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Forget Iron Maiden and Jimi Hendrix, Stern is doing big commercial stuff, look at the licenses they've been picking. Next music pin is probably more like one of these:

http://www.therichest.com/expensive-lifestyle/entertainment/10-highest-earning-bands-of-all-time/?view=all

You are safe through 2016 at least.

Good article.

3 of those licenses are currently in the works. One will be 2016

QUEEN please!

So, Aerosmith, Zeppelin, and Floyd?

Isn't that what everyone that buys a new Stern does? Code isn't complete for at least a year sometimes 2. None of us really knows what a game is going to be like until the code is done. I've bought a couple of games off Theme alone and it's mostly worked out for me. Not to mention i would always be able to sell it to recoup most of the money from buying it.

There's a thread somewhere with people talking about a Queen pinball.

U2, the pin?? NEXT!

10. ABBA - great pop band, much more popular in Europe than USA. Most people from USA would not recognize a single member.

9. Queen - Another great band. Most people in USA only know 4 of their albums, as AOR Radio panicked after seeing Freddie in a dress in the video "I want to break free".

8. The Rolling Stones - they have 2 pins already

7. Aerosmith - power ballad band who's career got a rescue from Alecia Silverstone in the 90s. Most of their hits are too slow and syrupy for pinball, but a few of their early songs might be suitable.

6. AC/DC - they have a pin already.

5. Pink Floyd - Most songs probably too slow and depressing for pinball, even if the 2 principle band members could get along long enough to sign a contract. They released a "new" album last year that contained all left over songs from an album already made up of leftover songs from 20 years ago. Good music to get a massage to.

4. The Eagles - popular "easy rock" band from the 70s. Famous for not licensing their music, ( and not even letting David Letterman's band play 3 lines of it on their show). Seems unlikely to to be licensed for pinball, and even their uptempo songs are pretty slow for a pin:

3. Led Zeppelin - Notoriously hard to work with for licensing, and many of their best songs require additional licensing because they are covers. If you don't mind killing a rare Vector game, there is a Led Zep pin already in the works:

https://pinside.com/pinball/forum/topic/hammer-of-the-godz-led-zep-pinball-finally

2. U2 - jangley pop band always trying to promote themselves on the back of some political event or tragedy. Lucky for the USA, their record company squashed their 9-11 song before it got released. They are perhaps most famous for when Casey Kasem on American Top 40 said when introducing "Pride (In the Name of Love)", U2's first U.S. top 40 single. Casey began reading a lengthy introduction/explanation: "That's the letter U and the numeral two. The four-man band features Adam Clayton on bass, Larry Mullen on drums, Dave Evans, nicknamed The Edge, on..... this is bullshit! Nobody cares! These guys are from England, who gives a shit?!" RIP Casey.

1. The Beatles - This 55 year old band still has a few fans who's stereo systems are loud enough to be heard over their ventilators. The Beatles where groundbreaking in many respects including having the first song promoting violence against women "Run For Your Life" (which was latter banned from many radio stations 40 years latter in the 90s). Although a psychedelic pin based on the last few albums could be cool, I'd rather not give a single penny to Yoko Ono.

Define "NEW". I bought all but 2 Sterns that I own NIB. They had ALL been out for year(s). NEW to you might not be new to the pinball world...

You can generally play a NEW pin before you buy it if you go to a Stern launch party, sometimes sooner. I realize geographical location has something to do with this for a lot of people but yeah, new can mean a lot of different things in the pinball hobby.

Is Iron Maiden REALLY a possibility? That would be great (and my wallet would immediately spring open), but I just can't see it winning a wide enough audience.

Metallica worked as a theme because they released the Black Album, which was the "breakthrough" they needed to win the female demographic as well as a wider, more mainstream audience in general. This was the album that finally got your girlfriend interested in the band and established them as staples of Rock radio (in fact, some stations even began playing Thrash tracks from earlier albums).

KISS worked because of the nostalgia factor as well as the fact that they are a household name "brand" which encompasses much more than their (mostly mediocre) musical output. People think KISS = "party" (even if they don't really know any of their songs), which is probably a great foundation for a profitable pinball theme.

