Not content with totally mishandling the music industry’s disastrous “transition” into the iPod age, Warner Music CEO, Edgar Bronfman Jr., has started down the path of bungling yet another potential revenue stream. With the recent explosion in popularity (and sales) of Guitar Hero and Rock Band, it was only a matter of time before someone had to open their big mouth. The churlish executive told Reuters:
The amount being paid to the music industry, even though their games are entirely dependent on the content we own and control, is far too small.
Now, to be fair, no specifics were given as to how much the record labels are actually getting paid for the use of their music recordings in the games. It’s certainly possible that the game industry is not paying enough. Let’s forget for a minute all the other components that make Guitar Hero/Rock Band successful (development costs, peripheral manufacturing, distribution, marketing, etc.) and play Ed’s game. If I had to guess, I’d posit that the current cut for music in rhythm games is close, if not the same, as a digital download on iTunes. Our pal Eddie must have seen this, and thought, “Hay! Activision is charging double the price of iTunes, but we’re only getting the same as El Jobso. Let me talk to the press, they will surely be on our side!”
Sarcasm aside, Eduardo and the rest of the music industry really need to think before they speak. Even if they are getting the shaft, it would be much more productive to solve the issue behind closed doors. Coming out and complaining to the press in a haughty tone is not going to help their situation any. To the contrary, it’ll just serve as blogger and message board fodder to further drag the music industry through the mud.
Not that the record labels really need any more help with that.
The speculation is over. Harmonix and MTV have revealed the final song list for the much anticipated songpack sequel to Rock Band. We knew it was going to have 80+ songs on the disc, but in a slightly surprising twist, rockers will be getting another bonus 20 songs that will be downloadable for free in the fall.
As expected, Rock Band 2 will be a timed exclusive for the Xbox 360, releasing on that platform in September with the PS3, Wii, and PS2 following a few months later (presumably in November).
From the press release:
• After 14 years since Guns N’ Roses last official music release, Axl Rose selects Rock Band 2 to debut official new track “Shackler’s Revenge” from the highly-anticipated album Chinese Democracy.
• Rock Band 2 is the first and only video game to feature the music of AC/DC. It includes their epic rock anthem, “Let There Be Rock.”
• For the first time ever, music from American music icon, Bob Dylan, is featured in a video game with “Tangled Up In Blue.”
• Rock Band 2 will feature backwards compatibility with all Rock Band downloadable music content released to date.
• Owners of the original Rock Band will have the ability to export most of the Rock Band disc tracks and upgrade them into Rock Band 2 gameplay–the first time ever in videogame history!
There are some really awesome songs on this list. If all Rock Band 2 was just a song addon pack, it would be worth the $60 for the dvd by itself as each song would be costing you just $0.57. However, it appears as if there will be some minor improvements to the gameplay and the fact that you can import all of your songs from Rock Band 1 into the new format for free gives me a warm and tingly feeling as a customer. Harmonix is really pushing Rock Band as a platform, as opposed to yearly stand alone exploits to siphon money from our wallets.
Read on for the full song list.
IGN has an interview with Harmonix’s Lead Designer, Dan Teasdale, on the newly announced Rock Band 2 that will ship in September for the Xbox 360 and later in that year for other platforms.
Mr. Teasdale does an admirable job of answering interview questions without really saying anything of substance. He says that they have been reading internet forums rabidly and have made improvements to the game based on said feedback. Basically, it seems like there will be modest improvements across the board in game interface and instrument build.
The biggest tidbit of news is that all of your existing Rock Band DLC that you’ve purchased will work with Rock Band 2 and vice versa.
As far as Harmonix is concerned, there’s no difference between “Rock
Band 1 DLC” and “Rock Band 2 DLC” – we’re just releasing awesome songs
every week onto the Rock Band platform, all of which are playable by
the Rock Band titles that support DLC.
This is awesome news in the nascent rhythm game wars as a lot of people have sunk a significant amount of coin into downloading new songs. Making their investments obsolete *cough* Guitar Hero 3 *cough*, just leaves people with a bad taste in their mouths.
I can’t believe I’m saying this, but I’d actually feel better buying a $60 game with modest improvements, than sinking $200 on all new hardware. Especially if said $60 game contained a bunch of awesome songs as well. Granted, Guitar Hero has to catch up to the whole “full band” experience, but a lot of people have bought three generations of Guitar Hero hardware already.
For Pete’s sake, give us some time to enjoy the Chinese Plastic we already have!
