Rock Band To Allow Independent Artists To Add Their Own Songs 57
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Soulskill
from the paging-stevie-ray-vaughan's-ghost dept.
from the paging-stevie-ray-vaughan's-ghost dept.
Bakkster writes "Independent artists will be able to use the XNA Creator's Club to produce the Rock Band note-charts for their music and sell them in game later this year. Bands will use their original song masters and generate a MIDI file that produces the game 'gems' to which players can follow along. Tracks must pass a review process with other XNA members, and then a final approval from MTV Games. Songs will be sold for between 50 cents and $3, with the artist getting a 30% cut after MTV and Microsoft take their cut. The best tracks will also make their way to the Wii and PS3 after a 30-day exclusive period."
Re:Nice business model (Score:4, Informative)
As a side note, I see this as a win for all involved, especially the artists. This service will provide indie groups an opportunity to reach a large market, for very minimal costs, and a source of income in and of itself (albeit relatively small).
Re:Where did the figures come from? (Score:3, Informative)
The Billboard article is extremely detailed, with info on training the review community; Microsoft's development of a Harmonix-hosted subset of the XBL Creators Club, with special rules just for Rock Band; details on the software to be used by artists and and HMX; record label Sub Pop announcing that they're already moving content onto the network, including all of their fall releases; and MTV saying they may eventually combine the RBN and existing Rock Band Store markets if RBN is successful.
frets on fire did it first (Score:1, Informative)
frets-on-fire [sourceforge.net] has been doing this for a long time. Although, its nice to see the commercial market has caught up with its open source counterpart.
Re:Nice business model (Score:3, Informative)
There's also a $100 per year fee to be in Apple's store.
Lies. The fee for Apple developers is one-time. Comparing the expenses for the two, and they're even, but every year you want to stay a part of the respective gong show, XBL Marketplace gets you paying more and more.