If you're an independent musician looking for as many ways to sell and promote your music as possible, and you or a friend has some experience with software development, you'll want to check out the upcoming Rock Band Network, for which Harmonix and MTV Games plan to begin beta testing in late August.
It's more complicated than posting a song to iTunes, but you'll get placement on a more exclusive platform.
(Credit: MTV Games)To program songs for the game, you or your developer friend first needs a membership to Microsoft's XNA Creators' Club, which was launched a couple years ago to let independent developers create casual games to sell through the Xbox Live Marketplace; a membership costs $49.99 for four months or $99.99 for a year.
You'll then be able to get free tools and instructions from the Rock Band Creators Web site to convert your master recordings to the MIDI charts used by the game. Next, you'll have to submit your song for other creators to critique and finally to MTV Games for approval.
Once approved, the song will enter the Rock Band Network. All songs will debut exclusively for 30 days on the Xbox 360, and the Rock Band team will pick stand-out songs to make available to the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii consoles.
Under the network terms, musicians can charge between 50 cents and $3 per song, and they will keep a 30 percent cut of all sales. That may seem small, compared with the 70 percent cut musicians get for selling their songs on iTunes, which requires much less work, but Rock Band is a much more exclusive platform--you're much more likely to stand out here than among the bazillion songs available through Apple's music store.
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David Carnoy over at Crave has already covered the latest crop of Zune rumors first published by TeamXbox. To summarize: the next portable device from Microsoft could combine a digital media player (like Zune) and a portable gaming device (like Sony's PSP or Nintendo's DS lineup) in a single device with a high-def touch screen. TeamXbox goes a little dreamy with the speculation, suggesting that this gadget might have built-in WiMax and connectivity to the MyPhone data storage and synchronization services that Microsoft announced for Windows Mobile 6.5.
T3's rendering of a Zune-Xbox portable gaming console.
The company isn't talking, but I can easily believe that Microsoft's going to release some sort of combination Xbox-Zune device. Here's why.
Some time in 2007, J Allard--who headed the Xbox business as it was starting up and is credited with much of Microsoft's success beating back Sony in the console space--moved into a new job and disappeared from public view. His job duties include coordinating product development across the whole Entertainment & Devices group (that's Xbox, Zune, Windows Mobile, and Windows Media Center, among other things), and overseeing incubation of new products. I can't imagine he's parked in some pasture somewhere--the guy's too smart and well-regarded at Microsoft, and has actual direct reports. I've heard rumors his team was looking into portable gaming devices but abandoned their plans. I've heard rumors that his team was designing the interface for the "Zune phone." But publicly--the cone of silence has been in place.
Flash-forward a couple years. Beginning in late 2008, Microsoft split the Zune team apart into two: hardware and software-plus-services. (CNET's Ina Fried broke the news in February.) As the TeamXbox article suggests, and Microsoft's rhetoric constantly reminds the world, the company sees software-plus-services as its future. The manager in charge of the Zune software-plus-services is Craig Eisler, and his official duties include creating a new platform for enabling the playback of digital media across Windows, Windows Mobile, and Xbox.
There's the key: Microsoft is taking the Zune software and services and making them the delivery and playback mechanism for digital media across all its products. I wrote about this before, in the context of the Zune Marketplace moving to the Xbox.
But why not integrate in the other direction as well--take gaming to the Zune?
Here's what I think happened. Allard's group has been incubating. Now, the incubation period is done, and the latest reorganization is getting teams in place to churn out actual, sellable products. The first such product would be the Zune HD/xYz/Xbox-Zune device we're hearing about now, which could come out as early as fall 2009. The second such product would be the "Zune phone," manufactured by third parties (probably HTC and LG) and featuring design specs similar to the Zune HD. That will probably have to wait for Windows Mobile 7, which means it won't be out until next year.
Regarding the WiMax speculation--it's not that outlandish. Samsung announced a WiMax touchscreen device in March. TeamXbox notes that the only WiMax phone available now is made by HTC--and guess who's responsbile for manufacturing more than 80 percent of the Windows Mobile phones shipped so far?
