Steve Schnur's Influence
All of that changed about four years ago, when Electronic Arts lured an established music producer and executive - one who helped launch MTV and worked at Chrysalis, Capitol, Elektra and Arysis - to head up its new EA TRAXX initiative. Although you may not know the name Steve Schnur, you certainly have heard the results of his work; he's the guy who turned the Madden NFL football franchise into the hottest thing going in the music industry. He also offered that free soundtrack CD with NBA Live 2003. And that stand-alone SSX 3 techno soundtrack released by Astralwerks two years ago - that was him too. Def Jam's partnership with EA was also his baby. And the retro songs through EA Traxx Powered by Rhino...you get the idea. The list goes on and on, and the impact on the game industry is huge when the biggest independent publisher in the world does something.
"The music industry originally thought consumers walked into a Best Buy and said, 'Should I buy a CD or a videogame,' but that's not how it works. Most consumers walk into a retailer knowing what they're buying. Once the music industry realized games aren't competition, they embraced videogames," said Schnur, worldwide executive of music and audio at EA.
Game companies like EA have partnered with big music companies like Def Jam and Rhino for the long haul. Kevin Liles, President and CEO, Def Jam Enterprises, said that videogames are a natural extension of the Def Jam brand.
Forty artists appear as themselves in Def Jam: Fight for New York.
"A lot of our artists are playing videogames, so it was a natural progression to get involved with the music, production and storyline of games like Def Jam: Vendetta and Def Jam: Fight for New York," said Liles.
Vendetta was an experiment, said Liles - one that was so successful that he jokingly said he needed to hire a security guard to protect himself from all the artists left out of the first game. The first game sold over 1.2 million units, which opened the door for 40 artists, including Lil Kim, Method Man, Busta Rhymes, Ice T, Fat Joe, Snoop Dogg, and actors like Omar Epps and Carmen Elektra to come aboard Fight for New York. Liles said that in addition to the Def Jam fighting franchise, he's working with EA on separate franchises in other game genres. Next up is Def Jam 3 (working title) for a 2006 release.
