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Frequently Asked Questions


Process Questions

  1. What do you need to author my tracks?
  2. Can you do more than one track at a time?
  3. How do you pay bands and artists?
  4. How long does peer review take?
  5. How long does it take to author a track?
  6. When will our track be available for sale?

Pricing Questions

  1. How much does it cost?
  2. What forms of payments do you take?
  3. When is payment due?
  4. Do you offer discounts?
  5. Do you have a referral program?

Rock Band Network Questions

  1. What is Rock Band Network?
  2. Can anyone publish songs through Rock Band Network?
  3. Why submit our music to Rock Band Network?

 

Question: What do you need to author my tracks?

Answer: In order to start the authoring of your tracks, we need the following items from you:

  • The master stems to your song – we’ll provide the specifications when we get to that point.
  • A lyric sheet – to ensure we get your song’s lyrics right.
  • Sheet music – this is an option to help us author your song as closely as possible to reality.
  • An mp3 of your song – we like to listen to a song repeatedly before authoring it, so we can accurately depict your song in the game.
Question: Can you do more than one track at a time?

Answer: Absolutely. We can do just one track, an entire album, or your entire catalog. It’s up to you.

We offer gracious discounts for repeat customers, as well. As soon as we’ve begun work on one of your tracks, you’re a customer. If you have us do a three pack of tracks, you get discounts on tracks two and three.

If you then come back with the rest of your album, you get the discount on that as well.

Question: How do you pay bands and artists?

Answer: You’ll get paid from Rock Band Network. We don’t do any interactions with payments through XBox Live. Once we complete the authoring of your song, we put it through the peer review process and hand it off to you once it’s been approved through the Rock Band Network.

Due to the way payments are handled, we’d prefer to have you submit the song to the Rock Band Network system yourself. This ensures that you get paid for your work, and can track how many sales/downloads you’ve had, without relying on anyone else to do it for you.

Question: How long does peer review take?

Answer: It varies. Ideally it should only take a couple of days to go through the peer review process. We do our best to ensure the track is fully QA’d before we submit it for peer review. This helps the song get through peer review faster, without requiring us to go back and change a bunch of things.

In order to “go live” in the RBN store, a song has to get 8 positive peer reviews from the community. Once we feel that your song will pass that portion of the review process, we’ll send it off to you to submit.

If you’d prefer to try out the track before submitting it, we can help you set that up. If you’d prefer to test it at our facilities, we’d be glad to demo your track for you.

Question: How long does it take to author a track?

Answer: It depends on the track. Since tracks vary so greatly in their composition, and in the talent of bands it’s tough to give an exact timeframe.

For example, authoring a complex Dream Theater song would take significantly longer than authoring a Ramones song.

On average it takes anywhere from 20 to 40 hours to completely author a track for our team of four authors. Your song may take less or more time, depending on the song itself.

We can give you an estimate based on your song. Simply use the contact form to send us your MP3, and we’ll take a listen to it and let you know an estimate for time, and cost.

Question: When will our track be available for sale?

Answer: The Rock Band store, within the game, is set to open in early November. If all goes according to plan we hope that any song authored prior to the opening date will be available the day the store opens. This is a huge opportunity to get into the store on day one. We’re guessing there’s going to be thousands of songs available by early next year. Now’s your chance to get into the store when you are only competing with hundreds of other tracks, and not thousands.

Once the store opens fully authored tracks should be available within 72 hours after they’ve passed peer review through the Rock Band Network creator’s club, and passed Microsoft certification. However, there may be delays if your track does not pass peer review.

If your track does not pass peer review, we assume full responsibility and will re-author any parts that need to be re-authored to get you past peer review. We’ll do this as many times as it takes, free of charge.

Question: How much does it cost?

Answer: It varies based on the track. We do a thorough listening to your track(s) before quoting you a price. We’ve found this is the most fair way, since the time it takes to author tracks varies so greatly depending on the musical attributes of your song.

We don’t take a percentage of your royalites or bill you per minute of your song like other authoring companies. We give you a unique price based solely on how complicated your song will be to charge.

Question: What forms of payments do you take?

Answer: We take credit cards, Paypal, and certified checks.

Question: When is payment due?

Answer: Once we come to an agreement on the price of your tracks, 50% of the total amount due is requested when your stems are delivered to us.

The remaining 50% is due the day your track goes live in the Rock Band Network store. This means you don’t have to pay the remaining 50% of your balance until the Rock Band Store is open, and your track is available for purchase.

Question: Do you offer discounts?

Answer: Absolutely. We offer a discount to repeat customers. Once we’ve authored your first track, we give you a discount on subsequent tracks. The more tracks we author for you, the bigger the discount gets. Contact us for more information about discount details.

We also offer a generous discount to our favorite bands. If you are a member of or represent Tool, Dream Theater, Life of Agony, 10 Years, or Halestorm contact us to get your first track free!

Question: Do you have a referral program?

Answer: Not officially, yet. We do offer a word of mouth discount, though. If you refer someone to us, make sure they mention your name.

In return, we’ll give you a 10% cut of the total fee for the work we do. We’ll also give your referred band/artist a 10% discount on services. It’s a win/win for everyone involved.

Question: What is Rock Band Network?

Answer: Rock Band Network is a revolutionary change to the way bands get to deliver music to their current fans, and potential new fans. Much the same way iTunes changed digital music delivery, Rock Band Network will do the same.

Bands, artists, record labels, and performers are able to use a set of tools to “author” their tracks, or hire a team like Track Authors to do it for them.

Rock Band Network will launch on Xbox 360 through XBox’s Creators Club, which has been around for a number of years. We feel Rock Band Network is going to be huge, and hope you’ll get in on the ground floor with us.

For more information about Rock Band Network, visit Harmonix’s official page at RockBand.com/rock-band-network.

Question: Can anyone publish songs through the Rock Band Network?

Answer: Yes, anyone is able to sign up. The Creators Club isn’t a free service, nor is any of the software used to author tracks. If you’re willing to spend the money to buy the licenses, and the hours to learn how to author the tracks, anyone is able to do it.

We’re offering our services because we have been approved and trained by Harmonix to author tracks for the game. Why delay getting your song into the game any longer while you learn the software? Let us do it for you – you won’t be sorry.

Question: Why submit our music to Rock Band Network?

Why not? There’s no reason not to, unless you have something against new fans, or making money, of course.

Rock Band Network is going to be the new way to get your music out to fans in a new, and revolutionary, way. Not only will fans get to hear your music (potentially before your new CD comes out), but they’ll get to be involved. Fans tend to appreciate music more when they can experience it through Rock Band. Why deny your fans that connection to your music?

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