Harmonix seems to be taking a note from the statement — “If you’re downloading a song to play on your Guitar Hero, there’s no reason why you can’t download the performance also.” — Activision’s Bobby Kotick made last year. At CES, Alex Rigopulos, the CEO and co-founder of Rock Band developer Harmonix, has shown the company’s interest and optimism in selling songs that buyers can, besides playing them in Rock Band, also listen to outside of the game.

Rigopulos said that the direct sale of the songs would change how they would deal with record labels in a big way, but that selling the original recordings alongside the game levels is something they’re very much interested in. “People want to buy recorded music. I think it does make a lot of sense to find ways to offer up the game level along with a recorded version of the song as a single offering.”