Hey musicians, are you sitting down?
MTV has announced a new initiative that will allow musicians to author and upload their own content to Rock Band, in a service called the Rock Band Network that launches later this year. Currently in a closed beta trial, the service will allow bands, studios, and record labels to create and sell playable game content from their very own master recordings, using the same in-house tools currently being used by Harmonix developers.
Once submitted, the songs go through a a review process that checks for playability, offensive lyrical content, and things like copyright infringement. Approved tracks are put into the Rock Band Network store (separate from the current store), with creators setting their own prices, which can range from 50 cents to $3 per song. Creators will then receive 30% of any sales.
Billboard has a ton of details on the service, which will launch first for Xbox 360 (as it relies on Microsoft's XNA platform), with tracks being made available for PlayStation 3 and Wii in the future.
Harmonix has also launched the Rock Band Network site, which features videos and details on how creators (that could be you... or Nickelback, theoretically) can start working to get their music in the game.
[Update: The full press release marking the announcement can be found after the jump, and may answer a few of your questions. Let us know if anything's not answered for you -- we'll be chatting with Harmonix's Greg LoPiccolo about the service next week.]
MTV Games and Harmonix Empower Artists and Labels to Get Their Music in the Game with the Rock Band Network
The Rock Band Network Gives Artists and Record Labels Tools to Author, Promote and Sell Music for Download via the Rock Band Platform
CAMBRIDGE, MA and NEW YORK, NY – July 17, 2009 – Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games, a part of Viacom’s MTV Networks (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), today announced the Rock Band Network, a ground-breaking initiative that gives musicians and record labels the ability to author their own original recordings into gameplay files and sell their music as playable Rock Band tracks through the newly-created Rock Band Network Music Store. The introduction of the Rock Band Network marks a fundamental shift in the exposure music games can give emerging and established artists through innovative technologies that will open new revenue streams and promotional avenues.
"Our goal with Rock Band has always been to go beyond making music games and create a true music platform," said Alex Rigopulos, CEO and co-founder of Harmonix. "With the Rock Band Network, we've evolved the platform to its next logical step, giving players access to an incredible amount of new music by putting the professional tools we use in the hands of the artists themselves."
"The Rock Band Network enables songwriters and musicians – at any stage of their careers – to create their own paths through the interactive music realm," said Paul DeGooyer, Senior Vice President, Electronic Games and Music, MTV Networks Music Group. "Our download store has been an extraordinary success, and it’s exciting for us to provide access to our platform through this uniquely elegant solution."
The Rock Band Network will launch as an open beta in late August 2009 in the U.S. and provide a sophisticated toolset, with detailed documentation on how bands can begin the process of authoring songs into Rock Band gameplay files. Authors will be able to submit tracks for playtesting and peer review via a specialized Web site, Creators.RockBand.com. Potential publishers will need a membership to Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club Online in order to test and publish game content. The service will only be available to those who purchase a premium membership to Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club Online, which can be purchased for four months at $49.99 or for a year at $99.99.
“The proven strength and stability of Microsoft’s game development tools, technologies and services allowed Harmonix to focus on making an easy-to-use experience for authors without needing to reinvent the wheel,” said Dave Mitchell, product unit manager, XNA publishing platform. “Rock Band Network is a model example of integration with XNA Creators Club Online.”
Once tracks are approved, they will be transferred to the Rock Band Network Store, an in-game music marketplace where millions of Rock Band fans will be able to demo samples of the songs for free before they purchase. Songs will debut exclusively on Xbox 360 for 30 days. Artists featured in the store will be able to choose from multiple pricing tiers for individual tracks and will be compensated via a simple payment system that provides automated accounting and regular royalty payments.
Tracks for the Rock Band Network will be made available later in the fall on the Xbox 360® video game entertainment system from Microsoft. Stand out tracks will follow on the PLAYSTATION®3 computer entertainment system and Wii™ console. Joining the more than 750 tracks available to date, the Rock Band Network Store will greatly increase the amount of music available through the Rock Band music platform and further confirm MTV Games and Harmonix’s position as the leading provider of downloadable content for music-based video games.
Contest:
10:57 AM on 07.17.2009
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This has the potential to be mind-blowing, I just hope that the download list doesn't get flooded with crappy garage bands.
As long as I can do instrumentals, I'm up for this.
If so, awesome.
loser generated content.
Stop being pedantic.
What SurplusGamer said.
