Interviews

August 9, 2007

Lollapalooza 2007: Alex Hackford on Getting Licensed Music Into SingStar
By Louis Bedigian 

“Does it sell records? Maybe. Does it create touring revenue and awareness about your band? No question.” 

 When it comes to licensing music for the SingStar series, no man knows more about the process than Alex Hackford, the head of A&R at Sony Computer Entertainment America. One of his jobs is to make sure that everyone involved – musicians, record labels, and any other involved parties – understand the concept of the game. 

“A lot of my job comes down to educating artists about the product,” he says. “If somebody has heard of other types of singing games, my job is to [show them] why SingStar is different, how it’s different, why it’s more valuable and more important. A lot of the time it’s going to them and showing them the game, then they sort of get what the game is about.”  

At the same time Alex is focused on turning creative concepts for the SingStore into well-executed ventures. 

“With the 30-song limit, you’re put in a place where you have to cater to the developer,” he says. “You have to make sure that all bases are covered. But by and large, the SingStore is where we’re going to be able to do regional promotions, tour-based promotions – we’ll say, Alright, we’re involved with this band. They’re touring. For the week of their tour, we’re going to target each specific market of each specific [tour stop]. And say, ‘Check this band out. If you like them, next Wednesday they’re performing at the Troubadour.’ Or the House of Blues in Chicago, or wherever it ends up being. To sort of give back to the bands who are building the game for us. That’s what my hopes are and that’s what I’m really excited about using this platform.” 


 

You spoke about taking the game to various artists, hoping that when they see the game they’ll be more willing to jump on board. When you do that, do you use music from that particular artist?

Alex Hackford: I’ve always elected to do things a little bit differently and find more classic tunes depending on which disc it is, be it rock or pop. [I use songs] that can be more encompassing to who I’m approaching. So if it’s a rap artist I go with more of a rap track, or whatever else it ends up being. 

Have you received any interesting responses?

AH: I’ve gotten laughed at. I’ve gotten laughed at a lot. You have to. That’s part of the parcel of the game. The game is an inclusionary experience as opposed to exclusionary experience. The whole point is for it to be a communal experience for everybody. We laugh at each other, experience the game with friends and family and with people you don’t even know. Part of the value of it is that you do kind of make an a** of yourself. Even if you are good, there still is an element of air guitar or air singing to it. 

Air performance! 

AH: Yes, a rock stance. Exactly. I’ve gotten laughed at, but never booed. 

Laughed at – by musicians? 

AH: Yeah. 

And then they turn you down? 

AH: I’ve gotten a couple of denials. But let me put it this way: I’ve gotten more approvals than denials. 

Even with the laughter? 

AH: Even with the laughter. 

I’m going to guess it wasn’t someone like Fall Out Boy, a younger artist whose band members have talked about their love of video games. 

AH: A band like Fall Out Boy who has done the Fusion Tour, if they’ve done a significant game endorsement… You know, the younger bands get it ‘cause they grew up on video games. 

A lot of the times when you’re doing stuff with older bands you have scenarios like, “What’s the game about, how does it work, is it going to bastardize my work, is it not?” There are scenarios with older artists where, because of the way the game functions, there has to be a music video. If there isn’t one available, we have to create a music video which is obviously approved by and for the artist.

Those things work in different kinds of ways. 

Overall it’s been a positive experience. We’re not selling widgets here. We’re also not selling an inferior product. It’s something, in my mind, that allows consumers to experience music in a different way. 


 

You bring up an interesting point about music videos. What if an artist comes to you and says, “I want my whole album to be available in the SingStore.” But wait a minute – they don’t have videos for every song. How do you deal with that?

AH: To be honest with you we haven’t hit that wall yet. And to be fair, it’s something, for me playing my role within this game, I’m completely open for it. I think that in that scenario we wouldn’t allocate a personal budget for it, but if we say, “Hey, you want to have your whole catalog available on the SingStore. Okay, go out with your DV cam.” 

