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Rock Band Licenses The Beatles 266

Posted by CmdrTaco from the it's-about-time dept.
eldavojohn writes "The Wall Street Journal is reporting that MTV's Rock Band has gained the licenses to an undetermined number of songs. Details are scant, but it would be nice to see a whole game based on just the evolution of The Beatles' music. According to Reuters, this has been in the works for months. Hopefully I can finally hide my strained vocals to so many beautiful songs within the privacy of my home instead of drunk off my ass at a bar."
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Rock Band Licenses The Beatles More

Rock Band Licenses The Beatles

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  • Bonus points (Score:5, Funny)

    by Dan East ( 318230 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:27AM (#25568063) Journal

    You get bonus points for playing bass left-handed.

    • And double bonus points for off-rhythm drumming?

    • You kid, but that could very well be a Challenge within the game (Beatles Tribute Band: five stars and play the bass lefty and you get quadruple money or something), or even an Achievement/Trophy on 360/PS3. Didn't one of the Guitar Hero games give you an achievement for only strumming up while playing the bass?

      • The achievement for 100% on expert on bass in Rock Band 1 requires that all your strums be upwards to get it. Maybe that's what you're thinking of?

    • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

      by meringuoid ( 568297 )
      You get bonus points for playing bass left-handed.

      That would work, yeah. What's got me excited is that I'm really, really shit at the drums. So this is the game for me!

  • It surprises me that this happened before the Beatles released their songs to iTunes. That's pretty revolutionary. Does the future of popular music rest with video games?

    • Re:Rock Band before iTunes? (Score:5, Funny)

      by flitty ( 981864 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:41AM (#25568241)
      Metallica and Aerosmith say yes, video games are the future of music. So using that, I would say No, it's not.

    • Does the future of popular music rest with video games?

      Wouldn't that be the future of the past's popular music? It's not like Fall Out Boy (or whoever is popular now) is releasing straight to Rock Band before going on iTunes.

    • I thought the Beatles struck a deal with iTunes last year. Maybe I'm wrong as I don't use iTunes. However I understand why Apple records would be upset that Apple computers clearly violated their earlier deal and got away with it.

  • Longer straws get to be real musicians.

  • They must be trying to change the game... (Score:5, Insightful)

    by jskline ( 301574 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:41AM (#25568235) Homepage

    This is tantamount to a complete change of rules in the sales of these. The original target markets are the youth. Most youth could care less about the Beatles and especially the early stuff. They want the metal, they want the punk-funk, they want that sort of stuff that is modern and from their era, not something from prehistoric times.

    I can say that with a little moniker of authority as I am a working musician, and have been for quite a number of years both professionally and privately.

    Also being a Dad, who at this juncture is 53 years old, (soon to be 54) with a 12 year old and 13 year old at home (yea' they're mine!), and a 20 year old that just moved back in. They like it when Dad plays his old Beatles albums (Yea, I still have the vinyl) and CD's, but when they are listening to their players or stuff on their computers, it's always their modern music that they like. Most times they tolerate Dad listening to this stuff in the car or van, but many times bring their MP3 players and plug their phones in their ears and they're off in their own worlds.

    So I have a thought that this will be a gargantuan marketing flop. I don't see much out there in the way of parents my age that would buy this sort of thing. I could be wrong but even my band mates have indicated that they wouldn't spend money on that.

    • I'm 32 and I listen to just about everything. My son will grow up listening to everything.

      I am a musician and my son will be as well. I am under the impression that children need indoctrination in music.

      The beatles will always be in my top 3 no matter what happens. I will try to instill an appreciation for all music in my son.

      So how do you deal with the 3-chord knockoffs being published these days? There's a very low wheat/chaff ratio.

      • Re:They must be trying to change the game... (Score:5, Insightful)

        by Miseph ( 979059 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:03AM (#25568621) Journal

        "So how do you deal with the 3-chord knockoffs being published these days? There's a very low wheat/chaff ratio."

        There have always been bands full of low talent hacks, and the wheat:chaff ratio has always been low. The crap bands will be forgotten, and in 30 years when everything new right now counts as "classic" they'll wonder how we managed to have so much amazing music with so little shit. That's just how it works.