Iron Maiden, as great as they are, has never made any real concessions to the mainstream and still does not receive any airplay to speak of. Their imagery and lyrical content are simply never going to have much appeal beyond Metal fans/D&D players/other nerdy types, despite the fact that their songs are full of hooks and musically "accessible". A beautiful, fun, desirable pinball game could certainly be made, but I think it would end up being a "cult classic", and I just don't see a good business case (but then again, I have zero corporate or marketing experience so I admit I may well be talking out of my a$$ here).

I heard Spider-man VE with comic book art... not sure if its true, But would look awesome if they did! Hand drawn Tables like KISS always bring a breath of fresh air to a new pin.

Awe man.....Not that I don't like some of those potential bands just that I'd much prefer to have a Hendrix pin. Love to see a Zepplin or Beatles pin as well.

Anywhere in the world I go, they DO play Maiden on the radio.

Only in the USA does Clearchannel refuse to play Maiden on all their stations.

Justice League

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I am eager to see what the "big announcement" in 2016 from STERN is, but not expecting a TRON VE (would be happy to buy extra parts if they do release one though). I think a Star Wars theme is a no-brainer, but would rather see something that integrates multiple movies (yes, even I-III) than focusing exclusively on "The Force Awakens."

As far as dream machines go, I would really like to see "Calvin & Hobbes," "Mad Max," or "Monster High"! I know STERN passed on "Hello Kitty" but I think "Monster High" would have widespread appeal. There is a ton of good original artwork out there on Deviant Art as well as the standard stuff from Mattel. Seems like it would appeal to people who like horror (and pinup girl) themes as well as people who are not typically into pinball but would dig the theme.

It gets the talk because lots of us have already looked at the leaked art for it.
Should be a sweet game.

I guess any theme can be made a sweet game. With the right people putting it together. When I first heard of WOZ years ago I remember thinking no way. But that is a sweet game. So I have no problems giving this title the same treatment.
Wonder how they secretly do market studies on what would be a fun game to adults playing at a bar or kids and parents playing at CEC.

Ya think its a winner?

With custom artwork by Alex Ross??? Home run take my money Hoepfully Stern has learned something about custom drawn artwork from Metallica & the rumored Spiderman VE run, plus the flack they got for the GOT art.

But since Stern has the superman license already, and there's the Superman Vs Batman movie arriving next year.....this could be a real possibility. But if it's photoshopped artwork of the movie, then it's a real missed opportunity.

I don't understand why Stern continues to do the photoshop thing... The cabinet on the Premium GOT (icy stuff and the Wall) looked ok, but all the backglasses are crap.

There are thousands of people out there drawing GOT themed art and posting it online. How hard would it have been for Stern to have a contest for GOT art and give the winner $5,000 and a machine. They could probably take a similar approach for most pop-culture related themes and end up with waaaaay better artwork than using standard promotional pictures, etc.

I actually like the WD Pro artwork more than the LE since the photos on the LE cabinet seem to garish to me (even though it is the same image on the Pro).

I actually like the LE backglass. All hand-drawn, and hey!...dragons.

The LE artwork is the best of the three, but it could have been so much better.

I love these wacky age bracket arguments. Like it or not, Ghostbusters was "kind of a big deal" in the movie world. Bigger monetarily then any movie you mentioned. I would, and do, watch Airplane! 1 & 2 more than GB, but that doesn't make them more popular.

Probably because you refuse to listen to people that explain why it happens every time someone mentions it. It's all to do with the licenced materiel etc.

If they did an Iron Maiden pin it would likely be my first NIB game. Maiden is much bigger than many of you think. They are massive overseas, much bigger than they are here.
Beatles? You would have thought they would have had a pin back in the EM days. Man that would be a valuable pin today. I can imagine what all the Beatles collectors would shell out to have one in their collection.
Back to Maiden...yes it needs to be made. The possibilities with the artwork alone are endless. I dont think it would be a huge issue getting a license either. Those guys are really down to earth and lord knows they dont need the money. Steve Harris is much like Gene Simmons minus the greed. Im not sure what the status is with Derek Riggs at the moment. They had a falling out at some point over $$. Not sure who actually owns all the previous art and if it could be used on something like this. In a perfect world they could convince Derek to do the art on the pin much like they did on the Kiss pin.

