With the pared-down Grammys providing another downer for an already beleaguered industry, this dose of optimism may help: After just eight weeks since its release, MTV’s video game Rock Band has approached the sales levels of an actual rock star, as music fans have bought more than 2.5 million song downloads tied to the game. The video game, which was developed by MTVN’s Harmonix division, was the centerpiece of the Viacom (NYSE: VIA) unit’s gaming strategy. It was released in November for Microsoft’s Xbox 360 and Sony’s PS3 console game systems. Rock Band songs cost between $0.99 to $2.99 per track, or the equivalent of 80 to 240 Microsoft (NSDQ: MSFT) Points for Xbox 360), with most selling for $1.99 (160 Microsoft Points for Xbox 360). One of the top-selling singles was, appropriately enough, Foreigner’s early ‘80s arena rock hit “Juke Box Hero.” Release

-- Reuters: The dismal state of the music business was not lost on Van Toffler, president of MTV Networks’ Music, Logo and Films Group, who said video games could offer a shot in the arm for the record industry, as CD sales decline. At this point, typical music downloads have failed to offset those losses. In any case, sales of Rock Band tunes exceeded MTVN’s initial expectations.

Update: Billboard:  Activision (NSDQ: ATVI) reports selling more than 5 million downloads for Guitar Hero III: Legends of Rock since it added content downloads in November. Guitar Hero emulated Rock Band by offering three-song bundles of new music and music in previous versions. 

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