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by ari_j ( 90255 )
          Shockingly enough, that even applies to the 80's. If the 80's can have a later reputation for being full of great bands, then no decade is really in danger in those terms. It's mostly a question of what the next generation is exposed to - do their parents play a lot of Britney Spears and Miley Cyrus, or will the kids get exposed to actual talent? I have good taste in music despite my mother's bad taste when she was my age, but a lot of that may come from my father so I can't be sure if there are other av

      • If you like The Beatles, it's well worth looking at composer Howard Goodall's analysis of their music and development. Not at all dull and dry, but accessible, entertaining and informative.

        'Tis (mainly) on YouTube...

        Part 1 [youtube.com]

        Part 2 [youtube.com]

        Part 3 [youtube.com]

        Part 4 - can't find the damn thing. Curses!

        Part 5 [youtube.com]

        Part 5 [youtube.com]

        Really, I can't recommend this enough.

      • Re: (Score:3, Funny)

        by rolfwind ( 528248 )

        I am a musician and my son will be as well.

        Your son will rebel against your authoritarian ways in his teenage years by being a book nerd;)

    • Re:They must be trying to change the game... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by flitty ( 981864 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:47AM (#25568347)
      Depends. If they actually make a separate game, like the Rock Band AC/DC disc, they will kneecap their potential customers. Personally, I, being a younger fellow, had never really listened to many of the older songs in Rock Band 1&2. I had heard them, but only in the background. When you are forced to play the songs, and really listen (when they are actually good songs), you get an attachment to the songs. They need to give out 3 free Beatles songs and 3 free AC/DC songs as promotional material for the separate games, and they could sell these add ons no problem.

    • Well, the average US gamer's age is 35 years old, that's still not quite in the range of growing up with the Beatles but who hasn't grown up listening to them? I think this will go over well. Parents, when faced with the option of buying Guitar Hero World Tour or Rock Band 2, they might have heard that they can get Beatles' songs with Rock Band 2, and that's the deal breaker.

    • Re:They must be trying to change the game... (Score:4, Insightful)

      by Junior J. Junior III ( 192702 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:53AM (#25568465) Homepage

      Really, the songs ought to just be add-on modules that you can install and play whatever you like. Games like Rock Band or Guitar Hero should be thought of as platforms.

      I'm 33 years old, I love video games, I like the Beatles, I play Rock Band/Guitar Hero, and there's several million people who are just like me. I think they'll be fine on sales.

      If they want to do a Jazz Band or a String Quartet game, I'll start worrying more about sales. Those would be pretty cool games, but probably won't have a mass market appeal in quite the same way as a game based on pop does.

      • You mean you don't think the video gamer demographic is waiting with bated breath for Viola Hero? "Man, you guys, AFI's pretty sweet, but I wish we could just play some -chamber music-."

        Yeah, probably right.

        (I'm 30, just got Rock Band 1 and 2, and would buy the HELL out of some Beatles DLC.)

      • I'm 33 years old, I love video games, I like the Beatles, I play Rock Band/Guitar Hero, and there's several million people who are just like me. I think they'll be fine on sales.

        I think until they completely saturate the market for these games, they'll be fine.

        These music games seem hugely popular, and my (utterly non-gamer) GF is totally hooked on them. We have GH3, GH4, GH:Aerosmith, Rock Band. We have friends who have all of them as well, and know a lot of people totally hooked on them.

        I'm pretty sure

      • Yeah, it's like football games. All they REALLY need for Madden 2009 is an updated roster for the teams, but they make you buy the whole game instead. I don't want to have 5 versions of Guitar Hero and 5 versions of Rock Band. I want one Rock simulation game that has an ever-expanding range of music I can play.

    • Most youth could care less about the Beatles

      Umm, the phrase is "*couldn't* care less". Why would we care if the youth *could* care less?

      • Umm, the phrase is "*couldn't* care less". Why would we care if the youth *could* care less?

        Because in practice, "could care less" is short for "could barely care less" or "could care less, but it would be a chore".

        • Re:Idiom "could care less" (Score:5, Insightful)

          by Abcd1234 ( 188840 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:16AM (#25568851) Homepage

          Because in practice, "could care less" is short for "could barely care less" or "could care less, but it would be a chore".

          No... it really isn't. :) It's just a misstatement of the phrase by people who don't think about the words they're speaking or typing.

