Game Wars Between Warner & Activision: The chief executive Activision, the company behind the Guitar Hero video game criticized Warner Music after the label said higher royalties should be paid for use of its songs. He said that Warner Music had failed to acknowledge the benefits to music sales from Guitar Hero. Mr Kotick told the Financial Times that Edgar Bronfman, Warner Music’s chief executive, had made “one-sided comments” that were not “respectful of how much we’ve done to bring new audiences into the market”.

“Warner Chief Mr Bronfman said last week that the amount being paid to the music industry from music-based games was “far too small”.

Signings: Rock act Age of Daze has signed with Universal Canada after their track Afflicted lit up the Canadian charts and climbed to # 1 on Sirius Octane for over 8 weeks. Universal will release the album ‘Hollywood Ending’ on August 19th. Check out Age of Daze in our April Buzzing Column.

New Music: Violence To Vegas hails from Tulsa, Oklahoma. Although the band didn’t manage to break any new ground which rock desperately needs, they still smuggled in some hooks that could excite some listeners. First single “In The Eyes” is currently #86 on the Mediabase Active Rock Chart. The band obtained distribution in Japan with Triple Vision and have shared the stage with 30 seconds to Mars, Shinedown, and Dragonforce.

Kings of A&R: We want to hear new exciting music. KOAR believes that music has hit its all time low. No one is to blame but the creators/artists. The definition of create is ‘To Put Into Existence’. The fact that mediocrity best defines today’s music should fuel the creators in changing the musical landscape. How did we come from a musical euphoria to a passionless pit. The answer cannot be found in new technology, it can be found in ourselves. Technology has no feelings, its only a product of what we put into it. Send new music to tips@kingsofar.com along with your myspace.