How much would you pay to have specific songs developed for Rock Band?

[RichSyr]

As the title suggests, how much would you pay to have certain songs developed? I know some people here are probably thinking "$0, they should just give us great songs constantly!" and some are thinking "$1.99".

However, for those of you with the disposable income to afford such an expenditure, how much would you pay and for what songs?

For example...(and I know I'll get made fun of for this, I'm new here but I have read how harsh you people can be about peoples taste in music).

I would pay upwards of $5 per song for Kryptonite by Three Doors Down, anything by Creed, or anything by Linkin Park. I know, you all just vomitted in your mouth. That's OK -- but imagine if a lot of people felt strongly enough to pay $5 PER SONG for some songs... Shouldn't Harmonix create a "priority requests" section where people can actually pay more to get certain songs sooner?

I'm getting to the point where I'd love to just start handing them money to put my favorite songs in Rock Band. Not $2 at a time, but more money.. let me contribute to the development so we can get the ball rolling. I know they aren't short on cash, but if there's any other incentive we can give to get them to put our requests in sooner than later I'm all for it.

On that note, consider another possibility: What if they let us VOTE on the next content to be created or even just get released? That way, they are pleasing the most amount of people here at the forum by popular vote. They could stick to limiting the amount that come out by week and satisfy the largest group of people based on the votes.

[chunkypony]

I would easily pay $15 for any of the songs in my sig.

[RichSyr]

Yeah.. you know what... I think I'd do $15/ea for mine too...

[metalfenix]

I would pay even 20$ per song if someday I see:

"Pain redefined" disturbed
"Worth fighting for" Judas Priest
"Crush 'em" Megadeth
"The unnamed feeling" Metallica
"Total eclipse of the heart" Bonnie Tyler (I loved this song since my childhood)

....But well, I have to go back to reality and realize that I won't EVER see these songs on Rock Band...I know, my musical tastes suck, but hell, I can't help it, these are some of my all time fav songs...

[RichSyr]

Total eclipse of the heart" Bonnie Tyler (I loved this song since my childhood)


Want! Want! Want!!!!

[shadebug]

the only way this would work is if you have a preorders shop

you pay, for instance, $5
at any point until development begins for the song you can remove those $5
if enough money is received then HMX begins developing the charts. At this point your money is theirs and you can't have it back. You get your DLC 2 months later or however long it takes.
My guess is that from then on it goes into the normal store at a standard price

[shadebug]

also, some power ballads would be awesome for drums. We have plenty of rocky or jazzy drums but no epic drums

[RichSyr]

the only way this would work is if you have a preorders shop

you pay, for instance, $5
at any point until development begins for the song you can remove those $5
if enough money is received then HMX begins developing the charts. At this point your money is theirs and you can't have it back. You get your DLC 2 months later or however long it takes.
My guess is that from then on it goes into the normal store at a standard price

I like this idea. I'd deposit say $20 with the hopes enough people would follow my lead for a certain song. Then, I'd BUY it from the download store!

Honestly, I hope that if the developers take anything from this thread it's that *some* RB fans are willing to pay outrageous amounts of money toward the development of songs they really, really, want for this awesome game. The way I see it, even if it costs $20 or more for a song to get developed that I'll play two dozen times, it's the same as having a nice lunch out or going to the movies and getting a bucket of popcorn. Playing Rock Band on songs you really, really, want should be worth much more than the standard $2.

[Fickle9]

I would pay $20 for The Darkness, The Killers, or Modest Mouse!

[shadebug]

really, the system as i've slated it would cost almost nothing to implement and is pretty much free to implement being that they already know they're getting their money back for it

the tricky bit is figuring out costs.

Obviously the trickier a song on each part the more man hours go into charting it.
The more expensive the license the more you have to pay up front.
If the masters aren't available then you may be paying less because you don't have to play performance rights on the recordings but you'll be paying more for the performance rights on the music and for the cover band to get it all done.
Just finding those things out involves hiring researchers and lawyers, which won't come cheap

So, new idea. My system as before but before that you have a petition system. Use AMG or something to make sure all music is accounted for and then just have a poll on each one. Once it hits a certain number of people who say they want it hmx can go out and figure the price, at which point they can put up the preorder system

this makes it trickier and involves a bit more risk to hmx, but how much I couldn't say

[ntruman22]

*wipes puke from mouth from songs mentioned by OP* Uhm I'd probably pay a good $15 for some of the songs I want.

[RichSyr]

this makes it trickier and involves a bit more risk to hmx, but how much I couldn't say

:p That's for them to figure out, but bottom line is, I really think they should give us this option because it only means MORE money for them and MORE satisfied customers!

[Moo Cow]

Probably not enough.

I would imagine it costs quite a bit of time and money to make a single song in this game - and that making it for a single buyer would make it cost quite a bit.

