DLC by the Numbers -- a Ton of Statistics for 2011 (And What They Imply for 2012)

[queuemark]

Harmonix has talked a bit about the 2011 year in Rock Band. I thought it would be interesting to explore some of the detailed statistics about the year 2011 in DLC. Crunching the numbers is fun (for me at least) and may hold some predictive value and guide our guesses for next year.

A few caveats -- these are slightly rough counts that I got by scanning through DLCQuickplay and Wikipedia's list of DLC. I didn't paste 'em into Excel or anything, so there's a good chance that a few figures are slightly off, but only to a minor degree. Also, some of these are a bit ambiguous -- I had to make a few decisions about what to calculate and what to exclude. I looked at all official HMX DLC for the calendar year, including 2112, though it is officially counting as the DLC for the first week of next year. I decided to count 2112 as 1 track, as opposed to 3, 4, or 7. I included the Country Track Pack 2 releases as their week of DLC, but excluded the Schick giveaway songs. Since the Rock Band 2 free DLC were previously featured in the game, I left them out.

After all that, I landed at 306 total songs released over the course of 2011. That differs from HMX's official count of 318, which I assume includes Rock Band Free 01 and the Schick songs. So, here it is: enough useless Rock Band DLC statistics to make you vomit! Or at least make you back away slowly while eying me uneasily. Enjoy!
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Overall DLC Statistics

DLC released in 2011: 306
Weekly average: 5.8
Median release: 5

So despite the obvious slow down in DLC, HMX is still putting out about 6 pieces of DLC per week, but up to 8 when factoring in pro-upgrades. Speaking of which:

Pro-upgrades released for 2011 DLC: 106

Total pro-upgrades released since RB3 release: 170

Total pro-upgrades released in 2011, including legacy: 132

Artists with the most pro-upgrades:
-Queen - 16 (2 in 2011)
-Nirvana - 11 (all in 2011)
-Def Leppard - 7 (6 in 2011)
-the Clash - 6 (all in 2011)
-Red Hot Chili Peppers - 5 (all in 2011)
-Jimi Hendrix/Experience - 5 (4 in 2011)
-the Doors - 4 (none in 2011)
-Bon Jovi - 4 (none in 2011)
-Billy Joel - 4 (1 in 2011)
-Ozzy Osbourne - 4 (3 in 2011)
-Soundgarden - 4 (all in 2011)
-Rush - 4 (3 in 2011)

-Lynyrd Skynyrd, David Bowie, Foreigner, Foo Fighters, Yes, and Slipknot each have 3 pro guitar/bass upgrades.

DLC featuring pro-keys/keys support: 217

Slightly more than 2/3 of DLC. That's petty good, as far as I'm concerned (and pro-keys is my #2 instrument).

I didn't tabulate DLC featuring harmonies. If someone would like to, feel free. Now, here's the interesting part. Let's take a look at how many artists were added this year.

Different artists released in 2011: 128
*(there were two releases on different dates from Johnny Cash, the Clash, Lady Antebellum, Stevie Nicks, and Rush, the second ones are excluded)

Of those 128 different artists:

50 were completely new to the platform.
*(counts new country track pack artists, but not artists "featured" with another. Excludes Janis Joplin's backing band)

7 of those new artists had a full pack released (Johnny Cash, Stone Sour, Depeche Mode, Bruno Mars, Puddle of Mudd, Coldplay, Stevie Wonder)

5 of those new artists saw a pair of songs released (Dragonforce, Grand Funk Railroad, Stevie Nicks, Ohio Players, Live).
*(Made an exception for Stevie Nicks, who had an individual release earlier in the year)

9 artists were featured twice this year. This does count songs "featuring" an additional artist.

21 artists were featured for the second time in Rock Band, after previously having only 1 song on the platform.

There are 19 RB3 artists who received DLC this year.* There are just 34 RB3 artists who have yet to receive DLC (or a song featured on another disc or via RBN).

