Authors of Rock

FAQ

GENERAL

• What is Rock Band?

Rock Band and Rock Band 2 are rhythm video games made by Harmonix Music Systems, for the Microsoft Xbox 360, Sony PlayStation 3, and Nintendo Wii game consoles.

Rock Band allows up to four players to simulate the performance of popular rock music songs by playing with controllers modeled after musical instruments. Players can play the lead guitar, bass guitar, and drums parts to songs with “instrument controllers”, as well as sing through a USB microphone. Players are scored on their ability to match scrolling musical “notes” while playing instruments, or by their ability to match the singer’s pitch on vocals.

• What is the Rock Band Network?

A community of bands, recording engineers, game developers, and record labels create, review, and publish songs using the same tools we use to create Rock Band game tracks. Rock Band fans browse an ever-growing catalog of songs from every imaginable genre. Players can demo any song for free, and it will be easier than ever to find exactly what song you want.

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Authors of Rock

• What exactly do you do?

We are the authors that convert your track to be a game file uploaded and sold in Rock Band. This includes Easy, Medium, Hard levels, visuals, track information, and possibly publishing.

• Why did you start this company?

We love music and working with artists in promoting their records. With Rock Band opening up the network to everyone, this is a great chance for all bands to take advantage of the Rock Band following.

• Why should I choose Authors of Rock?

It’s simple. You want a professionally created track to promote and sell in Rock Band and we have the highly technical skills needed to accomplish that. If you want to be the next music sensation we are right here to help you.

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Schedule

• I have a hit single and I need to promote this right now! How long is this going to take?

Congratulations on the hit single. The general time line is 2 weeks for song creation and testing and then another 2 weeks for play testing and peer review on the actual Rock Band Network. Until the Rock Band Store opens, there will not be a set time for the entire process, however, four weeks has been the average time from beginning to inclusion in Rock Band.

• How do I receive my royalty payments?

The songs in the RBN Store are sold for $1, $2, or $3 (80, 160, or 240 Microsoft Points). When you submit your track to Authors of Rock you will let us know how much you’d like to sell it for.

When your song is purchased, 70% of the revenue goes to Harmonix and Microsoft, who maintain the Rock Band Network. The remaining is deposited to your XNA creator’s account or our account depending if we are handling your distribution.

Payments are made by Microsoft and are deposited quarterly when you reach the $50 threshold. These are not our terms, but Microsoft’s.

If you are having us manage your distribution, we will send you a monthly report with total downloads. However, if you wish to see your report at any time, just send us an e-mail.

We will pay each artist by check or Paypal.

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PRICING

• How much will this cost us?

We offer two types of service:

1. Full Service – We create the Rock Band file, upload your music, and administer your sales data and royalties.

Special Price of $800 $1000 until the Rock Band Store opens.

1. Self Service – We create the Rock Band file and send it to you.

Special Price of $750 $1050 until the Rock Band Store opens.

We do not take any royalties. You keep the entire 30% no matter which service you choose.

• Do I have to pay taxes on my income?

You are responsible for reporting your income. When you receive a check from Authors of Rock, you are responsible for reporting and paying taxes on this income. Please discuss this with your accountant if you have any questions.

• Can you send a royalty payment to each member in my band? *applicable only if we are managing the account

We will only send payment to one person in the band, usually the person who signed up for the service. You can change where and who will be paid at any time.

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Rock Band Network Song Details

• What is allowed and disallowed from the Rock Band Network?

You must own the Publishing rights to and recordings of any song that you submit to RBN. We do not have the resources to clear publishing rights for cover songs, so we cannot allow them to be submitted.

• What about samples?

No. Nyet. Nien. Verboten. If you submit a song with any composition in it that you don’t own it will be rejected. Remember, we do not reject the songs, Rock Band Network does. So if you submit a song to us, you are signing off that you own the rights. If the song is rejected by RBN because it is a cover or you do not own the rights, there will not be any refund.

• What about naughty words?

RBN songs will be played in Rock Band 2, which has an ESRB rating of “T”. A good guideline is that you need to create a Radio Friendly edit of your song if it has naughty bits in it. You can use the library of DLC content for Rock Band 2 as a guideline to what’s acceptable.

• What do you need from me to create the song?

1. vocals (.wav file)
2. guitar (.wav file)
3. bass (.wav file)
4. 3 drum tracks: kick (.wav file), snare (.wav file), and other drums (.wav file)
5. Track containing all other instruments and sounds in the song (.wav file)
6. The full song (.mp3 file)
7. Lyrics in a text format for us to match up the vocals.
8. Artwork for your album in a jpg format no larger than 256×256 pixels.
9. Song name, album, artist, song release date, genre, track number of song on the album if applicable.
10. How much you want to charge for the song $1, $2, $3 (80, 160, or 240 microsoft point)

• What about sound quality?

Your tracks should be a minimum of 44.1 kHz / 16-bit.

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Other Information

• Can I still submit my music if I am signed to a label?

Yup! However, you are responsible for ensuring that you have the right to submit your track to us, and for distributing shares of your payments.

• By sending you our files, are we signing over our rights?

Not in the slightest!

Anything not covered here just send us an e-mail!