Guitar Hero III prompts digital music sales

Guitar Hero III is apparently having a positive effect on digital music sales, as players of the game buy the music tracks they rock to in-game.

According to a report on Ars Technica, The Strokes, Slipknot, Sleeping and Sonic Youth have all seen sharp rises in download sales immediately after the US release of the game on October 28.

The Strokes track Reptilia was downloaded 127 per cent more often than the previous week, with a further 96 per cent leap the week after that. Similarly Slipknot's Before I Forget saw rises of 75 per cent and 140 per cent respectively.

While historically persuading record companies to allow the use of a band's music in videogames has been difficult, the pendulum has now swung the other way and they're realising the potential for marketing.

As revealed by EA earlier this year a track in Need for Speed can be heard up to a billion times globally, making videogames a more important medium for the exposure of new music to that demographic than radio.