Rock Band to have User Generated Music

Have a Band?

Have a computer?

Does your band need to get noticed?

Do you love Rock Band the video Game?

Well then the new concept for Rock Band is for you! MTV Games and Harmonix today announced Rock Band Network, a program that lets bands prepare and release their own tracks for sale as downloadable content in the game.  Beginning later this year, anyone with a song, some technical know-how, and an XNA Creators Club membership will have a shot at selling their Rock Band tracks to the masses and walk away with a cut of the proceeds.  So in simple terms spend maybe $500 or so and then you have a chance to sell your song to Rock Band users for $.50 to $3.00. With the total number of Rock Band gamers in the hundred of thousands at $.50 a song there is a chance for some real money there. The Beta edition of the service starts in late August and the tracks will be exclusive to the Xbox 360 versions of Rock Band for at least 30 days, but some songs may find their way to the PlayStation 3 and Wii editions of the game according to MTV Games. The publisher also has plans to help artists promote their songs on the service, but it isn’t offering details on that just yet.

I believe this a good step in the right direction for many mid level bands that are not quite big enough for their own exclusive title or big enough to be featured on a normal game release. Small bands may still balk at the initial start up costs involved for getting the song in the game. I think we will see a good bit of rich kids parents getting their child’s band in the game but most small garage bands will never get into the game. Which is unfortunate because much like You Tube this is a service that could spark a lot of bands to come out of the small time and push them to the next level. We just can’t envision a place where a band just records a song and instantly uploads it to the game a is downloadable, that would be truly revolutionary experience but who knows what the future holds! Check out the video for more info and let us know if your band deserves to be in the game.