Green Day just released a new album and you can purchase tracks from the album in Rock Band. This game is now seen as a way to get your music to your fans. Indies have been shut out of this service, but that will come to an end very soon.
Harmonix and MTV Games are opening access to all artists via a newly created Rock Band Network, a platform 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.
Artists can set their own price from 50 cents to $3 per track and rwill eceive 30% of any sales. But there enough technical hoops to jump through that most artists may want to let their distributor or other third party do the heavy lifting. The new platform will launch in open beta in late August.
Musicians/Publishers will be able to submit their tracks for playtesting and peer review via a specialized Web site, Creators.RockBand.com. You will also need (here is the catch) a membership in 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 for four months at $49.99 or for a year at $99.99.
There is a video showing some of the tools.
The service will launch to only Xbox and PlayStation users, but other platforms are expected to be supported soon.
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Awesome news,
I’ve been hoping to get into the gaming opportunity.
Peace
Ricky Byurm
http://www.rickybyrum.com