represent the views of all Rock radio listeners in the country. Still, the 69 radio stations that invited their listeners to take the survey are a broad cross-section of Rock stations, from large and small markets, as well as those that play the newest Rock music and those that play only Classic Rock.

For more information, contact:
Fred Jacobs
Paul Jacobs
248-353-9030