24 artists had 4 or more songs released to the platform.

Artists who received the most DLC in 2011:
-the Clash - 19
-Johnny Cash - 9
-Queen - 9
-Bob Marley & the Wailers - 8
-Ozzy Osbourne - 8
-Red Hot Chili Peppers - 8
-Jimi Hendrix/Experience - 7
-Linkin Park - 6
-Coldplay - 6
-Pat Benatar - 6
-Billy Joel - 6
-Soundgarden - 6
-Def Leppard - 6

Only a few large packs were released: 1 nine pack, 4 eight packs, 2 seven packs. No 12 packs were released, a first in a full year of DLC.

So I think the takeaway from all of this is to manage expectations for 2012. Only 50 new artists came to the game, slightly less than 1 per week, on average. And of those, only 12 artists that were completely new to the game had a significant number of tracks released. Rock Band has already integrated a huge number of artist relationships, chances are good that they will continue to focus on taking advantage of those in the future.

Miscellaneous Stats:

Songs released as live versions: 9
(*tentatively counting 2112)

Songs released with alternate takes/re-records: 13 (Johnny Cash, Roy Orbison, Tommy Tutone & EMF, maybe more?)

Songs with prominent female vocals: 37 (about 12%)

A significant amount of those songs were Stevie/Fleetwood and Pat Benatar tracks. More chick music, please!

Most Played DLC:

Harmonix already shared with us their list of the top 10 most played DLC songs. For comparison (quoted from the blog):

• 10. "All the Small Things" - Blink-182
• 9. "Numb" - Linkin Park
• 8. "Bat Country" - Avenged Sevenfold
• 7. "Afterlife" - Avenged Sevenfold
• 6. "Through the Fire and Flames" - Dragonforce
• 5. "Nightmare" - Avenged Sevenfold
• 4. "More Than a Feeling" - Boston
• 3. "In The End" - Linkin Park
• 2. "Bring Me to Life" - Evanescence
• 1. "Don't Stop Believing" - Journey

Here is a list of the most ranked pieces of DLC released in 2011, according to rockbandscores.com (number in parenthesis is how many scores have been tracked across all 3 systems):

1) Linkin Park - In the End (105,700)
2) Linkin Park - Numb (88,400)
3) Linkin Park - What I've Done (77,300)
4) Linkin Park - Crawling (74,300)
5) Linkin Park - Somewhere I Belong (67,800)
6) Bonnie Tyler - Total Eclipse of the Heart (60,000)
7) B.o.B. featuring Hayley Williams - Airplanes (58,800)
8) Dragonforce - Through the Fire and Flames (56,300)
9) Linkin Park - Waiting for the End (56,200)
10) a-ha - Take on Me (50,000)
11) Stone Sour - Through Glass (42,700)
12) Meat Loaf - Paradise by the Dashboard Light (40,800)
13) the Police - Every Breath You Take (40,200)
14) System of a Down - Aerials (34,900)
15) Avenged Sevenfold - Welcome to the Family (34,800)
16) Puddle of Mudd - Blurry (34,700)
17) Lady Gaga - Born This Way (33,600)
18) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (33,600)
19) 3 Doors Down - Here Without You (32,300)
20) Human League - Don't You Want Me - 32,200)

And for the sake of thoroughness, this list only shows DLC released in the second half of the year:

1) System of a Down - Aerials (34,900)
2) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Californication (33,600)
3) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Otherside (27,500)
4) Red Hot Chili Peppers - By the Way (26,100)
5) Red Hot Chili Peppers - Scar Tissue (24,600)
6) Fall Out Boy - Sugar We're Going Down (24,000)
7) Def Leppard - Photograph (23,800)
8) Fall Out Boy - Thanks fr the Mmrs (23,000)
9) Def Leppard - Pour Some Sugar on Me (22,800)
10) Heart - Barracuda (22,500)

Songs Released by Genres:

Alternative - 32
Blues - 1
Classic Rock - 49
Country - 30
Emo - 1
Glam - 9
Grunge - 10
Hip-Hop/Rap - 7
Indie Rock - 1
Metal - 28
New Wave - 5
Nu-Metal - 16
Pop-Rock - 25
Pop/Dance/Electronic - 10
Prog - 9
Punk - 26
R&B/Soul/Funk - 9
Reggae/Ska - 9
Rock - 28

So there's some ammunition for the genre wars. Personally I cry a single tear when I realize only a single song classified as indie rock was released (Death Cab for Cutie, FYI).

