Ryan Smith of MuzikReviews.com Talks With Ben Kopec of The Rock Pulse
 For those of you who read my content, you will notice I am a fan of the music genre. When I was given the chance to interview someone in the industry I jumped all over it. Ben Kopec was nice enough to answer a few questions I had about their service and how it works.
Ryan Smith: What exactly does The Rock Pulse do?
Ben Kopec: We get bands into the Rock Band Network. We work with local bands and we also work with major label bands. Once we get the song into the RBN, the song can be purchased and downloaded from the Store in the Rock Band video game. (Songs are searchable by song name, artist, genre, etc...) We also have control over character animations, camera angles, crowd reactions, lighting, specials effects, pyro., and more. Our artists are able to see a preview of their song when we render it to a video file. This allows them to see their song in Rock Band before it is finalized.
Ryan: How much does it cost for a band to get one of their songs into Rock Band?
Ben: We currently offer two Rock Band Authoring packages. If an artist is unsigned, we offer a flat rate package for $599, the artist recouping 15% on the backend. For signed acts, we offer a flat rate package of $799, the artist recouping 20% on the backend. Since The Rock Pulse uploads track to the RBN, we also collect and administer the royalties. When we receive the royalties, we distribute those to the record label, publisher, and artist. For administrative purposes, we retain 10% or 15%.
We run a lot of discounts that typically reduce the price by 10%. For example, we have a sale going on now until Jan. 15th, 2010, that if an artist submits their song during that time, we apply a 10% discount.
Ryan: How long does the process normally take?
Ben: It took me nearly 100 hours to author my first song, which was a song called “Discharge” by Intricate Unit. There is a huge learning curve, and I felt I already had a strong background in this area. On average, I think it will take a good 40 hours per song to get it ready for the Rock Band Network. One reason this process takes so long is because after an initial first pass of authoring the track, it goes into the "play test" period, where players can temporarily download the song, and provide any feedback on the community forums. After a second or third pass, the song is usually accepted and submitted to "peer review" where the song is accepted by Harmonix and made available on the Rock Band Network.
Ryan: What types of bands are you targeting?
Ben: We target bands that we think are very playable in Rock Band. The typical genres include Rock, Classic Rock, Metal, Punk, Alternative, Jazz, Grunge, Glam, etc.... but we consider everything that an artist submits to us through our website at: www.TheRockPulse.com. The bands can create a unique user name and password and monitor the status of their songs. If the songs are not exactly Rock Band material, we give our artists feedback and tell them how they can change and prepare their song so it can be played in Rock Band.
Ryan: How much of the download price will the artist get?
Ben: 15% or 20% of either $1, $2, or $3. The 15% or 20% depends on if you are signed or not. Let’s say the song is downloaded for $1. Harmonix, Microsoft, and MTV get 70%. The artist, record label, and publisher recoup 15 % or 20%, and the remaining is retained by The Rock Pulse for administrative purposes (collecting and distributing royalties).
Ryan: Will the artist get a chance to preview the Rock Band version before it is implemented into the game?
Ben: There are two answers to this: One, if they have an XNA membership and Xbox Live membership, the song can be temporarily downloaded during the "play test" period from the http://creators.rockband.com/ website. However, the song does not stay on the hard drive and is deleted after each play test, second, if the artist doesn't have access to an Xbox or Rock Band, the artist can preview the song before it is completed by watching a rendered video of the song. We will typically upload the new Rock Band song to YouTube for our artists to preview. We can also privately deliver the song through our secure FTP.
Ryan: What happens if a band uses an instrument that isn't used in the game? Such as keyboards, harmonica or cowbell?
Ben: We like to author bands that have guitar, bass, drums, and vocals, but it depends on how much of the song does not have those instruments. If the song doesn’t have any guitar at all, or an instrument that could be played in its place, it’s probably not a good song for the Rock Band Network. We encourage artists to submit music with guitar, bass, drums, and vocals. However, we also provide feedback to our artists that might improve the playability of their songs.
Ryan: Thank you for taking the time to answer some questions for our readers.
January 10, 2010
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