Spoonman and Give it Away

[rsm790]

Was it ever said that the contracts were good for exactly five years? Five years from when, the time the contracts were signed or when the games were released? Does this mean that we're going to get massive amounts of Aerosmith DLC on exactly June 29, 2013?

We can only hope

[GNFfhqwhgads]

Was it ever said that the contracts were good for exactly five years? Five years from when, the time the contracts were signed or when the games were released? Does this mean that we're going to get massive amounts of Aerosmith DLC on exactly June 29, 2013?

We've been running off the No Doubt thing, which said band image was licensed for five years.


Which is stupid, because everything is licensed differently. Harmonix has exclusive rights to The Cars' self-titled album, but only in its entirety. I could make a music game and release everything but All Mixed Up and have it be perfectly legal, but I would be unable to release All Mixed Up in the same area at that point.

[Magnet]

Everyone assumes it's 5 years because of the No Doubt deal, when in fact each deal is it's own entity and has no bearing on other deals save for standard operating procedure(which we also have no knowledge of). Aerosmith could be 20 years and Metallica could have been 10 days.

I think this is the best reasoning on how long exclusive deals last. Unless one of the parties publicly announces the terms of the contract, it's just something that is unknown and can easily vary from band to band. I suppose the 5-year No Doubt likeness deal may possibly be indicative of the time frame Activision aims for with exclusivity, but anything can be negotiated. So I don't think it's particularly worthwhile to countdown to five years from an Activision band game's release date when such exclusive terms may have already expired or will last longer than five years. The specific time frames are anyone's guess.

[GNFfhqwhgads]

The only hints we've ever had with Metallica are non-exporting disc songs, and we're out of disc songs that we can later see not export.

[tnevaker]

It's true. The RB1->RB2 export was almost 4 years ago and requests have gone down considerably since then. That may be because people came to grips or lost interest or got their Metallica fix elsewhere, but however it worked out that's how it worked out. As for Journey, I think Don't Stop Believing has always been the bigger of the 2 songs in RB and as long as people have that they'll survive.

i'm not sure i buy that logic regarding Journey. only having a single DLC track available hasn't reduced the demand for Muse, it seems. and i can only imagine the amount of displeasure if Muse had had a disc track that didn't export. i don't see Journey fans (or any band's fans) saying "i wish we'd get that song back, but at least we have [insert DLC single here], so i won't bother requesting it." if anything, having one song available would seem to increase demand, since then your fans know that it's at least possible to license (or re-license) their songs (unlike, say, Led Zep or Pink Floyd).

[bonethug0108]

I think what hmxhenry's saying is that Don't Stop Believing was so much more requested than the rest of Journey that it's not even close, and being that most people got that Journey song they wanted they are satisfied.

Of course Journey fans are going to keep requesting more, but the "average" fan has their fill for the most part.

On Muse, they are a newer band and hmx has constantly stated that requests heavily skew new. Also being that we don't have clearly their number one song everyone would request, everyone is still asking for THAT Muse song, Muse fan or not.

[Myaaraap]

From all the responses I've read concerning these songs coming back, I'd say they succeeded in trying to please fans. I'm seeing way more positive responses to the return of these songs than negative so far.

Count me in the happy column. One of my favorite features of Rock Band is that the songs export to each new iteration. It always irks me greatly when some DON'T export, and I love seeing HMX focus on filling those gaps in when they can. I'll take the fill-ins in any form (DLC, disc, whatever) and I'll take all of them (Journey for sure, but even Metallica and the other songs which I'm personally not that wild about). These aren't my favorite songs, but I love seeing them return after I had to cross them off my RB list when RB3 came out. If they're upgraded to RB3 songs, that's delicious gravy.

I'm not that wild about the Blitz set list overall. The return of these 2 songs is probably my favorite part of it, actually.

[sillystou]

well now... this changes everything! At first the number of tracks announced wasn't enough to make me interested. But with these additions... I might just have to buy Blitz afterall! Looking forward to moar Foo's, Kelly Clarkson, Maroon 5 (moves like jagger, I gotta admit is a catchy song) , the return of missing tracks from RHCP and Soundgarden...

So right now, interested in:

Blink 182
Barenaked Ladies
Collective Soul
Foster the People
P!nk
Tears For Fears
Soundgarden
RHCP

So if I do 8 songs X $1.99 per song = $15.92

and if I buy Blitz, I pay $14.99 AND get 17 moar songs (some which I might like after playing them)....

I guess I will buy it but only when I have the money for it.

[thatmarkguy]

On Muse, they are a newer band and hmx has constantly stated that requests heavily skew new. Also being that we don't have clearly their number one song everyone would request, everyone is still asking for THAT Muse song, Muse fan or not.

I don't have any idea which song you're talking about.

Their biggest charter in the UK / Twilight soundtrack appearer, Supermassive Black Hole?
Their biggest charter in the US, Uprising?
The song that really cemented them as a favorite among music-videogame fans, Knights of Cydonia?

[TheStuddz]

I don't have any idea which song you're talking about.

Their biggest charter in the UK / Twilight soundtrack appearer, Supermassive Black Hole?
Their biggest charter in the US, Uprising?
The song that really cemented them as a favorite among music-videogame fans, Knights of Cydonia?

Yeah, I'll admit, when "THAT Muse song" was mentioned, I simultaneously thought of all three of these.