Music Games Spike Song Downloads

New music-based computer games have been credited with an explosion in song downloads.

In the two months since 'Rock Band'  was released more than 2.5 million downloads have been made by players updating the game’s initial offering, with Metallica's three song pack being the most popular.

With ‘Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock’ also chalking up 5 million downloads since its release in early November, the link-in with video games has been able to shift digital units far more extensively than their more traditional rivals.

Van Toffler, president of the company who makes ‘Rock Band’, tells Reuters, “We live in a rough time around music where our audience struggles to pay $20 for a CD but don't hesitate to pay $50 for a game.

“The notion to pay 99 cents or $1.99 to have a song and repeatedly play with it apparently isn't a big hurdle.”