Of course, I'm compelled to note that we've heard this all before...more than two years ago, in fact, another publication wrote about a well-placed source who swore Microsoft would announce a WiMax-enabled Zune phone in March 2007. Didn't happen.
Zune speculation is an armchair sport here in the tech sector of the Pacific Northwest (especially when we're all housebound because of a few inches of snow), and today Todd Bishop at TechFlash posted some interesting excerpts from the Zune team's job listings.
Based on his post, it looks as if the Zune Marketplace will begin to use the back end from Musiwave, the European provider of music for mobile phones that Microsoft acquired a little more than a year ago--and if that doesn't point to a Zune service for mobile phones, nothing does--and will continue to feature DRM (couched in ever-so-reassuring phrases like "to let consumers enjoy music in new and interesting ways").
But here's something else: Zune is coming to Xbox. There's a job listing for a user experience designer to work on the Zune Device UI, Zune PC Client and--hang on a second--Zune Xbox.
Zune Xbox? Of course. Both Xbox Live and the Zune Marketplace use Microsoft's own pseudo-currency, Microsoft Points. Xbox Live already lets you download video content and stream movies on demand from Netflix (if you're a subscriber).
You can plug any MP3 player into the Xbox 360 and listen to a mix of your music as you play. So why not take all these pieces to their logical conclusion, and let you access the Zune Marketplace from Xbox Live? Integration would be particularly useful for Zune Pass subscribers, giving them another device on which to use their unlimited monthly listens and 10 permanent downloads.
Microsoft is trying to push Zune sales along with a price cut, as CNET's Ina Fried already reported Tuesday, and Donald Bell has the scoop on the firmware update that will deliver bug fixes, three new games, and head-to-head Texas Hold 'Em via the Zune's Wi-Fi transceiver.
But the most interesting part of the announcement was the advertising campaign. Not the advertisements themselves, although I'll be interested to see what the oddballs at Crispin Porter + Bogusky (who did the Gates-Seinfeld and "I'm a PC" ads) come up with. The fascinating part is that the campaign will focus on convincing users to download the free Zune software. Microsoft will still be doing other forms of advertising for the Zune players, but this TV campaign is all about promoting a product from which Microsoft earns no direct revenue.
The new Zune advertising campaign focuses on the brand and the software, not the devices.
(Credit: Microsoft)Why? Because music players were never the endgame. The company has always said that Zune is meant to be a broader entertainment brand that will find its way into other products. As I've posted before, a Zune interface for Windows Mobile 7 is a near-certainty, but I also would expect the Zune Marketplace to find its way into Xbox Live in short order--in fact, the new Xbox Live Experience gives Microsoft a much smoother way to introduce new features than the old "blades." I could also see Microsoft adding a Zune Marketplace page to the Media Center interface in Windows 7.
Of course, this (once again) raises the question of the future of the Windows Media Player. So far, Microsoft is committed to releasing a new version of the Media Player with Windows 7, in part for corporate customers who would never allow consumer software like Zune anywhere near their employees' PCs, but who still need media playback for corporate videos--training, presentations, and the like. But as long as Microsoft has three teams working on three digital media interfaces for Windows--the Zune software, the Media Player, and the Media Center software--there's room for consolidation, and my guess is that the Media Player will eventually get no further updates.
I've never really gotten into Rock Band or Guitar Hero--I'd much rather play my guitar. But since I can't sing anyway, and karaoke goes great with beer, Lips sounds like a great party game.
But we care about you.
(Credit: Microsoft Game Studios)Announced yesterday during Microsoft's E3 press conference after a few days of rumors, Lips is a karaoke game with a twist: in addition to the 40 songs that ship with the game, you can connect your MP3 player to the Xbox 360's USB port and Lips will take any (non-DRM-protected) song, strip the vocal tracks out, and let you sing along to it. (No on-screen lyrics.)
