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Black Ops boosts Rolling Stones sales

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Billboard's reporting that sales of various Rolling Stones tracks have lifted substantially thanks to Black Ops' release.

On the strength of the exposure provided by Black Ops' launch ad, track sales for Gimme Shelter jumped from slightly more than 2,000 copies the week of October 31 31 to 5,000-plus for the following week, then doubled to nearly 11,000 for the week ending November 14, according to Nielsen SoundScan.

Getting the track on the ad wasn't easy, According to Activision VP of music affairs Tim Riley. New York-based ABKCO Music & Records holds the rights to the song and demanded to see the footage before it aired. The publisher had to fly to New York with the ad on a secure laptop to get approval.

For the first time in Activision history, it allowed another company to make edits to the ad itself in order to obtain approval from the band members as well.

"It's such a big deal, such a serious song and such a big band... we had to fly out for it," Riley said.

"They certainly say 'no' more than they say 'yes.' It's the Rolling Stones. It's not like they need the money."

There's more through there. The game released on November 9.

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Call of Duty: Black Ops

PS3, Xbox 360, Nintendo Wii, PC, Nintendo DS

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Patrick Garratt

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Patrick Garratt is a games media legend - and not just by reputation. He was named as such in the UK's 'Games Media Awards', the equivalent of a lifetime achievement award. After garnering experience on countless gaming magazines, he joined Eurogamer and later split from that brand to create VG247, putting the site on the map with fast, 24-hour a day coverage, and assembling the site's earliest editorial teams. He retired from VG247, and the games industry, in 2017.

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