I can't imagine that $15-$20, as some have mentioned, would come even close to being worth it for Harmonix. Hell, I can't imagine it would take less than an hour to make a song, and with several people having to work on each one, that's a pretty ****ty hourly wage.

Not to mention, they can't just make a song. They have to buy the rights for it first.

[JDFunk]

yea i agree there would defffinatly be songs id be down to pay some extra cash for and agree with other as in if it cost me 20 bucks or so its the same as almost a movie these days, plus you know that other will dl it i mean im sure most everyone who likes the dlc will get it if its decent i think most all the songs minus a few on the dlc i have gotten or will get..

but with the ones i wouldn't get im sure 100 more would. so all in all i think the idea and the concept would be good i think in fairness though i think it shouldbe somewhat a vote system on who would pay what for what songs, exactly like if bob wanted creed and threw down 20 how many more would be down if you have like a 5-10 song vote then pick highest bidded ones to do first lowest last "shrug"

[shadebug]

you ever paid for an intellectual property lawyer? I plan to be one and I do not plan to come cheap

negotiating the rights will be an expensive task and one that'll need to be done before starting on any song. That's an expense entirely on harmonix's back. If it turns out that everybody who signed up originally punks out and they never get the necessary amount to develop then they've just lost out on all the research costs.

That said. My guess is they have standard contracts set up with a load of the labels so they can pretty much pick and choose as they like for many songs without much research at all.

Hmm... I may start a new thread to flesh out this idea

[MrZeebub]

I would pay up to ten bucks a track for ANY METAL.

[RichSyr]

Agree w/ all the above posts except one guy said something to the effect of "This wouldn't work for just one person, $20 wouldn't cover the costs". This isn't what I'm saying.. I'm talking about pooling our money together to "pre-order" as another poster said.

[Phategod1]

Id pay 20 bucks for Korn

[RichSyr]

Mmmm corn....

[stoastyd]

mmmm cornbread *drool*

[litaljohn]

I sadly would honestly pay like 25 bucks a song for bon jovi songs...... that is of course on top of the golden throne I would give to hmxsean and apples, and the diamond encrusted master lock for HMXJohnlok to close the repetitive threads about dlc pack reaction every 10 milliseconds....

[BrutalBrian]

I sadly would honestly pay like 25 bucks a song for bon jovi songs...... that is of course on top of the golden throne I would give to hmxsean and apples, and the diamond encrusted master lock for HMXJohnlok to close the repetitive threads about dlc pack reaction every 10 milliseconds....

There are a few songs I would pay some money for. And if other people would donate or pay up as support for whatever songs, it'd be worth it.

[Lt.Alex15]

i would pay between $0.00 and $5.00 for a Petra song

[gwyador]

I suspect it might be more expensive for them to develop a custom song requested by any of us since they probably pay royalties in addition to salaries for their developers. I would love them to make it possible through an SDK or some other method for us to be able to take songs and add them ourselves or through some sort of approval process so it is legitimate, not a hack!! For Example, I would love to know how much it would cost to get them to make a rockband entry for one or more of my bands original songs that our band could either give away or sell for a very small fee to our fans. The royalty issue would be as easy as signing a contract to waive them. What do you guys say Harmonix? any chance of this? feel free to contact me privately if you don't want to post this on the board!!

Bryan.

[Solid_Snake]

Its not just money, if money was the reason, HMX would have developed the songs we wanted long ago.

[HMXDungHeaver]

I think if a good system was set up for people to suggest, vote, or pre-pay for songs, then it could be a legitimate idea.

The one question I have is, say 100 people want to pay $20 bucks each for Song X. What would happen after they release the song, and other people start wanting to download it.

You can't really think that most people would pay $20 bucks for the song, and if you give it to them for $1.99 or $2.99, then the people who paid $20 bucks would be pissed.

The only way I see around that is maybe having it so for the first month (or two) of the release, the people who prepaid the $20, or whatever it is, will be the only ones who have access to it, and then it will open up for public download after.

I think it could get pretty complicated, and the amount of revenue their getting from the current DLC might not make it worthwhile. But i like the idea if it is fleshed out more and accepted by HMX.

[allanhowls]

I would imagine that the two biggest factors constraining what songs become DLC are (a) popularity of the song/band, since less popular stuff will be less profitable, and (b) licensing and royalties. Let's face it, HMX can't just get any song they like, or else we'd already have every Beatles and Zeppelin song available.

With that in mind, here's an offshoot of the "I got twenny bux, make me a song" idea: HMX could put up a poll of about 5-10 different songs (to which rights are available) each week, and whichever songs (or bands or genres or whatever) get the most forum-y love will get fast-tracked for release. While it might spoil some of the surprise as to what we might get from week to week, it would allow us to have a bit of input into a limited set of choices, and allow us to budget our Points (or whatever the Sony people use) for the stuff we really want.