More like reliving their youth through every outdated theme that keeps popping up as the next great idea for a pinball machine.

Sorry, new to Pinside will have to look at some of the older discussions on the forum. I can see why whomever has the rights would say "and you can only use our approved promotional images," but countering with "well we'd like to do some original artwork pending your approval" does not seem like it would be impractical. Plus you'd think a contest would drum up tons of publicity, but whatever.

The rights holders generally want a consistent look across all media.

Thus they are reluctant to approve original art.

Much easier for everyone involved if you just use the supplied, approved artwork.

A contest is a horrible idea. That's asking professional artists to work for free, and MAYBE have their work used. That's bullshit, artists hate it...it's condescending and devalues their craft.

All studios have product licensing protocols - most have "style guides". You generally have to use the style guides unless it's a situation like Metallica - where they wanted Dirty Donny to do 100% original artwork.

Oooh good point about artists' work being devalued... I was just thinking there is already a ton of original GOT inspired art out there on the web anyway (Deviant Art, etc.) and that people who have already created it would figure "why not submit?"

But yes, requiring newly drafted work with a premise like "and if the IP rights-holders approve this, then you get to sign it away for promotional consideration" is BS.

I sympathize with performance and media artists who are constantly "given opportunities" to work for free in return for "exposure" cause people are too cheap to pay them and view their creations as "fun" rather than "work".

Sorry, that was my fault for ASSuming you already knew instead of giving you the benefit of the doubt. My bad

The only thing I care for them to make is iron maiden, as for spidey and ghostbusters I think that was a rumor started at the pintastic show as a test by stern to give pinside something to talk about until the real titles are released.

They've got a huge following and put on a great show.

And by the way, they are Irish.

QSS

Too bad it's not pink Floyd!

Iron Maiden gets my vote. Imagine the artwork they could use...and they could even photoshop it and still look good because Iron Maiden art is awesome.

With their relationship with Disney, a pin using those themes would be awesome? The LE potential is endless. Incredibles, Cars, etc..., it would also be family friendly which is a plus and might draw in the younger generation.

Mickey Mouse or Donald Duck?

How do you know Stern has these rights? Is it public record somewhere that you can look up?

My bad. I meant Pixar since Disney owns them now. It would be nice to see something relevant to a newer generation.

I received this poll 2 months ago from a large pinball distributor for what its worth.

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Jaws might be kinda cool.

A great white with it's mouth open with all the teeth.

It could play that background music from the film. It might get old after a while though.

The rest don't do a whole lot for me. You need more options on your poll.

Disney doesn't own the rights to Spongebob.

No worries! I'd much rather have a response to my comments than just having them stagnate. And I learned something too!

Shocked that this hasn't been speculated...

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Its not my poll. It was sent to me to respond too as a feeler from a large pinball distributor.

In regards to Star Wars Ep. 7 That machine is an Ace in the hole. I wouldn't bring that out till later. I would start now on it and then if economy goes South in next couple years and sales were down you could pull that out for gautenteed sales

I think people figure it's already a done deal. The ? is just will it be "The Force Awakens" or SW as a whole?

My guess it will be "The Force Awakens" when they make it.

I'm guessing they will wait until 2017 to make that one. Episode 8 is scheduled for movie release on May 26, 2017 and episode 9 is slated for 2018.

Not likely we'll see an Aerosmith pin, but I'm old enough to realize anything is possible. Most don't know this but Steven Tyler is a motorcycle afficianado and even was behind the formation of a niche motorcycle company by the name of Dirico Motorcycles. I happened to see one of them, prominently displayed, on main street during the Sturgis Rally, circa 2010.. On the gas tank of the motorcycles was none other than the facial image of Steven Tyler. Not sure even one motorcycle ever was sold. The "Angus" face on AC/DC pro I didn't think was all that bad. Tylers mug on a motorcycle tank was a kiss of death.
A message to Stern. If indeed Aerosmith becomes a pin, avoid using the face that most find vomitworthy

Van Halen. Large library of hits between two lead singers for different models and different modes in the game.