After 4 years, 2,121 songs, and countless hours of investment from some of the most talented and passionate Rock Band fans around, its time for the sun to (officially) set on Rock Band Network.
When the crew here at Harmonix first started developing a tool that would allow Rock Band fans, artists, and labels to put their own songs into Rock Band we had no idea that it would spawn a community that was nothing short of ravenous in their pursuit of new tracks. Even if we had been able to anticipate the level of enthusiasm, we certainly couldnt have predicted that the RBN authors would generate a body of work that so quickly eclipsed the official Harmonix output. As of today, the total stands at 2,121 songs released by authors in the Rock Band Network, and 2,100 songs authored by Harmonix, and thats even including on disc songs!
Sadly, since the official Harmonix DLC pipeline closed on 4/2/2013, RBN has been plagued with technical issues. Some of those problems were server side here at Harmonix, while others were entirely outside of our control. At this point, with Harmonix resources devoted to several other titles in development, were no longer able to operate RBN with the kind of consistency that it deserves. As a result, we will no longer be taking any submissions or releasing new content through RBN. Songs previously released through RBN will continue to be available for sale, subject to the RBN Program Terms, which can be found here: http://hmxcorp-prod-b.s3.harmonixmusic.com/media/uploads/Creators_Program_Terms.pdf
We are eternally grateful to all the Creators, authors, testers, labels, bands, and fans that have supported Rock Band Network since its inception. The team here at Harmonix remains committed to exploring opportunities for user generated content, as well as the ability to personalize your experience with our games. We can only hope that the next time we approach a similar initiative the community is as dedicated and enthusiastic as this community has been.
Thanks to all of you for helping make Rock Band Network something special.
-Harmonix Music Systems
http://forums.harmonixmusic.com/discussion/256785/rock-band-network-official-sunsetting-announcement
Man...how many years ago was it when Guitar Hero first broke out onto the scene? When we first held that little guitar in our hands? Wasn't thought of as much more than a novel game experiment, but isn't that how all the titans start?
O, how the mighty hath fallen. While the whole plastic instrument thing has run its course into the ground, this is just another reminder of all we put up with to pretend we were mighty rock stars (minus the drug problems).
Any fond memories left? Particularly of those songs that made it to the Rock Band games through the service? I mean, Flogging Molly and Eiffel 65 were pretty fantastic, and who would've expected Buckner & Garcia to show up without it?