[lemmyk]

Probably not enough.


Hell, I can't imagine it would take less than an hour to make a song, and with several people having to work on each one, that's a pretty ****ty hourly wage.

Not to mention, they can't just make a song. They have to buy the rights for it first.

Woah dude.... An hour? Huh? I mean, the first brainstorming session for a new song would take more than an hour.

I would image that each song takes upwards of several hundred man-hours to release. Between the animations, charting, working out the kinks, qa'ing, legal/rights issues, coding into the game, inserting into the shop, etc....

Maybe more than 1000 man hours for each song (you figure they likely have a team assigned to this, 1000 man hours can be used up quickly on a team of 10-12 or more people).

To suggest that you "couldn't imaging it taking less than an hour"? That is grossly underestimating the process. I couldn't imagine it taking less than 500 hours MINIMUM.

Honestly, I bet if HMX makes less than $50k or so on each song, it would pretty much be a disaster for them.

[HMXDungHeaver]

HMX could put up a poll of about 5-10 different songs (to which rights are available) each week, and whichever songs (or bands or genres or whatever) get the most forum-y love will get fast-tracked for release. While it might spoil some of the surprise as to what we might get from week to week, it would allow us to have a bit of input into a limited set of choices, and allow us to budget our Points (or whatever the Sony people use) for the stuff we really want.

I think this is a good idea, but could be done a little differently. If they made a poll that was slightly modified from the usual polls, and included even more than '5-10', it could be a lot better. If there were 50 songs on the list, and you vote for your top 3 songs, and the results of the poll are NOT displayed to the public, it would allow for more surprise (as we do not know which are more popular, and since there are more, it would be less obvious).

[Jimmik]

I'd pay $5/each for some Supergrass singles!

[jr174200]

I would pay $100.00 for "Guyute" by Phish.

I'm not joking either (although I am bad with money).

[lemmyk]

I would pay $100.00 for "Guyute" by Phish.



And I'm sure HMX would do it to, if you and 1000 others would do it too...

[BetterSandw1ch]

I think if a good system was set up for people to suggest, vote, or pre-pay for songs, then it could be a legitimate idea.

The one question I have is, say 100 people want to pay $20 bucks each for Song X. What would happen after they release the song, and other people start wanting to download it.

You can't really think that most people would pay $20 bucks for the song, and if you give it to them for $1.99 or $2.99, then the people who paid $20 bucks would be pissed.

The only way I see around that is maybe having it so for the first month (or two) of the release, the people who prepaid the $20, or whatever it is, will be the only ones who have access to it, and then it will open up for public download after.

I think it could get pretty complicated, and the amount of revenue their getting from the current DLC might not make it worthwhile. But i like the idea if it is fleshed out more and accepted by HMX.

You're thinking of this the wrong way. People aren't paying larger sums of money in order to purchase a song - they're making a donation with the intent of making that song available in the first place.

This would be a system through which songs or bands which are either currently out of reach due to monetary reasons or not under consideration due to their underground status would become possible to be released in Rock Band due to extra funds provided by fans of that song / band. The money would not only help in acquiring licenses for these songs, but would also be an indicator towards which songs Harmonix should pursue.

Personally, I would pay upwards of $100 for a handful of my favorite songs, selections from Dire Straits, Rainbow, or Harvey Danger, because I know that these bands will be either hard to convince to sign off on Rock Band or too little known for Harmonix to be seriously considering in the near future. If I was sure that money was going directly to getting the songs I wanted, it wouldn't feel like a waste at all, and there are certainly people with more money available to them than me that think the same way.

Of course, there are problems behind this idea, the first being how these donations would work. Something similar to the Request-a-Song link could be set up, with Paypal donations enabled, but it would be difficult to keep track of due to the sheer amount of songs in the world that people want to see. It would also be difficult because the concept behind this is that the donation is only made if Harmonix chooses to pursue the song the donation was made for. There could be potentially a lot of money sitting in limbo, where neither the donator or Harmonix could use it, for a long time.

And then there's also the possibility that not enough people would donate not enough money to make any additional songs possible. $15-20 adds up if there are a lot of people on board, but are there, really? For more popular bands, many would stave off donation on the assumption that they'll hit Rock Band eventually, and more obscure bands wouldn't get enough support, period. How much does it cost to produce one song? If it takes a massive amount of donations to make this production possible, it's not worth the time and money it would cost to start such a system in the first place.

