Rock Band Network Beta Launches Today

Posted by J. Matthew Zoss at 9:51 AM Jan 20, 2010

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The Rock Band Network, announced back in July, goes into public beta today. As music game fans probably know, the Rock Band Network will allow bands and individuals to convert their music into playable Rock Band tracks that will be available to anyone.*

A Rock Band Network membership is free, but a $99/year XNA Creator's Club membership is also required. Participants will receive 30% of the proceeds of all tracks sold. Submitted songs will be vetted through the RBN community by undergoing both "Playtest" and "Peer Review" processes before being made available to the public.

I'm unsure how popular the program will be, especially given the decline in popularity of the music game genre. Regardless, I think the RBN is a major moment in video game history - there's never been such a high-profile effort to involve the public in creating content for a major mainstream game.** Whether the public takes advantage of this opportunity remains to be seen.

*Anyone playing on an Xbox 360 console, at least. Certain tracks may be made available for the PS3 and Wii, but only Xbox 360 players will have access to every published song.