I can already see the stories of bands that got signed because they uploaded their song on the Rock Band Network
You obviously didn't watch the video on the http://creators.rockband.com/ page.
Hopefully some gems will make it to the PS3~
Makes me wish I had things like... rhythm and skill and talent.
+1 because this is still a good thing as we'll get more tracks
-1 because I still can't put my own shit in to Rock Band so this has nothing to do with user generated content
But as I said before, this is still a good thing as we'll get more music from more actual artists. Just as normal users, we won't have much influence over what our purchasable song choices will be.
Kojukinator: Calling something user generated content, the big buzzword of the web, doesn't apply to every single person. I browse YouTube, but since I don't have the capacity to upload shit to it I would hardly say that they aren't a site about user generated content. Although I won't deny that I'd love to have something like you mentioned, but I'd see licensing issues over that (if they tried to allow the capacity to exchange them, that shit would be killed right quick).
Seriously, all y'all saying this isn't 'user generated' content because you don't have a fucking instrument or band to play in don't have a clue.
Those are my thoughts exactly. Having actual musicians put their stuff on Rock Band means a lot less junk to sift through, plus you gotta be serious enough in your music to have an XNA Membership so I don't think we'll be seeing too much junk as opposed to the crappy GH "ringtone maker" rofl.
I even know some Death and Black Metal bands that don't swear. OMG!
Anyway... yeah I get it, we like that professional musicians can create content for the game now without needing to go through MTV/Harmonix.
But, I still say "user generated" refers to the fact that anyone can do it, anyone can post it, and its FREE.
Someone mentioned YouTube above... yeah, easy to get a webcam and post whatever, and free to watch yay. This isn't the situation that will be offered here with Rock Band. Musicians will "create content" meaning they make music like usual, and Harmonix will put it up as usual, and we will pay for it like usual. What's different now is the work is being offloaded on to the musicians, opening the floodgates for choice (a good thing). But it's still the same businessmodel.
I've said it before, this is all a good thing. But I wish that I could put my own stuff on my xbox and play it without any middleman or storefront, or even money involved. Don't misunderstand me, I don't want this to be like GH:WT, I don't want to create and unleash on the world horrible midi tracks to play in RB. I just want more choice in what I get to play with my game, that doesn't involve a credit card or an approval committee.
My point was that you have a similar opportunity to get an instrument or a band together (yes, more difficult to do than getting a camera and shooting footage, but then nobody said that user generated content has the same cost-of-entry standards, be it time or money) to start recording. To imply the musicians are only these godly individuals, and nobody else who could take the time to learn how to play guitar, the beat box, bongo is ridiculous...put forth the effort and suddenly you become a creator of content. This is something ANYBODY can do; no part of 'user generated content' mentioned that it was going to be easy.
As for YouTube, they don't make a profit off their videos (unless there is advertising, I presume), and at the same time there is no fee to register or to upload. With Rock Band, yes there is an investment, but you are profiting off of the sales you make. I don't recall user generated content always having to be free of use...I never read that stipulation anywhere, ever.
So I suppose if you're hung up on your definition of "user generated content", then you'll never get past whatever you were expecting. When I saw the article title I knew exactly what was being discussed and had no other allusions to it. This title is not misleading at all. Yes, I would love to load songs I own into the game and chart them with my own "Chart it yourself" thing, but this is wholly different and much bigger and important than that, yet still quite qualifies as user generated content (I'd argue moreso than the aforementioned method, since you are taking a hefty amount of copyrighted material that isn't your own as the basis of your charts...at least, more than likely).
"30% doesn't seem very high :("
Not if you're making your music specifically for Rock Band and are deliriously expecting to get rich off of it. But if you have music at the ready or are making music for purposes other than, say, to use Rock Band as a get-rich-quick scheme, you can make a profit off of it...I can't imagine it taking that long to do the work given the proper tools, so it's not like there's a massive time investment outside of what has already been made. This should be a complement to the other tools that the artist is already using to promote themselves, which in this day and age of backlash against record labels and the desire to go indie, is a necessity. All I saw was an annual $99 fee. That's dirt-cheap for getting your name out there on such a concentrated platform...considering there's going to be a lot more music to host now, I say it is only fair for EA/Harmonix to cover their costs somehow.
Smart but something tells me it will get bogged down by too much censorship and corporate money grubbing.
LOLZ LURK MY BANDZ MYSPACEOMG.
..i mean...cough....videogames.
And I STILL want some video game songs to play in these games. Get to it already!