Songs Released by Decades:

1950s - 6
1960s - 14
1970s - 78
1980s - 53
1990s - 40
2000s - 78
2010s - 37

BAAAAAAAWWW old people music! Looks to me like the 1970s are slightly overrepresented and the 1990s slightly underrepresented, based on what you might expect by chance. Otherwise, that looks like a pretty good balance.

Artists by Country of Origin:
(I need help with this one -- I just skimmed through and listed what I knew)

United Kingdom - 16 (includes some big releases: David Bowie, the Clash, Ozzy Osbourne, Yes, Def Leppard, Coldplay, Queen)
-----Wales - 1 (Bonnie Tyler)
Canada - 4 (Loverboy, Shania Twain, Nickelback, Rush)
Jamaica - 1 (uh, Bob Marley)
Finland - 1 [I](Lordi)
Norway - 1 (a-ha)
New Zealand/Australia - 1 (Keith Urban, started his career in both)
Sweden - 1 (Opeth)
Denmark - 1 (Volbeat)

Packs by the Numbers:

Packs released: 49

Albums released: 1

"02" and higher packs released: 14

Non-album packs lacking the traditional numbering: 8

Highest pack number: 04 (Foo Fighters and Weezer)

Here is a list of albums that will now sort in Rock Band 3 as of 2011, *ie if you have the 3 tracks available from these albums as of 2011, the RB engine will display the album's name above the tracks. Some of us <cough> enjoy seeing albums displayed.*

Johnny Cash's Classic Cash: Hall of Fame Series
Linkin Park's Hybrid Theory
the Clash's London Calling
David Bowie's Ziggy Stardust
Billy Joel's The Stranger
Billy Joel's Turnstiles
nine inch nails' Pretty Hate Machine
Fleetwood Mac's Fleetwood Mac
Fleetwood Mac's Rumours
Foo Fighters' There is Nothing Left to Lose
Ozzy Osbourne's Blizzard of Ozz
Ozzy Osbourne's Diary of a Madman
Bruno Mars' Doo Wops and Hooligans
Rise Against's Appeal to Reason
Maroon 5's It Won't Be Soon Before Long
Puddle of Mudd's Come Clean
System of a Down's Toxicity
P.O.D.'s Satellite
Soundgarden's Badmotorfinger
Soundgarden's Superunknown (thanks to the re-inclusion of Black Hole Sun)
Soundgarden's Down on the Upside
Yes' Fragile
Def Leppard's Pyromania
Def Leppard's Mirrorball
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Californication
Red Hot Chili Peppers' Stadium Arcadium (thanks to the re-inclusion of Dani California)
Red Hot Chili Peppers' I'm With You
Nirvana's In Utero
Slipknot's All Hope is Gone
Blink 182's Take Off Your Pants and Jacket
Breaking Benjamin's Phobia
Rod Zombie's Hellbilly Deluxe
Nickelback's All the Right Reasons
Queen's A Night at the Opera
Queen's A Day at the Races
Queen's Jazz
Jimi Hendrix Experience's Electric Ladyland
Rush's 2112

The Future:

Obviously the past is not a perfect predictor, but a year's worth of DLC, and 4 years total, seems like a pretty good indicator of where things are headed. Here are some general assumptions:

-Barring a new game release, the rate of DLC is unlikely to go up to about 6/week on average. I think we can count ourselves fortunate if the output stays at this rate.