    • So I have a thought that this will be a gargantuan marketing flop. I don't see much out there in the way of parents my age that would buy this sort of thing.

      You're forgetting that there's a generation that's halfway between you and your kids. As a 3X-year-old, I and my similarly-aged friends are huge fans of Rock Band. Bear in mind that we're probably one of the earliest generations to have grown up with video games (enabling us to see past the stigma of games being "for kids"), so we're most certainly

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by hal2814 ( 725639 )

      Yeah, kids these days like things modern and from their era... like Aerosmith and Pat Benatar and Cream and the Sex Pistols. Guitar Hero III is chock full of older music and that Aerosmith Guitar Hero package sold very well. I can't imagine the Beatles doing any worse. I would agree with your assessment except that your original assumption: "The original target markets are the youth." is waaay off. The appeal might not skew as high as 53 year olds who already know how to play an instrument, but there ar

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by dido ( 9125 )

      Well, the influence of the Beatles in modern rock music is hard to escape. I would even go so far as to say that almost all modern popular music today has been influenced by the music of the Beatles in one way or the other. Even metal and thrash. Listen to "Helter Skelter" sometime... A serious rock musician would recognize this fact and keep open ears.

    • This is tantamount to a complete change of rules in the sales of these. The original target markets are the youth.

      You must have been away from video games for a while... Have you priced out a full-out Rockband set? Rockband 2 sells for about $190 US. To play on a $300 console. That's out of the price range of most youth. If you want to move on to a "premium drum set", that's another $300. A "premium" guitar? $70. Then there are the customizable skins at $20 a pop... You can also buy a synchronized light and fog machine... A Rockband obsession can cost you more than $1000 easily.

      Amazon's 6 screens of fake band gam

    • When I was growing up, I never really listened to the stuff my dad listened to except when he chose the radio station. I didn't mind any of it, but I never went out of my way to listen to most of it on my own. Now that I'm in my 30s, I can really appreciate being raised on the Beatles, Floyd, Zeppelin, CCR, Boston, Heart, etc.

    • Perhaps you missed the recent Slashdot article on how the average new video game player was something like 33. And plenty of people who grew up with video games are in their 40's and 50's.

    • I don't think this be a flop at all. Yes, the primary market isn't necessarily the youth market. But then... they already have that market.

      As a 40+ year old who remembers seeing the Beatles perform on the roof of Abbey Road on TV this does interest me. I am not of the video game generation. No game has interested me at all until the Wii came out -- it was the first game unit that actually looked fun to me. I don't want to shoot things, role play or play driving games -- games consoles had no appeal for m

    • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

      by darkmayo ( 251580 )

      I cant entirely agree with your assesment that the target market for Rock Band is the youth (unless you mean younger than you) I'm 30 and almost everyone I know who is 20-40 loves Rock Band, the diversity of the songs is quite apparent that they are targeting a broad audience. The amount of Rock Band parties that friends have and friends who arent gamers have had is astounding, when you go to bar and they have a Rock Band night you know this is not just for the kids.

      lets take a peek at the set list for Rock

  • Abbey road (Score:5, Funny)

    by m0s3m8n ( 1335861 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @08:46AM (#25568345)
    After you complete Abbey Road your disk breaks up.
  • I wonder if they will Helter Skelter? I hope they include Maxwell Silver. Some of the Beatles songs were happily dark.
  • The fact that a videogame publisher beat iTunes

    They're not still bitter over that Apple Corpse/Music legal fight are they?
  • Oh please let one of them be Revolution 9!

  • In related news... (Score:5, Funny)

    by lxs ( 131946 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:10AM (#25568761)

    They've also licenced all of Mozart's works for their upcoming Harpsichord Hero.

    I'm sure the kids are dying to pretend playing grandpa's music.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by u8i9o0 ( 1057154 )

      They've also licenced all of Mozart's works for their upcoming Harpsichord Hero.
      I'm sure the kids are dying to pretend playing grandpa's music.

      Funny.
      But I just realized something: "Please Please Me" was published in 1963, 45 years ago.
      Technically, The Beatles IS grandpa's music!

    • They've also licenced all of Mozart's works for their upcoming Harpsichord Hero.

      I'm sure the kids are dying to pretend playing grandpa's music.

