Mobile Games - another saviour of the music industry?

Ever since the spectre of digital music began to haunt the music industry, any number of saviours have stepped forward to try to halt the loss of earnings felt as a result of illegal downloading. We've had the 360 degree record contract, social media, streaming and even the return of vinyl.  With the announcement that Taylor Swift has signed a deal to launch a mobile game, there's a sense that the music industry is likely to be rescued by a band of heroes as opposed to a singular figure.

Pop stars having mobile games makes a lot of sense; you can license your music for use in the game, promote yourself to a young, growing audience and create easy, click through sales opportunities.  However, it may not all be plain sailing, as documented by Perez Hilton, Katy Perry's first attempt at a game wasn't so successful and reminds us that quality can still count when it comes to attracting an audience.  Perhaps the most important point here, though, is that only a very few music artists will have the audience appeal necessary for a games company to want to do a deal with them.  It's not like games developers are going to be rushing to sign up artists from indie labels - though I would love to be proved wrong on this one.