So you are already through the hard part. You’ve written some fantastic music, you have a great recording, and now your song has been authored for the Rock Band Network. Your tune is out in the wild and Rock Band fans can jam to it until their fingers blister and fall off. But in a sea of more than fifteen-hundred songs in the Rock Band Music Library, how are you going to let your fans and Rock Band fans know that your song is worth picking up? Let me offer some basic pointers on how to start promoting your RBN track.1
This page on Creators.RockBand.com [note: requires login] is packed full of promotional goodness. In it you will find banners, logos, and graphic files that can be easily personalized using either Photoshop or Adobe Illustrator (Both types of files are included). We’ve even given some basic editing instructions for those of you that may be new to graphic editing programs. Choose and customize a banner with your band and song name, then add your Rock Band Network graphic to promo materials like postcards and show fliers. Include some brief instructions on how people can download your RBN track, and get the info out to your fans. You can give out your materials at shows, send them to your mailing list, or have your street team distribute them. When you perform live, be sure to tell the audience your song can be purchased in the Rock Band Network Store for the video game Rock Band 2.
Alchemilla announced their track at shows & on their website - excited fans uploaded videos of gameplay to the Alchemilla Facebook Page.
When it comes to online promotions, we’ve got you covered there as well. Once your song has been approved to be published in the RBN store, you can access a promo badge directly through your Creators.RockBand.com account. Sign in to your account and click on the “My Songs” tab. Click on a song title under your “Approved” songs. Scroll down the page past “Details” and “Lyrics” and you will see “Promote this Song.” Copy the code in from scroll box and paste it on your blog, Reverb Nation profile, MySpace page, website, and anywhere else online where your band has an online presence. Check out the working Alchemilla badge below. When your fans click on your badge, they will be brought to your song's RBN profile on RockBand.com. There, they will find information about your Rock Band track, an audio sample, and Rock Band difficulty rating. There is also of course, a link to the XBox Marketplace where your song can be purchased.
Also on your profile page, you will find the “ShareThis” option directly underneath your RBN photo. Roll over “ShareThis,” and you will see a bunch of outlets where you and your fans can share info about your Rock Band Network track. Promote your song in places such as Facebook, AIM, Google Buzz, Digg, and Stumbleupon. You can also share this info via text message and email from your “ShareThis” widget. You should incorporate your RBN info into any place online where people can find your band.
Alchemilla using ShareThis to post to their Facebook Page
Your Rock Band Network track is not only a promotional tool for your music, but it is also a new way to generate revenue for your band! You should promote it just as you would promote a single on iTunes or any other music outlet. There is a huge international Rock Band fan-base that may not have ever heard your music before. Rock Band fans are music aficionados, and tons of them are looking for new songs and bands. Give them the tools to find your music, and you may find yourself selling more albums, and gaining more fans. They will have more fun songs to play in Rock Band, and EVERYBODY WINS!
Next time we will explore some more creative ways to promote your Rock Band Network track. By then, I assume you will have these basics down! If you have any specific questions about promoting, weigh in on the Rock Band forums and we will cover them in the next article.
1 HMXKat is extremely qualified to dole out advice about RBN promotion. Not only does she work on the Harmonix Community Team, but she's the frontwoman for RBN band Alchemilla which had a track in the Rock Band Network store the very first week. The band has been sharing their RBN badge on various online locations and telling their fans about the track via Twitter, Facebook, live shows, and wherever else they can get out the word.
