We hear so much about how the digital revolution is hurting the music industry by making everyone’s favorite tunes accessible with the click of a mouse button. The big money behind the music industry has been in the news a lot in recent years as they attempt to track down internet users who are illegally downloading music so they can take legal action against them.

What I have not heard as much about is how the digital revolution is actually contributing to the preservation of music like classic rock, thanks to innovations like the “Guitar Hero” games and ringtones for cell phones.

Today I stumbled  onto an article that was focused on the massive amounts of money the wireless industry makes from things like ringtones, ringback tones and games for phones.

I shared some thoughts recently about the new generation of classic rock fans that were introduced to the music of an older generation by way of video games. I suspect that there may also be a few new classic rock fans that heard their first classic rock track while browsing through ringtones, in search of something “cool.”

Getting back to that article I mentioned:  I don’t know the age of the author but what I found kind of interesting was that he loves ringtones, uses them on his own phone, and when he get specific about the ringtones he uses for his own phone, they are all classic rock tracks – Don Henley, ZZ Top and the Beach Boys.

Although the digital revolution may be hurting the music industry in some way — and there does seem to be a lot of debate about that — there’s little doubt that it is also a great benefit to be considered as well.

The way things are starting to look these days, I doubt I have to worry much about my favorite music dying out before I do. Rock on.