      No, Harmonix doesn't do the "Hero" series anymore...

      This also means, unfortunately, the long-rumored "Accordion Hero" will never be released...

  • Beatles Story? (Score:5, Funny)

    by Smivs ( 1197859 ) <smivs@smivsonline.co.uk> on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:13AM (#25568813) Homepage Journal

    'All together now', 'Ask me now' 'Any time at all' 'Because' 'I should have known better'. 'I want to tell you' 'In spite of all the danger' 'I'll be on my way' 'With a little help from my friends'. 'Help', 'I'm so tired', 'I'm only sleeping', 'I'm down'. 'Good night'!

  • No new games, please (Score:5, Insightful)

    by LordNimon ( 85072 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:19AM (#25568909)
    but it would be nice to see a whole game based on just the evolution of The Beatles' music.

    No, actually it wouldn't be nice to have another whole new game just for one band. What would be nice is to be able to purchase and download individual songs at a reasonable price. The AC/DC version of Rock Band costs $40 for 18 songs, and you can't buy individual songs - it's all or nothing. This shit has gotta stop.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ari_j ( 90255 )
      One likes to believe in the freedom of music, eh? The question is whether they make more money selling $40 units to fewer people or $2.25 x [1,18] units to more people. I don't know what all AC/DC songs are on the Rock Band game, but here's my guess: If they sold individual tracks, everyone would buy the songs he or she was already familiar with, meaning for most Rock Band players only a couple of songs like You Shook Me All Night Long and Highway to Hell. The only way to sell such people songs like Rid

      • You're almost certainly right that that is the calculation that they're making. But they've got to realize that with there being such a big spread in the options (zero dollars or forty dollars), there's a big middle ground of money that they're just leaving on the table.

        I think what's likely is that after a while, all these songs will become available as individual DLC. If you don't mind waiting, you'll get a chance to pay just for the songs that you want.

        There's also another level of the middle ground, whi

    • The AC/DC version of Rock Band costs $40 for 18 songs, and you can't buy individual songs - it's all or nothing.

      I hope you're not complaining about the pricing - assuming the a la carte download pricing two dollars per song, yo'ure only paying four dollars more for the physical product. Admittedly, it'd be cheaper than $36 if it were up as DLC and you bought the entire album, but I'm pretty sure this isn't a value problem.

      AC/DC and the Beatles have been two of the bands that have shown the most resistance to downloading - unless you've got a particular cell phone you can't legally download AC/DC's catalog, and you c

  • Wake me when.... (Score:3, Funny)

    by MooseDontBounce ( 989375 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:26AM (#25569029)
    They get the rights to Man 'O War's catalog...
    Seriously, that is cool. It might be fun to get the whole family playing 'Hey Jude'.

  • Not Rock Band (Score:4, Informative)

    by Princeofcups ( 150855 ) <john@princeofcups.com> on Thursday October 30, 2008 @09:42AM (#25569321) Homepage

    It's going to be a whole new game, not an expansion for Rock Band. Also, it won't be out until XMas 09.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Tokerat ( 150341 )

      It's going to be a whole new game, not an expansion for Rock Band. Also, it won't be out until XMas 09.

      Lame.

  • Not the people, the band! I did not like them when they were new, and I do not like them now they are old. They irritate me vastly, and I would like them to go away and leave me alone.

  • Beatles music is not very intricate, elegant, or difficult to play (even LH bass). I think game devs would enjoy a better market response for the following titles.

    - DOOM IV: Beatles Reunite!
    - MS Flight Simulator Lynyrd Skynyrd bonus pack
    - Leisure Suit Larry: Return of Neverland
    - Wiifit: The McDonalds super-size me edition

    • Beatles music is not very intricate, elegant, or difficult to play (even LH bass).

      You need to put on your historical relativity goggles. Their music was vastly more sophisticated than 90%* of the rest of popular music of the time.

      And I'd love to see you play the sitar.

      * ~10% for Stax [wikipedia.org]/Atlantic [wikipedia.org]

  • Hooray for the Beatles! (Score:5, Funny)

    by seven of five ( 578993 ) on Thursday October 30, 2008 @10:51AM (#25570471)
    About time this shamefully overlooked band got the recognition they deserve.

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