Harmonix Music Systems and MTV Games, announced that the Rock Band Network Music Store opens to the public today, giving Rock Band fans and music lovers a new avenue to discover music and providing musicians and labels the opportunity to produce and promote tracks for the Rock Band platform. The Rock Band Network, announced in July, is a ground-breaking initiative that gives musicians, publishers and record labels the ability to author their original recordings into gameplay files to promote and sell their music as playable Rock Band tracks through the Rock Band Network Music Store (RBN Store).
“The Rock Band Network Music Store gives artists at any level the opportunity to reach new fans through our deeply engaging interactive platform,” said Paul DeGooyer, senior vice president of Electronic Games and Music for MTV Networks Music Group. “This new pathway for discovery is a huge win for passionate music fans, as well as an opportunity for artists to promote themselves while positively impacting their bottom line.”
Artists who submit songs for the Rock Band Network Music Store are able to choose from multiple pricing tiers for individual tracks and receive a royalty of 30 percent of the retail selling price (excluding tax) for every track purchased through the RBN Store. There are currently more than 100 songs available for purchase in the Rock Band Network Music Store from artists including The Shins, The Hold Steady, The Main Drag, Bang Camaro, of Montreal, Jonathan Coulton, Skeleton Witch, 3 Inches of Blood, Lacuna Coil, Stroke 9, and Steve Vai*. There are more than 300 artists in the RBN pipeline, with additional tracks already on the way from Flight of the Conchords, The Smashing Pumpkins, Twin Atlantic, All That Remains, Clutch, Prong, The Gaslight Anthem and many more coming soon.
With more than 1,100 tracks available to date in the original Rock Band platform, the Rock Band Network Music Store will immediately boost the number of available songs, further securing MTV Games and Harmonix’s position as the leading provider of downloadable content for music-based video games.
VerveLife helped with the launch of the RBN Music Store by authoring six tracks:
Breathe Carolina – Hello Fascination
Chiodos – Lexington
Of Montreal – An Eluardian Instance
Otep – Smash The Control Machine
Revolting Cocks- Robo Banditos
Sarah VonderHaar – All Mine
Be sure to visit the new store and play some of these new tracks.