Rock Band Network: Developer Quotes and Clarification

[Apples]

Is RBN confusing you? Here's a compilation of links, resources, and developer quotes on the service so far:


News Breaking Article:
http://www.billboard.biz/bbbiz/conte...8bf1f3ea673d95

Press Release:
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showt...wpost&t=152225

Official Discussion:
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152203

FAQ:
http://creators.rockband.com/docs/Main_Page

Discussion of Bands that may likely be coming to RBN:
http://www.rockband.com/forums/showthread.php?t=152742


On the country availability of the RBN:

RBN songs will be available for sale in North America (inc Canada) and Europe. Submitters of RBN songs will need to be from the U.S.

To be specific, to submit a song, you must be a resident of the U.S. Where the band is from has nothing to do with it.

Of course unsigned bands can submit songs! You have to own the rights to the material. Unsigned bands will probably have to do less work to make sure their material is in the clear.

On allowing covers on the RBN:

Covers will not be allowed to be submitted for RBN. We made this decision in order to simplify the process by which we can assure ourselves that the submitter of the song owns all the necessary rights.

On availability for non-Xbox consoles:

We are working closely with the other consoles to get it work. We do hope that we can make this viable for all systems at some point.

All I can say is we are working on it. I would say there is very little chance that the hand-picked songs we can move over would hit at the same time. procedurally I would say that is currently impossible technically. Again, we are talking to, and have been talking to for some time, the other consoles so we can make this universal.

Whoa. Hold back a little. That has nothing to do with anything like that. This was a massive undertaking requiring significant infrastructure to support both on our side and at the console level. XNA is an existing infrastructure that could actually make this a reality. It has nothing to do with what you're saying. As I said we have been talking to everybody for some time about making this happen. And we will continue to do so. We want this music to be available for everyone.

It was never a necessity. I would love to see the RBN on all consoles. I really want RBN to embody that same passion as many underground artists have trying to get their music heard by just one more person. I hope that those same artists embrace and join RBN. I'm one of them. I release most of my music for free because I love sharing my art.

We have been talking to all first-party partners for a while. This is not a surprise to anyone.

Clarification on what "select songs" means as coming to the Wii/PS3:

I can't really give a full explanation other than to say we are working with the outside parties to make this available universally. And until then its our intention to at least get some of the premium content moved over.

Just saw that. Not sure exactly what that is on about but will investigate. The way the process will work is that we will be able to pick songs that rise to the top and hand move them over to the other systems when possible. Our dream is that one day we can get this to be universal on all infrastructures.

Who does the charting/legwork behind these tracks?

The artist has the option to charts songs themselves.
We give all Rock Band Network members the tools to do this.

(ie: not Harmonix)


What if people try to "game the system" and get illegal stuff up on the service?

Peer review (similar to the XNA indie games process) will catch licensing issues, authoring issues, and content issues.

In addition to that all the other reviewers are also reviewing them. It's a pretty tight system. Of course some jerk may try to pull something like that but they will be failed out of the system and very likely have their $100 membership revoked for blatantly breaking the TOS.

Limits on song length of RBN songs?

We are committed to giving artists the same tools that Harmonix uses when authoring music. I want to make it clear that RBN Store songs (if authored to the fullest) will be of the same caliber of songs in the RB Music Store. More details to come later

(ie: doesn't sound like there is one or else its pretty large)


What does this mean for regular DLC that we're used to?

The Rock Band Music Store will not see a drop in weekly output due to the Rock Band Network. They are separate entities.

I think if there's an indie and that we're excited about, there's still a huge possibility that we will chart them.

Possibility of instrumentals or having an instrument missing:

short answer - yes

Will songs be required to cater to every difficulty level (easy, medium, hard, expert)

Correct

Workflow of steps to get your songs in the game:

- Band X wants in RB
- Band X signs up for the RBN creators club
- Band X gets the tools to author / test / submit a song
- Band X authors / tests / submits a song
- Other RBN creators club members test the song / give feedback and ultimately pass the song
- Band X's song goes live in the RBN music store.

On charting and quality:

Documentation will be released in the coming month. We want the Rock Band Network to have the same standards of quality that our weekly dlc has. Keep checking out - http://creators.rockband.com/docs/Authoring for more details..

Yes, you will be able to test songs in-game before submitting them.

More info on charting is coming soon

Like most UGC, RBN charting will take some time. This isn't a program with a "Chart" button

Charting non-guitar parts to guitar:

We've done some creative charting before. Piano or Organ solo on Guitar for example. I think it will be encouraged as long as it's tasteful. I have a song coming out for RBN where a bleepy synth is authored to guitar. There's no guitar in the track so it's tasteful.

On pricing:

As of right now there are not any plans for a "free" option on RBN songs.

The $.50 was actually a bit incorrect the lowest price is actually 80 MS Points.

Editor note: Pricing will be 1 to 3 dollars in 50 cent increments.


On Harmonix promoting/featuring various artists as they appear in the RBN store:

We're planning to promote RBN songs in many different ways. Both popular and HMX favorites will be easy to keep track of...

More info on what a developer/creator can customize on their tracks:

You will be able to add album art, genre info, ratings, album info, year, etc...
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thanks

When it will launch publicly:

When public Beta launches later this Summer. Store actually opens once it has plenty of content late this Fall.

On Rock Band 1 and other things:

1 - More information on Animations is coming soon.

2 - RBN songs will be sortable by album.

3 - No RBN store in RB1.

4 - RBN songs do not work in RB1.

[Apples]

Stage kit and effects switch usage:

Yes. [to both] The fog part of stage kit doesn't though, just the lights.

The ability to demo songs before buying them:

Anyone can download a demo version of an RBN song for free. This way you can try before they buy. You get to play the first 35 percent of the song. You can still configure the instrument combination and difficulty for the demo song and play the first 35 percent as much as you'd like..

[OakTea]

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/07/17/mt...m-for-artists/

I thought this was a pretty useful link. It has a video as well, for people who don't feel like reading.

[skyttskytt]

Now, if only people read stickies...

I like pretty much all of those quotes from Sean are responses to me yelling about the 360 only kind of thing.

[sillystou]

Thanks Apples, this should help anyone with a question. It's very interesting.

[Meatwad555]

Apples to the rescue!

[Ilikemyname]

One question....what if we can prove we have rights to a cover?

[HMXMister_Game]

A couple clarifications.

- Song length must be between 30 seconds and 10 minutes.
- Any combination of instruments is fair game, including solo instruments (even acapella!)
- Final pricing is still subject to change, but it's likely to be a choice of $1, $2, or $3. Submitters can change the price once per quarter.
- Every song has a demo version, which is the first 1 minute, or 35% of the song (whichever is shorter), and you can play that demo as many times as you want. You can play the demos multiplayer, but not during network play.

edit: more stuff I forgot the first time

[aspiring]

This is great thanks, as i found some useful info in here. So RBN is useless to me now anyway. Besides some new DLC songs, i cannot attempt to make my own as i am not from the US. Are there any plans to let the rest of the world attempt making songs, as this seriously limits the songs and styles that can be brought to the game, from different cultures. I mean i dont game on 360, but my cousin does, and his band wanted to do this. Now they cant.

[Renrock]

This is great thanks, as i found some useful info in here. So RBN is useless to me now anyway. Besides some new DLC songs, i cannot attempt to make my own as i am not from the US.

You could still have your own stuff in the game. You'll just need to use a US company to submit it for you.