From Belle and Sebastian to Micachu and the Shapes, any artist can now upload their songs into the Rock Band videogame, just as long as they know a few geeks. The makers of Rock Band have opened up a new online store, letting garage bands and Grammy winners alike sell videogame versions of their tracks.
However, submitting music to the Rock Band Network Store isn't as easy as uploading an MP3. Acts must convert their recordings into the game's special format, compiling an array of sound files, lyrics and tablatures, as well as instructions for camera angles, lighting and choreography. This requires specialist programming expertise or the services of a contractor, many of whom charge about £300 per minute of music.
Once the files are ready, they can be listed in the Rock Band store for anywhere from 99 cents (61p) to $2.99 (£1.83) per song. Currently, user-created songs are only available to Microsoft Xbox players while the developers, MTV Games, keep 70% of the sale price.
"We expected this to be an initiative that would appeal to unsigned artists," Paul DeGooyer, MTV's senior vice president for electronic games and music, told the Wall Street Journal. "What was surprising to us was how many artists with hit records have offered themselves up." Acts like Creed and Evanescence took advantage of the service's trial period and Sub Pop, the US label for the Shins, Mudhoney and Sleater-Kinney, is preparing some of their roster's "greatest hits" for Rock Band.
In fact, given the high barrier to entry, it's unlikely that upstart 17-year-olds or your local pub band will be listed on Rock Band any time soon. Nor are gamers likely to uncover new music by playing through an interesting act's songs. "At three dollars apiece nobody's looking to Rock Band as a discovery tool," underlined Tony Kiewel, a Sub Pop spokesman. "That's not going to happen."