The Game Dame™

Harmonix Should Start a Record Label

Posted on December 17th, 2008 in Video Game Music.
7 Comments so far

So Pearl Jam is joining the DLC train by bringing Ten – their first album from 1991 – to Rock Band on March 24, 2009. I think it’s great that we’re starting to see more and more bands bring their songs to Rock Band, but above the popular artists, I really want to start seeing more local bands featured… bands that haven’t necessarily made it big, but could through Rock Band. In issue 188 of Game Informer, editor Andy McNamara wrote an editor’s letter that I totally agree with. Here’s a little blurb:

Use the influence of these games have on the music industry to help local music around the world, and maybe – just maybe – you might make a pretty penny while doing it. I would gladly purchase a San Francisco Scene Pack, or a selection of local country from Nashville. I know Minneapolis has bands I would absolutely love to see immortalized in one of these amazing games. But more importantly, lots of great music never makes it outside of its local city. If it had an opportunity to leak out into the world, it just might make music (and music games) better for everyone.

So how bout it, Harmonix? Why not start a Rock Band record label? You’ve got the audience. You’ve got the influence. You’ve got the money. And you’ve got a group of gamers who LOVE to give their opinions on everything game-related. Hold a contest on your site and invite musicians to audition for a chance to be featured in Rock Band 3. Let the people vote for their top five choices. The band with the highest votes gets on your label. You can have your artists perform at Rock Band concerts. Put them on the main stage. Put Nerdcore artists on the other stages. Hold a Rock Band tournament. Partner with Nerdapalooza so they can help you out AND you can call the event Nerdapalooza because that’s the best name ever. Now all you need to do is hire me and pay me lots of money to organize the campaign. Deal? Deal.

7 Responses to “ Harmonix Should Start a Record Label ”

^_^ i’m hex, and i support this idea.

Left by hex on December 18th, 2008

Definitely not a bad idea. It would be perfect if small bands from other countries could join too – though this would turn out to be something too big.

Cheers!

Left by ricardo on December 18th, 2008

Ricardo – I think expanding this out worldwide would be absolutely awesome! I don’t think there’s such a thing as “too big” for something like this.

Left by The Game Dame on December 22nd, 2008

There are definitely a lot of possibilities down that road.

I got GH: World Tour for Christmas, my first music game. As a songwriter, I’d be creating all sorts of music on there if the studio part of the game was worth a damn. It’s so much more complicated, and at the same time more basic, than it needs to be. I’d love to publish my music through Rock Band or Guitar Hero.

Left by Aaron on December 28th, 2008

My girlfriend and I actually got to meet up with Sylvain Dubrofsky, the Senior Designer for RB2, for lunch on Christmas Eve day (His mother knew her mother, he came home for the holidays, etc.). I actually talked a lot with him about how the whole process works, partially because I had a business plan to unite Harmonix, The Megas and Nerdapalooza. Although I haven’t hit a dead end just yet, the sad part is a lot of the choices are out of Harmonix’s control. MTV comes to them with their own plans and artists, and the pipeline for making new DLC gets packed full pretty quick. Although it’s not something absolutely out of the question, the system is going to need a little work before it would support something like this. However, I totally agree that it would be incredible to see such variety in the future. Although, given what this started as, and has already become, I guess it’s still a lot to be thankful for, to say the least. Here’s hoping to the future.

Left by Mathaeis on January 10th, 2009

@ Mathaeis: Man, that’s the tough part about things. There are so many parties involved that it’s hard to filter down great ideas through all of the decision makers involved and keep everyone happy. But like you said, things have moved so quickly, maybe we’ll see this happen sooner than later

Left by The Game Dame on January 13th, 2009

That is a terrific idea! It was from this blog that caught my eye that brought me from your blog on your MySpace page. (Follow me?)

One of the great things that I love about games now (“now” being sometime in the early 2000’s) is that they can easily expose you to new bands. And if you don’t like that song/artist, you can always press L2 (or whatever it might be on XBox) or remove it through the menu screen options.

I can’t tell you how many bands I’ve fallen in love with by being introduced to them through a game! And it isn’t be “forced” on anyone in just the same way new music on the radio isn’t forced.

Left by Knathan the Knight on January 17th, 2009

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Harmonix Should Start a Record Label

7 Responses to “ Harmonix Should Start a Record Label ”

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