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''Rock Band,'' ''Guitar Hero'' drive digital song sales

reuters.com — In the two months since MTV Networks and Harmonix released the music-based videogame ''Rock Band,'' players have purchased and downloaded more than 2.5 million additional songs made available after the game's...

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  • roguepuppet, on 01/20/2008, -1/+20Beyond downloadable songs for the game itself, as my step sons get more familiar with classic rock via the game, they are wanting to download and put those songs on their MP3 players, or have them in the family media center.
    • cannibaljp, on 01/20/2008, -1/+40Same here, my son hears the songs in the game and then he wants them for his iPod.

      Imagine that. Exposing people to quality music can encourage the sales of said songs... Maybe even prompt further sales by the artists.

      If only there were a medium where this music could be played in a free environment. Perhaps with specific "Channels" for the medium / genre in question.

      Wait, wait... we had that. And then it turned corporate, played the same crap over and over, and it ended up EOL'ing all on it's own.
  • Sparke, on 01/20/2008, -9/+3Downloadable songs is a great idea because their are so many good songs. But it's also bad because I hate microtransactions.
    • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -1/+5I think they are worth it for Rock Band. You can play the song on 3 different instruments or sing to it, Karaoke style. If they put an option in to just listen to the songs, then you could really use it as a music platform, because it wouldn't be much more expensive than buying a song on itunes.
    • iRoy, on 01/20/2008, -5/+3So what the ***** are you trying to say then?
  • Outlaz, on 01/20/2008, -4/+17Buying music?
  • exomni, on 01/20/2008, -1/+15Innovation beats stagnation.
  • Soave, on 01/20/2008, -5/+4They're only buying them because it's the only easy way to get more songs to play. The article isn't talking about downloading from iTunes, for example.
    • Arreo, on 01/20/2008, -0/+3I find it Strange too Friend.
    • StolenLamp, on 01/22/2008, -0/+0Well it should... after playing Rock Band, I've been introduced to the greatness of Metallica, and have bought a few of their CD's from iTunes. I find it hard to believe that I'm the only one.
  • iRoy, on 01/20/2008, -22/+3What a dumb game.
  • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -12/+5Is it just me or does Rock Band have very tame songs? There are very few songs that are really rocking. Maybe it's because they are going for the more casual market, but I wish they would release some more intense songs on the marketplace.
    • Antixian, on 01/20/2008, -2/+4you are just retarded and you proved it to everyone. go watch some of the downloadable metallica songs on youtube like blackend if you think it's tame.
      • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -2/+2*****, maybe I am retarded! Thanks for the heads up! Anyway, I did download the Metallica songs, and they are one of the few exceptions. Obviously it's just a matter of taste, but the song library is really lacking in modern punk rock and metal or anything fast and loud. Fast and loud is all I ask!
        • boombye, on 01/21/2008, -1/+1Well then go ***** buy Heavy Metal hero then.
        • Antixian, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2no man i'm sorry i was a bit harsh, i know what you're saying and actually i will agree that it is on the softer side of things. especially in multiplayer world tour mode...my friends and i were getting really sick of those crap songs you have to play before you start actually unlocking decent ones.
    • Snowspot, on 01/20/2008, -6/+2No Guitar hero is just boring... people just want to play old "popular" song because they can socialize with their friends about them and feel like part of a group. In reality, Frequency and Amplitude, Harmonix's first 2 games were much much better. pick those up if you want innovation... Guitar hero just reminds me of the wii, people are buying it because they don't know much about gaming and think this is the pinnacle of coolness or something.... lol
      • akwok, on 01/20/2008, -1/+3Guitar Hero III caters to hardcore gamers, while Rock Band is much more mainstream. There's 6 'fun' guitar tracks to play on Rock Band (GGHT, Highway Star, 4x Metallica), since the rest are so timid.
      • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -0/+4I love Frequency and Amplitude! I think you're right. They are just putting out classic songs to appeal to as many people as possible. Maybe if it keeps going strong they can branch out and put out some interesting music.
    • flair1, on 01/20/2008, -2/+1This song is on Guitar Hero III.