And make a video. 

AH: Yeah. 

Death Cab For Cutie actually… Have they appeared in any SingStar games yet? 

AH: They haven’t yet. Soon enough. 

I ask because one of their albums has a video for each song. 

AH: It was the last one, right? 

Yeah, Plans. 

AH: They’re a phenomenal band and that’s along the lines of what we’ve initially been doing. With what the SingStore is, because it’s an audio-visual medium, I think it should be brought beyond single-unit downloads. There should be elements in there for a competition or a contest. 

And that’s part of what I’m interested in, both in terms of My SingStar and incorporating My SingStar with the SingStore and being able to say, “Okay, we have this artist that is really… maybe not a major buzz, but is selling maybe 20,000 to 25,000 records. Not enough to gain national buzz but regional buzz, and is definitely something you’d hear on independent college radio. [Let’s] create something that’s going to be worthwhile and will both service the artist, service us the video game company in terms of being able to carry their content, and making it worth our while. 

It’s something I’ve approached individual record labels, smaller record labels, to mid-size labels, to large labels, saying, “Here’s an opportunity to utilize a distribution medium to really get people involved with your songs.” 

There are some bands where the median age is 14. And they’ll stand their silent during a show. One song will happen and they’ll know every single word and it’s because it appeared in baseball or a Gran Turismo or a Madden or whatever else it ends up being. That is a viable market. Does it sell records? Maybe. Does it create touring revenue and awareness about your band? No question. That’s what’s exciting for me working here. 

I’ve purchased about 20 albums in the last couple years alone just because I heard (and liked) their song in a video game. These were bands I had not heard of before, like Motion City Soundtrack. Now they’re here performing at Lollapalooza. 


 

 You spoke of possible touring promotions for growing artists. What about an actual SingStar Tour? 

AH: That would be interesting. I’m in interested to see how that would work. Would it be a SingStar tour where you can have users get up there and perform, or do you have bands get up with users, or… 

I’m thinking it’d be like a normal rock band tour where you have three to five bands on board that are going to be featured in whatever the new SingStar games is that the tour is promoting. At each venue you’d have a contest and someone would get to go up on stage and perform with one of the bands.

AH: Hey I’m up for it. Maybe another way you could structure it, given the PS3 version of the game, a more store-based promotion where, along the band’s tour, there is a bundle. There are three or four bands that are on this tour. There’s a bundle of tunes five days anticipatory to their arrival in your city that’s available on the SingStore. [Users could] download [the bundle] and sing. Upload your video to My SingStar, and whoever the winner of that is gets VIP passes to the show in their city. 

The direction that we’re going as a company is driving that activity. Building some sort of relationship between the band, the artist, the game, and some basic connectivity. 

On the technical side, how long does it take to get a song into SingStar? 

AH: The technical side is really not that bad. It ends up taking about a week and a half to two weeks. Once we have the assets available – high-res video in proper format, high-res version of the song, proper format. It’s not that big of a deal to upload a tune and make sure it’s tuned correctly. 

But in terms of getting all the rights in place, making sure that bands are okay with the way [a song] is going to be used, the way names and likenesses are going to be used in the packaging – those are things that take a significant amount of time. And obviously the product development side works on a totally different schedule than the marketing side. Ultimately, as a product development person, I’m so early in the game, building the game. It’s my responsibility to make sure that these people are all taken care of, to know what assets they have to work with, to know what rights they have to those specific assets. 

That’s all the questions I have, thank you very much for your time. 
 

PREVIOUS COVERAGE: 

Lollapalooza 2007: Producer Petro Piaseckyj on Buzz! The Mega Quiz - Interview

Lollapalooza 2007: Gaming at the PlayStation Tent 

Lollapalooza 2007: Blue October Rocks With GameZone - Interview

SingStar (PS3) Preview from GameZone.com 

SingStar Amped Preview from GameZone.com 

Buzz! The Mega Quiz Preview from GameZone.com

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