Indie Bands Get a Shot At Becoming Rock Band Famous
The Rock Band Network music store is officially live. Will it be the greatest thing to happen to indie music since iTunes? Let’s have a look.
For all you kids not in the know, the Rock Band Network is the newest incarnation of the Xbox Rock Brand, er Band franchise. Network allows bands to put their songs on Rock Band 2. And not just big name artists. Using development tools provided by Rock Band, all indie bands can now, theoretically, have their songs available for sale, download, and play at the Network music store. Here’s how it works:
The Investment
First thing’s first, of course. A hopeful band or artist has gotta sign up for the “Creators Club.” Membership is $99.00 a year, plus you need an Xbox Live Gold membership. This gives you access to the Rock Band Creators community.
Once cash has been shelled out, it’s time to prepare that perfect-for-Rock Band track for publication. An artist must have the original masters of their track to do this. Each different instrument track needs to be converted into MIDI to work with Rock Band.
Tracks can be converted to MIDI using the Reaper Digital Audio Workstation. Reaper can be downloaded here, for a free 30-day trial, but after that, you must buy a license – $250.00 for what I’m assuming classifies as “commercial use.” (Non-commercial is only $60.00.) Reaper and Rock Band are working together on the Network project, so once you’ve got Reaper, you just need to install some plugins available via your Creator membership and you’re all set.
Testing! Testing!
As soon as the effortless process of programming a song for the Xbox is complete, the song can begin the lengthy testing process. First, the creator tests the song out on his own Xbox to make sure the tracks are working. If nothing blows up, it’s time to – scary music playing in the background – SUBMIT FOR PEER REVIEW!
The playtesting/peer review process is one of the things that’s really going to make or break the new platform. This is where the community aspect of Creator comes in, and its success will hinge on the commitment and participation level of other Creators. (NB: even non-musicians can sign up for Creator accounts simply to act as testers and reviewers).
Once a song goes into the system, it’s playtested. Users can download and play the song, then comment on it in the community forum. Every song gets its own thread, where feedback is offered. It’s unclear whether feedback, at this point, rests on technical aspects of gameplay or the quality of the music on offer. This phase can last up to two weeks, and then its time to edit, and maybe even delete if it seems like you’ve got a dud on your hands.
And More Testing!
Suggestions addressed? Changes made? Great! Now it’s time to upload the edited “release” for peer review. The Rock Band Peer Review stage is the penultimate gorgon-defended gate to be faced before sweet, sweet freedom. At this stage, Community members comment on three categories: Defects (technical), Prohibited Content (legal), and Difficultly (quality). Reviewers fill out a form addressing each issue, and a song passes or fails depending on user ratings.
Finally, if a song passes peer review, it goes through a 48-hour hold period wherein administrators make sure that its publication isn’t going to get them sued. Again, it’s unclear whether the musical merits of the song are taken into account. If everything is kosher, congrats! Your song is now for sale – at a price the songwriter determines within a range of $1.00 to $3.00 – on the Xbox Live Marketplace.
But Will It Float?
Follow these steps, and any indie artist on the planet can sell their songs for Rock Band 2. Artists get 30% of every sale. The franchise is obviously incredibly enthusiastic about the new platform’s potential to promote indie bands. However, as is usual in the world of indie endeavors, success will depend not so much on the efforts of the corporate entertainment complex, but on the community involved.
Will the music store explode with thousands of offerings? Will the Rock Band Creator community really put in the effort required to play test and peer review all the songs submitted? Will Rock Band players pay for songs by unknown bands? And will indie artists suddenly start becoming Rock Band famous? Tell us what you think!
