Black Ops causes surge in Rolling Stones sales

If you ever needed proof that videogames have become a major force in entertainment, try to wrap this idea around your head — a videogame is helping the Rolling Stones to sell music. Yep, thanks to Call of Duty: Black Ops, that legendary band of cradlesnatchers and miscreants is making mad bank. 

The excellent “Gimme Shelter” features heavily in the game’s marketing, while “Sympathy for the Devil” is played during a level in the single-player campaign. During the week of October 31, “Gimme Shelter” sold 2,000 copies. The next week it sold 5,000. For the week ending November 14? It jumped to almost 11,000. 

According to Activision, song holder ABKCO Music & Records demanded to see the game’s commercial on a secured laptop that had to be personally flown out to New York by Activision’s music affairs VP Tim Riley. Looks like the effort was worth it for both parties. 

This is really cool news, but now I need to try and forget what I saw on Youtube … a bunch of people commenting on the ad and not even knowing who the hell the Rolling Stones were. Shudder. 

Rolling Stones Team Up with ‘Call Of Duty: Black Ops’ Videogame [Billboard]