"Rock Band," "Guitar Hero" drive digital song sales
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In the two months since MTV Networks  and Harmonix released the music-based videogame "Rock Band,"  players have purchased and downloaded more than 2.5 million  additional songs made available after the game's initial  distribution. Activision, meanwhile, said it has sold more than  5 million new songs via download for "Guitar Hero III: Legends  of Rock" since it began adding downloadable content in early  November.
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U.S. sales of video game hardware  and software in June rose 31 percent from a year ago, driven by  stronger demand for gaming consoles from all three major  industry players, market data showed on Monday.
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Apple has done extremely well in the digital music market. They sell the largest number of portable digital music player in the form of iPod and they sell even more songs on their music store iTunes.
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U.S. sales of video game hardware  and software were $1.18 billion in January, down 6 percent from  a year earlier, with Nintendo Co Ltd's  Wii console  once again outselling its rivals.
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CANNES, France  - Away from the headlines of job losses, grumbling artists and falling global sales, the music industry is trying new business models to boost digital sales and offset the decline in CDs.
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While sales of physical  albums plummeted during the first nine months of 2006, big  increases in the demand for digital tracks and albums have kept  the overall music business in line with last year's totals.
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The U.S. music industry is becoming  more open-minded about working with online music stores from  the tiniest start-up to Amazon.com , hoping to boost  digital music sales and erode the dominance of Apple Inc's   iTunes.
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NPD group has reported that American retail sales of Activision's popular Guitar Hero music simulator franchise have put it among the top-selling game franchises of all time, earning over $1 billion in 26 months.
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MacCentral - RealNetworks Inc. said on Tuesday that it has sold more than a million songs at its online music store since slashing prices last week as part of a limited-time sale aimed at growing the user base of its new digital media software.
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By one measure of its success,  chart-topping rock band The Darkness has sold enough song  downloads, T-shirts and thongs on its official Web site  http://www.TheDarknessRock.com to nearly finance the group's  next recording.
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Digital music, distributed online or by mobile networks, accounted for $2.9 billion in sales worldwide, up from $2.1 billion a year earlier, the industryâs international trade group said.
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The music industry reversed a four-year decline as album sales rose slightly in 2004 while overall music sales spiked thanks to a huge increase in digital track sales, according to Nielsen SoundScan.
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Activision Inc  on Friday  unveiled a new "Guitar Hero" video game focusing on the rock  band Aerosmith, taking the billion-dollar franchise in a new  direction.
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MTV says that players of its Rock Band have downloaded more than 2.5 million songs since the game went on sale.
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Activision Inc. said  on Thursday it had sold more than 300,000 downloadable song  packs for its hit &quot;Guitar Hero II&quot; music game, giving it  confidence it will not have to lower prices despite outrage at  the cost among some game fans.
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Online music stores broke into the  mainstream in 2004, with more than 200 million tracks sold in  the United States and Europe, a tenfold increase from the  previous year, according to data released on Wednesday.
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By Jeff Leeds  For all the disquiet the Internet has fostered in the music business, almost every rock star and record-label executive is intrigued with the prospect of marketing to music fans directly instead of wrangling over exposure with radio programmers and retailers.