Hello, from Zack Wilson's author!

[TheFuture15]

Hello everyone,
Just joined up here at the official forums after spending the majority of my time over at the RBN forums. I figured I'd drop in and say thanks to all the folks that paid for Zack Wilson's music...hopefully you enjoyed it!

Being a part of this process has been really cool for me - I think what the guys at Harmonix are doing is a really major step in the game industry for building a platform that not only allows community driven content, but allows them to actually make money on it.

If you haven't checked out any of Zack's songs, I'd encourage you to at least download the demo and try them out. Zack is my older cousin, and has been a "starving musician" for most of his adult life. Me on the other hand, I'm a musician too but I'm actually a game designer for my real job - so I jumped at the chance to help Zack out and get some of his tracks onto RBN. His musical ability and creativity has always blown me away (he typically performs all the parts of all the songs by himself without any digital recording help -- all analog), so I wanted to help him out. I built a website for him as well - zwilson.com.

So far I've got 2 songs approved and up in the store, one approved and on the song page but not in the game yet, one in peer review (sitting at 50% approved for a while now), and I just started authoring a new one as well. I try to do HD capture of all the songs while they're in development so I can get quick feedback, so if you want to check them out without even booting up your 360, here they are:

Another California Song:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=h3o1vDAst8g
Song page: http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5000561
My first attempt at authoring and one of the first songs to get approved in RBN. I'm really happy to finish it but I kind of wish I could go back and make more changes now that I've spent a few months learning more about the process. This one has a pretty wicked duel guitar guitar solo, and the main lick throughout the song is pretty unique too.

Ox:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WvO4IkxIH9A
Song page: http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5000853
This one is really chill and I actually picked it because of how easy it would be to author. The chorus is really fun to sing and play, but the rest of the song is nice and simple. It gets stuck in your head pretty easily. (I. Could. Be. Strong. As. An. Ox!)

Moonshine Hollar:
YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AlLymkm185E
Song page: http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5001564
This is one of the most unique songs I've ever heard and I was really happy to author it. It's pretty short, really fast paced, with these really crazy and hilarious lyrics. It's a lot of fun, and most all of the peer reviewers have agreed. I can't wait for this to go live! (I priced it at 80 MSP too.)

Rearview Mirror:
Youtube: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FzNxX4BkAJI
Song page: http://www.rockband.com/songs/UGC_5002067
This one has kind of stalled in peer review since RBN went live, but this is one of my favorite songs musically. It's got two killer guitar solos (I wish there were more!), the bass and drums are pretty fun too.
UPDATE: It's live now!

Piece of Chocolate:
Instruments: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RPVk9OTIM_c
Venue: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DljKzj3Elpc
I just started authoring this one two days ago, don't have masters yet, so the vid is pretty rough still. But due to the really unique style and beat, I think this one is going to be pretty epic personally.

Lastly, I wrote a blog a few months back about the process of getting the music in that may interest some folks. You can check it out here:
http://sportsgamedesign.blogspot.com...ck-band-2.html

So anyway, this is a really long intro - but I figured I'd give you guys a behind the scenes look. Again, would love to hear your thoughts on Zack's music, or the charts, or any other feedback or questions you may have!

[ShiningIdeal]

Thanks for posting - I dig his music quite a bit - he was one of the first people I bought without knowing from RBN and its really cool that it is a family experience thing. I've been doing some work for a few friends in a similar thing.

[broncosfan06]

ive gotten all 3 songs up so far i love um i would love to see more coming, its a great unique sound.....fun charts too, great job, cant wait for rearview mirror

[barnabyjones786]

Ox is by far my favorite RBN song i would pay like 7 more times if i could!

[dmbdaw]

Another California Song was my first RBN buy. I'm gonna check out his other songs. Thanks to you for bringing Zach to RB!

[CaptainKicker]

If i had access to RBN (That's why it sucks to live in Denmark) i would buy theese songs. They look so awesome.

[ASPRon]

Zack Wilson is amazing ! The Future thank you for the great music !

[TheFuture15]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I am looking forward to continuing to build more songs - it's a lot of fun.

I am still trying to figure out what is holding up Moonshine Hollar - it's marked as approved but there's still no page for it on the XBL Marketplace.

[dmbdaw]

Thanks everyone for the kind words! I am looking forward to continuing to build more songs - it's a lot of fun.

I am still trying to figure out what is holding up Moonshine Hollar - it's marked as approved but there's still no page for it on the XBL Marketplace.

Yeah I noticed that. It is in the store but shows as 0 points and won't let me download.

[TheFuture15]

Yeah I noticed that. It is in the store but shows as 0 points and won't let me download.

Same for me. I've got an email off to some HMX people to see what's going on. Bummer!