14 DAY TRIAL // Rock Band Network Network is one of the most ambitions projects that MTV Games and Harmonix have been working on. As far as the concept goes, it's not that completely new, since it basically relies on user-generated content, but to let anyone create selling songs might make people look at Rock Band in a completely different way. Instead of jamming with your band in some egg-cart-padded basement or garage waiting to be discovered, you could simply release your songs on the RBN and make a living out of this. Of course, if your songs are any good and if you properly translate them in Rock Band material.
Initially announced for release in November, it looks like Rock Band Network won't be coming this month after all. The project seems to be more complicated than the developers originally thought, and it looks like, as things progressed, more questions than answers appeared. A Harmonix spokesperson stated that, “We're working hard to get the Rock Band Network open public beta release of tools up before the end of the year, with our RBN storefront launching in early 2010.”
“Exact dates still to be determined. The tools necessary for bands to start authoring and preparing their content for review are already live on http://creators.rockband.com/tools/download. The open beta launch will add access to the currently private website where all of the RBN community activity and peer reviewing of tracks will take place. People who join the Rock Band Network (bands, fans or otherwise) will be able to play and preview any song before it hits the store, so they should stay tuned for the official launch.”
This will most definitely be a great way for major bands to further promote their songs, but it's the smaller artists and indie groups that will benefit the most from this feature. All bands started down at the bottom and became great because of their good songs and how well they connected with the fans, but, no matter how much we love our rock stars, there will always be a special place in out hearts for that small band we like that we think no one else has heard of. The RBN is planned to work with the PlayStation 3 and Xbox 360.