Great deal for someone who wants to put their musci on RBN!!

[trg007]

Some of the posts here make it sound like RhythmAuthors are the only ones offering authoring services for no up-front cost. All the major RBN authoring groups offer various arrangements ranging from paying a one-time fee and all the royalties going to the band, to paying nothing up-front and taking a cut of the royalties.

Either way, it's still going to cost the band quite a bit, whether it's up front or taken out of the royalties over time. The royalty option is obviously very popular for indie bands who don't have the cash up-front and don't know how well their songs are going to sell. Likewise, it's a risk for the authoring company to take on a band on a strictly royalty-based arrangement if that band is only going to sell 1000 songs at $1.

The reason it's "worth it" is, well, if you tried to author an entire song yourself you'd know. Someone trying to author a song on their own could easily spend 100+ hours by the time it gets through Peer Review. An authoring company can have a song authored in a very short amount of time because they're splitting task between people and those people are intimately familiar with the process (as opposed to a band trying to learn everything for the first time).

[Sargehalo51]

So I am reading the posts in this thread and am a bit confused, since my impression of the RBN was that unsigned bands could do the whole process themselves, without paying anyone (other than the small fee to join the RBN creators club). So why would any unsigned band pay any company for this process? I base this on the following quote from HMX:

"Originally Posted by HMXEnosity
- 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."

[afterstasis]

So I am reading the posts in this thread and am a bit confused, since my impression of the RBN was that unsigned bands could do the whole process themselves, without paying anyone (other than the small fee to join the RBN creators club). So why would any unsigned band pay any company for this process? I base this on the following quote from HMX:

"Originally Posted by HMXEnosity
- 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."

not every band has the resources or skill to do that...
i suspect most unsigned bands will be going through some authoring service (but certainly not this one).

[trg007]

So why would any unsigned band pay any company for this process?

See the last part of my post directly above yours. The process may sound easy on paper, but it's much more involved than that. I've seen cases where someone trying to author themselves gave up on it because of how time-consuming it is.

[Xenigma]

If it was easy to convert a song for Rock Band, there would be little need for charting groups in the first place. Some bands will go through the trouble of doing all the work themselves; I've already seen a few on the beta. They get all the profits, they get to control their own songs, and once a song gets through all the requisite testing, they should end up with a quality final product.

For everyone else, though, we have the charting groups who will happily do all the work in exchange for money upfront or a cut of the profit. Let the band focus on doing whatever else they want to do! It might not be the right choice for everyone, but there is nothing wrong with having the choice in the first place.

[DavyinaToga]

[...]In other words, $999 may actually be a pretty good bargain for bands on the cusp of success. Get on the deal while you can! Rock Band Network itself will be launching early this year.

Wow! What the heck am I doing, offering a paltry rate compared to that one and doing all the work on my own???

On second thought, 85% of start-up businesses fail within their first year. And I like authoring in my own free time, so I'll take my paltry rates, with guaranteed pocket money for an enjoyable pastime.

[toymachineSH]

Some of the posts here make it sound like RhythmAuthors are the only ones offering authoring services for no up-front cost.

Not exactly true- Rock Gamer Studios is mentioned in the OP :P

[Sargehalo51]

If it was easy to convert a song for Rock Band, there would be little need for charting groups in the first place. Some bands will go through the trouble of doing all the work themselves; I've already seen a few on the beta. They get all the profits, they get to control their own songs, and once a song gets through all the requisite testing, they should end up with a quality final product.

For everyone else, though, we have the charting groups who will happily do all the work in exchange for money upfront or a cut of the profit. Let the band focus on doing whatever else they want to do! It might not be the right choice for everyone, but there is nothing wrong with having the choice in the first place.

Choice is always a good thing. I doubt my drumming skills will ever really get me to the point where I am making original music, but if I did, I would certainly want to do this myself (with my band) so that we could keep total control over our music. Hopefully someday artists/bands will be able to get their music to the masses, and make a living, without giving up rights and money to others (yes, this would be called music utopia and probably will never happen).

[GeneralGilliam]

Well these people are obviously just a couple of people looking to make a quick buck on unsespecting people. I mean get 10 bands interested and there you go, youve made $10,000! There no better than scam artists.

[ethicalpaul]

Yeah, I totally understand the point of view of the company that's asking that price. What I'm saying is that their asking price is ridiculous, and they can't possibly expect any unsigned band to be willing to front that much money with questionable returns. $1000? An unsigned band can record an entire album in a budget studio for that much money. They can buy most of a PA with that kinda cash.

I agree with you completely that it's too much money for an unsigned band. I hope you will agree with me that it's too little money for a company or individual to be able to survive, hence the problem--a wide gulf between what what the consumer can pay and what the provider has to charge

And General Gilliam, there is nothing scammy or diabolical about openly offering a service for a price. If you were charting songs for a living you would soon learn that it would be hard to survive on $1000 per song.

But even if that were a king's ransom of cash, there's still nothing wrong with offering a service for whatever price you wish. Every store, service organization and independent tradesperson does it every day. You don't have to buy it if you think it is too high, but that doesn't make anyone evil.