Forget "New York, New York" or "Respect." Every karaoke night's got those songs. Here are the ten songs from my iTunes collection that I'd like to inflict upon my karaoke guests:
1. "Be Aggressive," Faith No More. For the cheerleader chant in the chorus.
2. "Bela Lugosi's Dead," Bauhaus. Everybody pose-dance!
3. "The Great Gig in the Sky," Pink Floyd. Comic or tragic, depending on who's singing it.
4. "Innocent When You Dream (Barroom)," Tom Waits. Points off for tonal accuracy.
5. "King of Carrot Flowers, pt. 2," Neutral Milk Hotel. Make the neighbors think you're conducting a revival meeting in your living room.
6. "Koyaanisqatsi," Philip Glass. For the basso profundo in your group.
7. We're Only In It for the Money, Frank Zappa. You could build a party around the entire record.
8. Anything by Sigur Ros. Test your Hopelandic skills
9. "Revolution 9," The Beatles. Nobody knows what John was going on about, so go ahead and make up your own, or just wait for the "block that kick" chant at the end.
10. "Tame," The Pixies. The last song before the neighbors call the police.
The other things you need to know: developed by iNiS for Microsoft Game Studios, available this holiday season, price unknown but probably about $60, and includes two microphones with LEDs that pulse to the music.
GameStop, a leading video game retailer, has decided that it will no longer stock Microsoft's Zune players, citing poor sales. And while I don't quite agree with my fellow-blogger Don Reisinger that this is the beginning of the end for Zune, it's hard to see any silver lining in the news.
Microsoft's entry into the consumer electronics space came with a thorny channel problem. Microsoft sells the vast majority of its products through PC makers, who bundle Windows (and often Office and other software) on new PCs, and through well-established partners who specialize in selling to large organizations and businesses. Microsoft had a retail channel for selling Windows and Office upgrades and other consumer products (like Money, Encarta, and keyboards and mice), but for the most part these products were sold through computer specialty stores like CompUSA. To succeed in capturing a broader audience, Microsoft had to broaden its retail channel.
The Xbox business helped take care of that problem: once Microsoft proved that it was serious about developing and promoting the first Xbox, and once it began to show reasonable sales figures, a new class of retailers--including game-specialty stores like GameStop--were happy to make shelf space for Microsoft's consoles and games, right alongside Sony and Nintendo.
These retail partners are an important part of Microsoft's Zune strategy. Microsoft figured that the mostly young male audience who buys game consoles and games might be a natural fit for a new MP3 player from the same company that produces the Xbox.
Apparently, after giving it a year and a half, GameStop has found that's not the case. Looking at recent NPD figures, it's easy to see why--compared with the first Xbox, the product just isn't moving nearly as many units (2 million in 18 months) or capturing enough market share. Moreover, if a retailer sells a customer a console, that customer might come back again and again for games. Where's the equivalent attach for Zune? Peripherals, maybe, but I don't think a customer will buy 10 periperhals at $60 a pop like they might with games over a console's lifetime.
I'm not going to write the Zune's obituary just yet. I know the company has been planning some sort of update for the 2008 holiday season. But if that launch fails to capture public interest and fizzles, and we begin to see other retailers pull out, what happens then?
My guess: Microsoft would reassess the situation in early 2009 and quietly refocus the Zune team's energy on mobile phones. In other words, it would scale back manufacturing and marketing for the dedicated MP3 players. However, it might continue updating the software and "social" Web site and use them in conjunction with a new version of Windows Mobile, and/or a new hardware reference design for a consumer phone.
Of course, Microsoft could always follow Apple's lead and open a line of retail stores. But that would be a tremendously expensive project requiring perfect execution, and I'm not sure it's in the company's DNA. Apple is primarily a consumer hardware company, so having a well-designed physical showcase for its products makes sense. Microsoft's got a much broader focus--some would argue lack of focus--and has a lot of other big, complicated things on its plate right now.
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