Warner Music aims for higher video game royalties

Warner Music is pushing to extract higher royalties from video games such as Guitar Hero and Rock Star , it said yesterday, as record labels and music publishers seek to avoid repeating mistakes made at the launch of MTV and the iPod.

"The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small," said Edgar Bronfman, Warner's chief executive.

"What we need to be careful of is that we do not allow an ecosystem to occur where we are not properly compensated," he added, citing a long-held music industry belief that MTV's music video channel and Apple's iPod digital music player had taken the lion's share of the value created by its content.

Click here to read Andrew EdgecliffeJohnson's full report via Financial Times.