      Bulls on Parade- Rage against the Machine


      This microphone explode, shattering
      The molds
      Ya eighter drop tha hits like de la o or get tha
      ***** off tha commode
      Wit tha sure shot, sure ta make tha
      Bodies drop
      Drop an dont copy yo, dont call this
      A co-opt
      Terror rains drenchin, quenchin tha thirst of
      Tha power dons
      That five sided fist-a-gon
      Tha rotten sore on the face of mother earth gets
      Bigger
      Tha triggers cold empty ya purse
      They rally round tha family
      With pockets full of shells
      Weapons not food, not homes, not shoes
      Not need, just feed tha war canibal animal
      I walk tha corner to tha rubble that used to be a
      Library
      Line up to tha mind cemetery
      What we dont know keeps tha contracts alive an
      Movin
      They dont gotta burn tha books they just remove em
      While arms warehouses fill as quick as tha cells
      Rally round tha family, pockets full of shells
      Rally round tha family
      With pockets full of shells
      Bulls on parade

      • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1This is what I'm talking about! It would be a great song, but Rock Band doesn't really have any like it. Bulls on Parade was the first song I learned on the drums, so I was really disappointed it wasn't in Rock Band.
  • VibhuC812, on 01/20/2008, -2/+15It turns out that releasing products that make music more valuable is a better way to make money and have happy customers than it is to treat your customers like criminals *cough* RIAA *cough*.

  • VibhuC812, on 01/20/2008, -7/+25Sorry, Dupe. Please bury this.
    • MacSuxWindozSux, on 01/21/2008, -4/+1Token "Digg Me Up Too, But Instead Bury Me" reply comment.
  • SpikeLee, on 01/20/2008, -2/+2With games that rely on skill leveled songs, that means people buy skillful songs.
  • bincoder, on 01/20/2008, -10/+1Game music? yawn. This is why I haven't bought any music since the 1980s. And guess what, p2p didnt exist back then either.
    • cadmiumpaint, on 01/20/2008, -0/+9How's that Flock Of Seagulls haircut working out for you?
      • Jeffler, on 01/20/2008, -0/+6He's bald now, his hair ran so far away.
        • cadmiumpaint, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1his Yugo is in the shop, and he's ***** he can't find LOTR on betamax
  • stevejobs, on 01/20/2008, -0/+11GH3's downloadable songs are crap. Hopefully they fix this with a Metallica or GNR pack.
  • Scopitone, on 01/20/2008, -0/+15GHIII could learn a lot from out Rock Band is completely ruining them when it comes to DLC. RB offers the songs individually, in packs, and in mostly cohesive grouping methods. GH tends to shaft it's players by making them buy three songs to get one maybe two of the ones they actually want. With Activision now a part of Vivendi Universal and they're expansive music catalogue, there is no reason they shouldn't be pumping out entire CDs of quality DLC.
  • smozoma, on 01/20/2008, -2/+4The thing that bugs me about these song packs for Rock Band or Guitar Hero, is that when you get tired of the game or sell your system, you can't sell your downloaded content with them (unless I don't know something?).
  • kelly, on 01/20/2008, -1/+5I have guitar hero III for wii and didn't know there are additional songs to download. Am I misreading the article or am I missing a part of the game. Can someone please clue me in?
    • csaw, on 01/20/2008, -4/+25Sorry, you got the lame version. Mono Sound, and no downloadable content. Enjoy your next-gen console.
    • Dracusis, on 01/20/2008, -1/+3^ LOL

      It's only funny cause it's true.
    • nicko68, on 01/21/2008, -3/+2They're actually working on getting DLC on the WIi through the Wii Shop channel.
  • Aleman360, on 01/20/2008, -0/+13These songs better work on GH4 and Rock Band 2.
    • nightmare1228, on 01/20/2008, -0/+2You won't be able to. If they did allow that, than I would be playing all my gh 2 songs that I downloaded on gh3.
      • treed, on 01/20/2008, -0/+3Except that GH2 and 3 were made by different companies. The one that made 3 has already shown a willingness to ***** up compatibility.
    • tidu, on 01/20/2008, -1/+1actually, in a recent interview they said a lot of the songs would carry over.
    • phronko, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1While that would be a nice extra little feature....how hard is it to switch discs?

      OK OK, the next games might have extra stuff (maybe online band world tour? no band leader crap? please?) and it would be good to integrate the downloaded songs in with it. But it's not like they disappear when the next game comes out. And are they going to include all the songs on the first game's disc too?
    • doshindude, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2there isn't going to be a Rock Band 2, they already said that.
  • Shuk, on 01/20/2008, -0/+20Guitar Hero and Rock Band is becoming the savior of classic rock in the mainstream audience. More and more people are being exposed to it and enjoying it. For classic rock fans like me, this is great considering the craptacular music that passes for mainstream rock today (note: I said mainstream)
  • creativlogic, on 01/20/2008, -8/+3Let me know if I'm wrong but in regards to the downloadable soundtrack for other games... Last time I checked all I had to do is plug in my iPod to the front of my XBOX and I could play songs right from there during my gaming. Why would I download a new soundtrack if I could do this?
    • treed, on 01/20/2008, -1/+7You clearly don't know what Rock Band and Guitar Hero are.
      • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1He's talking about how the article said games like Madden and Tony Hawk could offer new soundtracks for download every once in a while, not Rock band or Guitar Hero.
    • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1I'd have to say all these people digging you down and digging treed up obviously didn't read the article.
    • Dracusis, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1^ I read the whole article Commonwealth, and I still think you're a twit.

