Harmonix is bringing new life to the Rock Band franchise in the form of the Rock Band Network, allowing up and coming bands, and fellow gamers, the chance to put their song IN the Rock Band song catalogue.
This is great news for the Rock Band franchise, and should see the track list of songs jump to an unheard of number of listings. Upon a closer inspection (Joystiq has a a good article on their impressions here), we see that the service to create the first song for your band won’t be as quick of a turnaround as one would like. Most gamers out there will have to put in an average of 20 to 40 hours to create their first track, and some people (myself included) just don’t have the patience for that.
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Starting in August, Harmonix and MTV Games will be opening up Rock Band to anyone wanting to get their tracks into the game. The Rock Band Network will allow any musicians to turn their songs into playable versions for Rock Band. Pretty damn cool, if you ask me. One of the best parts is that you’ll be able to demo any of these songs before buying, so you won’t be stuck with crappy songs from your neighbor’s band.
Any musicians who want to get their music into the game will need to be part of the XNA Creators Club. Right now, this service will only be available on the Xbox 360, with all tracks having a 30 day exclusive to Microsoft’s platform for the foreseeable future. MTV Games has stated that “stand out tracks” will follow on the PS3 and Wii versions of the game. Once the songs are uploaded, playtested and approved by peer review, they’ll be uploaded to the Rock Band Network Store.
The songs can be sold from anywhere from $0.99 to $3.00 with content creators taking 30% of the profit. This is a great way for smaller bands to get their music out there and amazing for gamers looking for an even larger variety in the songs they play in Rock Band.
Here’s to hoping Mickey Avalon submits My Dick to the Rock Band Network.
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