14 DAY TRIAL // MTV Games and Harmonix, the two companies behind the success of the Rock Band franchise, have announced that they are partnering up with a variety of online music services in an effort to increase the visibility of the Rock Band Network initiative and attract more budding bands to it.
The newly announced partners are Tunecore, Nimbit, Reverb Nation, Indaba Music and Topspin. The promotion works both ways, so they will also get promo material sent to those who already use the Rock Band Network.
The idea is to make sure that new bands, which have not yet had their breakout moment, have all the tools needed to record, produce, promote and then market and distribute the music they are making. Further initiatives involving the abovementioned services might soon be announced by Harmonix.
Paul DeGooyer, who is the senior vice president in charge of electronic games and music at MTV, stated, “This initiative will promote the Rock Band Network to bands that frequent our affiliates’ sites and give the creators inside the Rock Band Network the opportunity to work with an amazing group of well-respected music distribution, promotion and technology sites.”
The idea behind Rock Band Network is to allow those who own the music simulation game to get their own music translated into the format used by the game, with the options of then selling the result online, the bands getting about 30 percent royalties from the generated revenue.
At the moment, Harmonix and MTV Games are working hard on Rock Band 3, the next step in the evolution of the franchise, set to introduce keyboard simulation to the series while also bringing back vocal harmonies that appeared in The Beatles: Rock Band. The two are offering regular updates for the first games, introducing quite a few new bands to long time players.