Normally, the games coverage here is "big picture," but the latest news on the Rock Band music games in particular is fairly significant.
MTV, producer of the series, said the number of downloadable songs available for purchase could increase to 5,000 by year end, Billboard reports. That's more than eight times larger than the current catalog of 600 playable tracks. Currently, the average player downloads four songs on top of the offerings included with the game.
By comparison, the rival Guitar Hero franchise sells roughly 100 additional tracks for download, and the average user buys one of them. Publisher Red Octane has said it will start offering new music on weekly basis this year.
"What comes with the success of Rock Band and Guitar Hero is the microscopic view of what the potential of music in this medium can be," Steve Schnur, a music and marketing executive for Rock Band distributor Electronic Arts, told Billboard.
More heartening than the sheer volume of playable tracks coming out this year is the apparent plans to offer download-to-own bundles -- in other words, the purchased track wouldn't be tied specifically to in-game use. It's already been said that music video games have spurred sales of the same music elsewhere -- by as much as 300 percent, some say --- so this would be a natural progression.
Details on this idea aren't clear, but an extra charge, priced properly, would be a good way for record labels to make more money while breaking with the archaic concept of "you buy it here, you only get to use it here."
