Beatles Guitar Hero: While my guitar gently charges

The latest sign of a video-game "Revolution"? You may soon be able to plug in and play guitar in "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band."

Martin N. "Marty" Bandier, the top executive at the music publishing company that owns the John Lennon- Paul McCartney copyrights, said he liked the idea of a dedicated Beatles edition of Guitar Hero, Activision Inc.'s hugely popular video-game franchise.

Activision announced last month that Aerosmith would be the first act with a dedicated version of Guitar Hero.
"It's something we have talked about and something I'd like to pursue," said Bandier, who last year took over as chairman and chief executive at Sony/ATV Music Publishing.

The comment may seem surprising, given Sony/ATV’s history of closely guarding digital distribution of The Beatles’ catalogue. However, the recordings that appear in Guitar Hero games are not simple MP3 files. That means they cannot be easily accessed outside the game, which goes long way toward alleviating the music industry’s fears of piracy.