Rockband to increase DLC library to 5000 songs... really?

[iagomonk]

This was posted weeks ago when those articles first started appearing.

The number is being taken out of context, but if demand continues, sure... we'll have 5000 songs several years from now.

[Sargehalo51]

Originally Posted by bpickell

Who says you have to buy every song that is released, lord knows I won't. If I don't like the song, I'm not purchasing it. I'm not like a lot of people around here that have to buy everything.. To me that is just nuts.

This.

Oh, I doubt that 5,000 songs is humanly possible by years end, or any number even close to that.

[DMBillies]

Without a RB3 planned this year or a VERY significant increase in the output of songs, I'd actually be quite surprised if we hit 1,000 - 1,500 by the end of the year.

More importantly, although the sentiment that every person doesn't have to buy everything is true, there is a certain level of profitability that each song has to hit. It really helps now that there are only about 6 songs per week.

Up that to even 20 and you'd see a lot of people passing on a LOT of decent music.

Since it takes time/money to make the tracks and time/money to license the tracks, unlike iTunes HMX cannot afford to put stuff up that doesn't sell. All iTunes has to do is license the music and they do that by the album or by the artist for the most part and since they aren't editing anything I imagine the licensing is a piece of cake compared to this.

Until artists are willing to offer their tracks for free in exchange for the boost in sales to their catalogue through other means, and until the licensing is done in much bigger chunks ("hey, we'll offer you our entire catalogue of songs"), offering that many songs probably doesn't make financial sense... especially considering the editing and charting process.

Put another way, if the average user has only bought 4 songs (according to that article), that means I've bought about 50 people's worth of DLC. So, for every one person like me (I own probably about 2/3 of the DLC maybe a touch more) there is 50 people who don't download anything. If they increase DLC to the tune of 20 songs per week, my purchasing will fall to probably 25% of the DLC...and they still aren't likely to sell anything to those other 50 people.

[NottinghamLace]

5000 songs by the end of the year? Who needs RB3 next year anyways if they're pumping out songs at that rate.

[kiggidykev]

"as many as 5000" doesn't mean "5000 for certain! double-mortgage your house!"

[Ferocious Q]

i think it's trying to say Harmonix has already licensed 5000 songs to use, and by the regular dlc schedule we should see all 5000 within the next decade

[bigWALL]

I doubt 5000. I remember a similar quote that was saying that smaller bands would get lost when DLC goes from 500 titles available to 5000, so I think it may have been a flub or out of context. Not that I'm against more music. Hell, I welcome the opportunity to support HMX and whatever bands that I like that releases music on this wonderous platform we have.

[skullpit]

5000 songs by the end of the year would be awesome. I only buy what I like so having such a huge catalog to choose from would be great. Probably not gonna happen though.

[HMXHenry]

Originally Posted by kiggidykev

"as many as 5000" doesn't mean "5000 for certain! double-mortgage your house!"

Correct. "As many as 5,000" is not a guarantee, but it sounds nice, doesn't it? It not totally outside the realm of possibility either. Remember when people said that we'd never see 500 tracks by the end of 2008?

*EDIT* To amend the above totally-tongue-in-cheek statement, I offer the following link to HMXsean's official announcement clarifying the misunderstanding of the original quote.

http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=118534

Corrections are in the process of being made. Sorry for any confusion. Keep posted to the weekly DLC announcements on Friday for more realistic additions to our ever growing DLC catalog.

[guitalex2007]

I'm sure it was a typo. It probably means they plan on extending it to 5000, just not THIS YEAR. This would mean that, counting sequels, this is very possible.

Assuming that there's a RB3 coming already (fix the shaky arrow glitch!), and assuming they want it to have about 100 songs, it would be possible to get to 1000 this year. But not 5000.