By CHRISTINE SAMS ENTERTAINMENT REPORTER
VIDEO may have killed the radio star but 21st-century video games are giving them a whole new audience.
Big-hitting artists including the Australian band Wolfmother are pushing to have their songs on computer games.
The band's new single, Back Round, appears on Guitar Hero 5.
Iggy Pop and David Bowie feature on LEGO Rock Band, created by Warner Brothers for use on such consoles as Xbox, PlayStation and Wii.
Guitar Hero 5 also features songs from Bob Dylan, the Rolling Stones, Santana and Kings of Leon.
"Some of these games sell up to 10million units worldwide and that is tremendous exposure," said Christie Eliezer, the Australasian bureau chief for American Billboard magazine.
Wolfmother singer Andrew Stockdale said he was unaware of the phenomenal reach that computer games gave music until the band's hit Woman appeared on an earlier edition of Guitar Hero.
"It's insanity," he said. "I had no idea how big it was. But we did a tour of Europe and it just seemed like that song reached so many more people."
Stockdale has sent five unreleased songs from his new album to gaming companies for their consideration.
"It also adds a cool factor to Wolfmother," Eliezer said. "There's more excitement about a game's release, there's more of a buzz."
Last year Australians spent almost $2billion on games and consoles, a 47per cent increase on the year before.
Leading Australian music brands such as Take40 have begun to associate themselves with gaming brands. Take40 and Guitar Hero 5 cross-promoted a free Wolfmother gig at the Entertainment Quarter in Sydney on Friday.
Overseas the use of musicians on games has caused controversy.
After Nirvana singer Kurt Cobain's image was licensed to Guitar Hero 5, some fans were outraged because his image could be "unlocked" on the game and used to perform songs other than his own.
His widow Courtney Love described it as a "travesty", but Activision, the company behind the game, has since revealed it secured the full licensing rights in a signed agreement from Love.
© 2007 The Sydney Morning Herald
