MTV Launching 'Rock Band Network,' Allows Anyone to Create and Upload Playable Tracks

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Harmonix today announced a new system called the Rock Band Network that will allow both publishing labels and mere Rock Band players to create their own Rock Band tracks.

"We've figured out how to make it so anybody who owns and controls masters and publishing can put music into ["Rock Band"] at their own pace," said MTV Games senior VP Paul DeGooyer to Billboard. Potential creators will need to be a member of Microsoft's XNA Creators Club Online, which carries a yearly subscription cost of $100. The system will allow those members to create Rock Band tracks, upload them for peer review, and then add them to a download store separate from the official Rock Band store. Creators will receive a 30% cut of any resultant sales.

While the system was initially designed with independent artists in mind, Harmonix now believes it will also benefit larger labels as well. Harmonix is currently capable of producing only 10 new Rock Band songs per week, but the company estimates the new system could see the amount of new music jump significantly.

"Once we flip on the infrastructure, we can go from a few dozen people capable of doing this work to hundreds of people or more," said Harmonix founder Alex Rigopulos. "We can ramp up by a factor of 10 or more the rate of production of content."

The Network is set to launch later this year, but the creation tools will be available sometime in August. Check out the preview site for more information on how it works.

From The Chatty
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    July 17, 2009 10:19 AM

    This sounds really good. It will be interesting to see if they make the songs as good as harmonix..

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