Making Money on Rock Band Network (III)
Here’s some of the latest links and information I have found for Rock Band Network. (Unfortunately none of them has any extra information about a rags-to-riches on RBN… yet!)
Harmonix’s Rock Band Network partners with Distribution, Promotion Sites (Gamasutra) The article talks about cross-promotion between musician tools Tunecore, Nimbit, Reverb Nation, Indaba Music, and Topspin; while those sites are promoted to RBN users. On a related note; Rock Band Aide noted a RBN preview channel on Youtube.
A quite nice article about the difficulties of charting for Rock Band Network. (Music Think Tank)
A similar article decrying the arduousness of making the music ready for the game.
Another article, but hopeful, about a Vancouver band that is putting material on RBN. (Straight.com; Vancouver’s Music Source).
Regularly updated blog about RBN updates that has some impartial opinions. (Plastic Axe)
And last but not least; some very substantial information about Microsoft’s contribution to the RBN project that were given during the Game Developer’s Conference, but are now available for download.
Rock Band Network post-mortem (from Microsoft Website; contains a zip file of a Powerpoint and also audiocast)
Highly enjoyable critique of the above source material from professional gaming Website (Joystiq). I especially enjoyed the fact that Microsoft’s programmers were much more consumed with the language and graphic images portion of the programming; but commented very little on the copyright-clearance filtering software… which I for one thought was masterfully done.
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Editorial comment: I wondered how it was that RBN was able to filter out any copyright-infringing content? The articles imply that it was because of direct input from developers/programmers at Microsoft; and that this might be an indirect or even direct reason the songs premiere first on Xbox live (or maybe just coding reasons). But I’d be interested in reading any more indepth studies of how this was done. (Any of my readers feel free to enlighten me).
Jay Moffitt is a Tennessee attorney. This blog is for entertainment and educational purposes only and does not consitute legal advice or create an attorney/client relationship. Jay Moffitt is not certified as a specialist in this area by Tennessee and Tennessee does not certify specialists in this practice area. All comments will be answered promptly and courteously as long as they are germane to the discussion and do not contain specific game names or incidents.
Tags: Harmonix, Microsoft, Music games, PS3, Rock Band, Rock Band Network, Xbox 360
There is no code to filter out any copyright-infringing content that I have seen. If someone were to submit stuff for which they didn’t have the rights, they would be banned. It’s not like youtube where there are 24 hours of video being uploaded every second or whatever. It’s a small group of people submitting content, each of whom must also submit signed consent paperwork with each song.
The reason the songs premier first on xbox is simply because that is the deal that was cut between HMX and MS (which is related to the fact that the RBN system uses MS’s XNA system).
jaymoffitt Reply:
July 8th, 2010 at 5:16 pm
First of all, thanks for the inside information. I’m just a lawyer, and not a programmer or coder, and so I analyze these stories strictly from the press releases. That’s why I blog in such an open-ended fashion and ask (practically beg) for comments from programmers/composers/coders who have actually used the software.
Secondly, if they are not filtering it with software, then someone at the Harmonix side must be using some type of software. I would wonder if they’re connected with the Harry Fox Agency for song clearance, or some more specialized type of software (such as is in use for MSN network, etc… showing my age).
Thanks for reading and commenting. I try to write in a broad fashion for a broad audience, but I know I’m too lightweight for the true programmer and too much of a layman for the lawyers in my readership; but I’m always open and interested in ideas for future posts and for criticism of my blog posts.