-There will NOT be a significant number of new artists released in 2012. Harmonix has picked the low hanging fruit, and fewer and fewer major artists and their management are open to the idea of being released as DLC. Expect a good number of singles from past one hit wonders and artists who were once huge and might have had a 3 pack released, but now merit no more than a single or 2 (ie, Live, P.O.D., Kiss - big-to-huge bands that only had 2 songs this year).

-Instead, Harmonix will continue to tap into the stable of artists they've cultivated relations with to release 2nd and 3rd packs.

-DLC will continue to skew predominantly American and British, male, and mainstream. Kudos to Harmonix for releasing some offbeat bands like Volbeat and Rufus w/Chaka Khan. It would be nice if they could cast a slightly more international net and feature more women, who I think must make up significantly more than 12% of the player-base.

-Harmonix will continue to promote artists with new albums to…promote. Last year saw Nickelback, Coldplay, Limp Bizkit, RHCP, Incubus, Def Leppard, 3 Doors Down, Soundgarden, Rise Against, Ozzy Osbourne, Lady Gaga, Foo Fighters, Roy Orbison, nine inch nails, and Linkin Park all have packs that directly promoted new albums, major tours, or greatest hits compilations). On that note…

Major Artists Already in Rock Band with Albums Scheduled in 2012:

-Offspring
-the Beach Boys
-Black Sabbath
-Linkin Park
-REM (Greatest Hits)
-Pearl Jam
-Alice in Chains
-Paul McCartney
-Garbage
-Queens of the Stone Age
-Meat Loaf (Hell in a Handbasket + a Christmas album!)
-My Chemical Romance
-Foo Fighters
-Marilyn Manson
-No Doubt
-Soundgarden
-the Killers
-Smashing Pumpkins (reissues, new album)
-Stone Temple Pilots
-the Cure
-Rush (Clockwork Angels)
-Muse (I had to be reminded to add them, 'cause face it, nagonnahappen)
-the Doors
-Weezer
-the Strokes
-Slipknot
-Green Day


So there you go. Combine those lists with which artists still have a number of major songs not featured in Rock Band and throw in some of next year's major tours (Megadeth/Motorhead, Tom Petty, Godsmack/Staind, Coldplay, Red Hot Chili Peppers) and you can probably figure out half of what's released in 2012. You're welcome.:-)

Anyway, I hope you all found this interesting. Took a couple hours, but it was a fun way to spend some slackabout vacation time. Hopefully it'll provide fodder for discussion/debate/knife fights.

Let me know if you have any corrections or worthwhile statistical additions that aren't bull crap (ie, "Number of Muses released: Zer000z!!!!") and I'll update it.


Also, a thanks to forum users nascarfan19, papermario21, dinoman, thatmarkguy, gamer1270, Ivmathemagician, ace4eVer, and SirDavidTLynch for spotting errors and suggesting specific additions.

[queuemark]

Phew, this took some doing! Feel free to comment, I'm just gonna steal this first reply in case I need more room...

[GNFfhqwhgads]

Damn.

[MostSpartan14]

Bravo to you for putting in all that effort. Some interesting and surprising stats up there.

[queuemark]

Damn.

What? I *said* you could back away slowly while eying me uneasily. STATISTICS!!!

[BachiG]

Some interesting observations up in there... I wonder how much of HMX resources were devoted to developing DC2 and their artists relationships and if (in any way) that had an affected on RB DLC. Also the sale of HMX and developing new relationships outside of MTV....

[nascarfan19]

I think you misordered a couple of the rankings of scores posted (that one where Linkin Park had the best selling of the year for 5 of the 6 songs )

[CamoTC]

Personally I cry a single tear when I realize only a single song classified as indie rock was released (Death Cab for Cutie, FYI).

As do I, my friend.

[nascarfan19]

At least it was an awesome Indie song

[ChiefSlayer]

Major Artists Already in Rock Band with Albums Scheduled in 2012:

Rush should be on that list too. Clockwork Angels will be out in 2112.