Black Widow
07-21-2009, 02:00 PM
Harmonix and MTV Games, creators of the Rock Band video game franchise, have announced the upcoming launch of Rock Band Network, a new service that will allow any musician the ability to sell their music as gameplay files for Rock Band video games.
“Our goal with Rock Band has always been to go beyond making music games and create a true music platform,” says CEO and co-founder of Harmonix, Alex Rigopulos, in a statement. “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.”
Rock Band Network, which is slated to go into beta this August, will provide musicians with everything they need to chart their songs out to be played in a Rock Band video game. Musicians will be able to submit their tracks to Creators.RockBand.com, provided they subscribe to Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club Online. Subscriptions cost $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a full year.
Submitted tracks will be playtested and reviewed by other users and the songs that make the cut will be transferred to the Rock Band Network exclusively on the Xbox 360 for 30 days and stand-out tracks will also make it to the Playstation 3 and Wii video game consoles. Musicians whose songs are made available for purchase will then be compensated through automated accounting and regular royalty payments.
“The Rock Band Network enables songwriters and musicians – at any stage of their careers – to create their own paths through the interactive music realm,” says Paul DeGooyer, the Senior Vice President of 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.”
More information regarding Rock Band Network can be found http://www.rockband.com/rock-band-network.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.
“Our goal with Rock Band has always been to go beyond making music games and create a true music platform,” says CEO and co-founder of Harmonix, Alex Rigopulos, in a statement. “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.”
Rock Band Network, which is slated to go into beta this August, will provide musicians with everything they need to chart their songs out to be played in a Rock Band video game. Musicians will be able to submit their tracks to Creators.RockBand.com, provided they subscribe to Microsoft’s XNA Creators Club Online. Subscriptions cost $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a full year.
Submitted tracks will be playtested and reviewed by other users and the songs that make the cut will be transferred to the Rock Band Network exclusively on the Xbox 360 for 30 days and stand-out tracks will also make it to the Playstation 3 and Wii video game consoles. Musicians whose songs are made available for purchase will then be compensated through automated accounting and regular royalty payments.
“The Rock Band Network enables songwriters and musicians – at any stage of their careers – to create their own paths through the interactive music realm,” says Paul DeGooyer, the Senior Vice President of 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.”
More information regarding Rock Band Network can be found http://www.rockband.com/rock-band-network.
Report by David Lowe-Bianco.