Those record labels who have been busy pushing their artists to gaming companies are on to something according to new research which shows that video game fans are also big consumers of music.
Research firm IDC interviewed over 6000 gamers, primarily recruited from the various gaming communities and forums on the web. A large percentage of those interviewed admitted that as well as spending ten hours a week playing games they also listened to a lot of music. Over 50% of those interviewed had CD collections of between
100 and 500 disks.
A number of record labels have already recognised that video game soundtracks, aside from being a licensing revenue stream in themselves, are also excellent ways to promote new music. IDC predict a large growth in this area, especially as next generation
PlayStation and Xbox consoles will have more music functionality, allowing gamers to download full copies of tracks they hear while playing games, or even to put together their own soundtracks for their favourite game releases.