I personally love the idea, as long as it's toward additional content that doesn't affect the weekly content Harmonix puts out - meaning, any songs produced by this method would come on top of the 3-song-a-week policy that Harmonix already has. I don't want Rock Band DLC to turn into a full-blown catering towards the masses, because if majority spoke, we'd actually lose a lot of variety in our DLC - think more Fallout Boy, less Dead.
Not necessarily a bad thing, but its something to keep in mind. Allowing the public to make DLC choices, even with their wallet, doesn't mean you getting your way. It means letting pop culture get even more of an influence, and if you're not part of the majority, you might just get left out.

[lemmyk]

Again, why would HMX do anything if they're not going to make money.

I said it on the previous page that it likely takes 500-1000 hours to develop a song (1000 man hours).

For anything less than $50,000 why would they bother? They would be out of business sooner than HD DVD.

[jr174200]

Again, why would HMX do anything if they're not going to make money.

I said it on the previous page that it likely takes 1000 hours to develop a song (1000 man hours).

For anything less than $50,000 why would they bother? They would be out of business sooner than HD DVD.

I believe this thread is just a hypothetical question, in the vein of how much would you need to get paid to fight Mike Tyson.

Obviously, HMX won't develop a song for $100.00. D'uh.

[cryptoknight]

I'd pay $20/song for some Hysteria or Pyromania from Def Leppard
I'd pay $25/song for some Keith Urban or Big and Rich
I'd pay $30/song for Aerosmith or Van Halen (but not any more icky covers)

[Lanceres218]

i would easly pay 10-20 for some Evanescence, Godsmack, Pearl Jam

[allanhowls]

I think this is a good idea, but could be done a little differently. If they made a poll that was slightly modified from the usual polls, and included even more than '5-10', it could be a lot better. If there were 50 songs on the list, and you vote for your top 3 songs, and the results of the poll are NOT displayed to the public, it would allow for more surprise (as we do not know which are more popular, and since there are more, it would be less obvious).

Agreed. 5-10 was a purely arbitrary range, and the results should absolutely be kept secret. I suppose they could even throw in some bogus choices to keep us guessing, but that could really skew their results (solution: don't list "Back in Black" or "Kashmir" as options:D)

[princeofcups777]

I'd pay $100 for any single Killing Joke album in Rock Band (except Outside the Gate, which is really a Jaz Coleman solo album). I'd pay $500 for the whole discography.

jfs

[Dragon_Slayer]

Voting is definitely the best suggestion from the post. That would be a great way to satisfy as many people as possible.

Having said that, there is some reason that harmonix has not already applied this strategy to DCL.

[dinga6969]

I would pay the full game price of 60 bucks if they could come out with Appetite for Destruction. I don't want to spend that much, I'd ***** all the way to the store, but I'd still buy it.

[davez82]

i'd pay 4.99 for freebird

[WillzZz]

I'd pay $100 easy (per album) for anything from any of the following bands:

Machine Head
Tool
Rage Against the Machine
Metallica (older stuff)
Primus
System of a Down

instead I'm stuck playing emo songs and crap rock? =/

[mattitude]

I would literally pay any amount for "Any Way You Want It It" by Journey. Literally, any amount. That's the one song that I NEED to be in this game.

P.S. You knew this thread was just going to devolve into a "favorite songs" thread, right?

[RichSyr]

Not really, its more of a "how bad do you really want your favorite song, and how much would you pay to get it" I think monetary values are a great representation to how bad someone really wants something. For example, to hear some people would pay $100 for certain things is mind-numbing to me, but it tells me that some people really, really, love this game and would spend their hard-earned money to get more.

[mattitude]

Not really, its more of a "how bad do you really want your favorite song, and how much would you pay to get it" I think monetary values are a great representation to how bad someone really wants something. For example, to hear some people would pay $100 for certain things is mind-numbing to me, but it tells me that some people really, really, love this game and would spend their hard-earned money to get more.

Valid points. Okay, so maybe I wouldn't normally pay $100 for my favorite song... BUT, if I had $100 burning a hole in my pocket, from my tax return or whatever, and I couldn't think of anything else I'd rather have... I'd certainly consider it.

[Roton7]

Kryptonite by Three Doors Down

That's one of my all-time favorite songs! I'd pay lots to get that in there.


And also, I'd probably pay $50 to get any song by Haste the Day in the game. (if they are willing to put DOA in Rock Band, anything is possible).

[bluGill]

I think you are looking at it wrong. It isn't how much would WE pay, but how much would labels pay? For a new album they want to promot, having it as DLC in rockband would be perfect for them. They already have all the tracks (and since they are recording it as we speak they can be sure to get enough drum mics), and they need anything they can get for publicity. Getting the songs in Rock band for our download enjoyment (where they make the standard $.70/song) is a great promotion.

[Royges]

I would pay $10 for La Leyenda Del Ada Y El Mago by Rata Blanca
this one

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[soratchet5g]

I'd pay 25 for dark side of moon album release