Ok, so my suspicions about the reasons behind Rock Band: AC/DC breaking the usual customer-friendly mould of Rock Band appear to have been confirmed:
The reason “AC/DC Live” can’t be purchased at your local EB Games or Best Buy is because of the deal that AC/DC had already struck with Wal-Mart as an exclusive distributor of their upcoming album, “Black Ice.” The negotiations with AC/DC over the track pack required that Harmonix become part of the existing Wal-Mart agreement.
Even more damning is a quote from Angus Young to the Telegraph:
“We don’t make singles, we make albums,” said Young. “Way back in the Seventies, we drew these figures on the back of an envelope for our record company. We showed them how much they earned from us if we sold one million singles and how much they earned if we sold one million albums. The difference was staggering . . . If we were on iTunes, we know a certain percentage of people would only download two or three songs from the album – and we don’t think that represents us musically.”
Doesn’t represent you musically? What you actually mean is that restricting customer choice works for you financially, because if customers could only pick the songs they actually liked you’d make less money. My only dilemma is which box to check on my ‘why bands ignore their customers and don’t list on download sites’ form: is it the ‘Arrogant snobbery’ or ‘Money-grabbing shill’ box in this case? I think I’ll check both.
Any band that thinks they are somehow ‘above’ the people that buy their music and feel they can disallow customers from buying it the way they want have their heads firmly wedged up their own arses, and deserve everything they get when people download their music for free.
Yes, this is a rant; I hate this kind of attitude and I’m also cranky from not being able to play drums for over a week thanks to my back 
October 21st, 2008 at 9:39 am
I like AC/DC music. But it seems the people behind it is not as cool as it seemed to.
If the problem is money, I bet they would earn more if were willing to be in Rock Band or Guitar Hero. The first time I picked up the guitar controller, I though “Where are the AC/DC songs?”. I hope they will change their minds.
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:35 am
Wow, I cant believe Angus Young actually said that! Greedy bastards! Ive gone right off them now – wont buy a thing from them anymore (not that I ever have). Razors edge was good actually, but my sis bought that tape
Steve, you being the font of all things guitary/bandy what are your predictions for Guitar Hero World Tour? The drums look excellant no?
October 22nd, 2008 at 9:52 am
Hardware wise GHWT looks like an improvement on RB1, although the GHWT drums aren’t without their faults – from what I hear from hands-on playing, issues include the pedal not being attached to anything and is susceptible to bouncing out of place in fast sessions, particularly on a springy carpet, and that the height of the cymbals is fixed at a height not that far above the pads, leading to some people getting their sticks caught underneath them when playing. The main drum pads sound considerably better though, but then RB2 has the same thing in that regard. Personally I’m pretty happy with my RB1 drums now they’re modded, and would only change them if they broke.
Game-wise, I don’t much like the visual style of GHWT so far (interface is more cluttered), and I still remain skeptical about whether they can equal the ‘fun’ factor Harmonix is adept at. I’m sure they’ve learned since the sub-standard GH3 but will they have learned enough? We’ll have to see. The other thing is that the RB music catalogue will be close to 500 songs by the time GHWT comes out with less than 100, so in terms of music choice there’s very little contest. I also don’t like the vibes from Activision about creating a ton of new Guitar Hero retail games in 2009 instead of focussing on DLC like Harmonix have done.
So in summary, I think the hardware advantage will be present over unmodded RB1 drums, but won’t be a deal-breaker, and is unlikely to erode RB’s lead in the genre by very much. At least with connoisseurs – undoubtedly GHWT will sell well to people who recognise the GH brand (even though it’s not being made by the people who made it great), and probably to disgruntled PS3 owners in Europe who were left with no RB1 for 5 months while 360 users were having fun. You could use GHWT drums with RB2 of course, but I’d have to wait to try that before recommending it as a good route.