      The article is talking about downloadable content for RB or GHIII, not downloadable MP3s. It made some comparisons to downloadable MP3s, but that's not what everyone here is talking about.
      • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1I may be a twit, but the article says this:

        "Titles like the "Madden" football series, the Tony Hawk skateboarding franchise and the venerable "Grand Theft Auto" games are well known for their extensive soundtracks. Offering gamers the ability to replace their soundtracks every few months after the initial release is not only technically possible with today's new-generation consoles, but also on the horizon."

        I think Creativ is asking why would you buy these songs for a soundtrack when you can easily make your own and stick it on your xbox with an ipod. This has nothing to do with Rock Band or guitar Hero. You're basically paying for a set of MP3s that supplement the in-game soundtrack, but can't be used for anything else.

        This is what we're talking about.
  • renatoc8, on 01/20/2008, -0/+3They make it sound like there are 2.5 million song AVAILABLE... Damn, they must be hard at work.
  • Travelsonic, on 01/20/2008, -2/+3GH is an interesting sub-area of the music rhythm game genre that I am slowly wetting my feet in as I do play a lot of DDR/ITG/2/PumP (yaypun :-P) , I think aso since I do plaqy Stepmania the fingering aspect of GH will not be diffucult, but adjusting to a game that completely lacks any form of grading compared to say beatmania IIDX is going to at last psycologically be chalenging for me.
    • tacom8, on 01/20/2008, -2/+2grading? Theres like a percentage system and a scoring system. Not to mention the online rankings and competition if that floats your boat.
      • Travelsonic, on 01/20/2008, -1/+2I meant timing - the thing that enables a full combo C grade in IIDX
    • homerowedasdf, on 01/21/2008, -1/+1This is what is happening to a lot of long-time ITG/DDR players. They're starting to play GH and no longer play anything else
      • Travelsonic, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1Not me - I'm just expanding my horizons, started with PumP, then In the Groove/2, then it went into beatmania IIDX, then expanded into GH, but I still play DDR like a bashee.
    • logandurand, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2I find the lack of precision-based scoring quiet to be on of GH's limiting factors. One could get a perfect score even if I hit every single note off-beat, which is grossly oversimplified.
      • Travelsonic, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2The elitist GH people who accuse Guitar Freaks of being easier/a ripoff/etc ***** me off too...

        But yeah, the timing thing would cool to have in some form, even simplified, to add challenge.
    • doshindude, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2An FC is a C rank???
      DDR Elitists......try playing TTFAF.
      • Travelsonic, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1A crapload - no, mostly goods and nonflashing GREATs in IIDX will in fact get you a C grade.

        It ***** me off just thinking about it.
  • Commonwealth, on 01/20/2008, -1/+3Rock Band could be an amazing platform for independent music. Imagine if they gave people the tools to create their own songs for Rock Band or allowed bands to submit songs for consideration. Any aspiring band would do it, and Harmonix could make good ones available for download.
    • jjremy, on 01/20/2008, -0/+1They've had independent stuff on there since the first GH. All the bonus songs have always been from independent bands. Mind you, Activision when and ***** that all up with GH3 by putting mostly slightly less known mainstream bands as the majority of the bonus songs. Also there aare some foreign unknown (at least in north america) songs available for (at least) GH2.

      • nicko68, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1A lot of the bonus songs in GH1/2 were from bands who had members who worked at Harmonix. Neversoft isn't a musical company like Harmonix, so it's not surprising their bonus songs are handled differently.
  • Zoshchenko, on 01/20/2008, -0/+3This just confirms how deluded The Romantics are in filing a lawsuit against the companies behind Guitar Hero. They are nothing but a second-rate, has-been band with a couple of hits 20 years ago who would have had NO fame with current music fans were it not for Guitar Hero. If they think their careers have been HARMED by Guitar Hero, then they are stupid on top of being pretty much talentless. I recommend a complete boycott of their music, concerts and lame merchandise. And if somehow they succeed in getting Guitar Hero pulled from the shelves, I will personally organize a month-long "I Hate The Romantics" event to prove once and for all that they are no longer worth anyone's attention.
    • cprnow, on 01/20/2008, -0/+0Interesting too, I was just watching some show on VH1 about the best 100 80's songs, and The Romantics were on there with "What I like about you" - the narrator went on to say that they had been in a legal battle over use of that song in commercials way back in the 80's too. Seems to be the way they operate!
  • uker, on 01/20/2008, -0/+2It is similar to OICQ, a chat software based multifunctional tool. It simply charges you on any additional features.
  • Rassafrax, on 01/20/2008, -1/+0The problem is, when building Guitar Hero 3, Activision knew this would happen and loaded it with bonus songs made in the last 2 years to drive lagging album sales. I want decent bonus songs!
    • Batiu-Drami, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1The bonus songs in Guitar Hero games have always been fairly unknown/indie tracks. That's why they're bonus songs, and not in the main setlist.
  • latpack, on 01/20/2008, -0/+2Full album downloads for Rock Band plz
  • Tempest261, on 01/20/2008, -1/+2They need to improve (on Live at least) the interface for downloading these. I downloaded "Song with a Mission" by the Sounds, only to be horrified when I found out it was half-assed cover in-game. They need some way of indicating this before I lay down the cash (maybe that's the idea).
  • mikeyeah, on 01/21/2008, -1/+1I remember hearing that Rock Band was going to make entire albums available for download. I was really excited about that, entire albums, not just the popular songs. I've since purchased RB only to find them nickel and dime-ing me for individual songs and/or the Three Pack! WTF? I wish they would put entire albums out or at least more than 3 songs per week.
  • xdevit, on 01/21/2008, -1/+1The only problem I have with this is that I cant play these songs say via the music player.. You pay $2 for a cue sheet for buttons.. and the song but you can only play it in the game. Please correct me if I'm wrong but I've yet to find a way to do this.

    I know its not really the place for this but those who have played both GH and RB would you return GH for RB ? (not just for the extra equip) Been borrowing a just the game and have yet to crack the seal on mine so I could still return it. I just see on the market place it seem RockBand is a much better deal and to me GH3 isn't as fun as the past ones were.. If your not 6 years old youtube star, some of those songs are almost impossible even on medium to get 100%,
  • DrVentureASU, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2I am sick of this bundle crap. The reason so many songs have been downloaded for GH3 is because they force you to download the bundle of 3 songs. What if I just want The Pretender?!?! Nope I have to buy all three so Activision can say they have sold over 5 million songs

    • doshindude, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1Rock Band lets you download single songs, no matter whether if they are in a package or not. (It's just if you buy 3 songs in a package, you sorta get a bit of a price break)
  • hotdamn, on 01/21/2008, -0/+2I could not resist All The Small Things.
  • Topher06, on 01/21/2008, -0/+1This is the one crappy part of these games, and I think its a bad trend to start. With XBLA and the PSN networks are allowing full price games and then offering these micro-updates for around $2 each. If your not smart about it, your game could cost more then the console itself. If you want to release 30 song update for $15 a set then thats fine, but releasing individual songs or a small set of them for these games should be admonished and Sony/Microsoft should step in and say no to that kind of distribution model. You know your going to see someone on Digg say they spent over $400 on GH3 one day and upset that they spent that much (but clueless as to how and why they did it). Also these songs are proprietary to the game, I would force these companies to offer the songs as both in-game content AND include the ability to copy it to your MP3 player for listening outside the game. Why should you have to buy the same music twice? This is blatant gouging of the customer and I really wish either Sony or Microsoft had the balls to say "Sorry, you can't gouge the customer like this on our networks, stop it or we refuse licensing." Its not like Sony or Microsoft are getting rich off of this content (well, maybe Sony is because of using their artists in the game), so they should not support this kind of distribution model. The same also goes for releasing other micro-content for other games, like characters, vehicles, weapons or equipment, costumes, etc all at $2 - $4 each. It might be a small cost for each update, but these companies are banking on the fact people will loose track of what they have purchased and end up doubling or trippling the cost of the game over time. If you want this kind of distribution, then offer the game for free or some small nominal cost, and then gouge the customer afterwards. Lastely, how about offering some kind of reward mechanism for getting new content. If you do well in the game offer network credit to buy additional content. Both Sony and Microsoft offer network points for retail purchase, adding points to your account can be done within a game easily and would offer more incentive to do well in the game then just getting virtual achievement points.
    PS. what the heck is Nintendo doing? You can't even get extra content for these games on the Wii, regardless of cost. Another reason why the Wii is not a next generation console.
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