Come Together: What The Beatles’ Rock Band Game Means for the Music Industry

As I’m sure you’ve heard, The Beatles are coming to Rock Band. The Fab Four announced Thursday they will be making their digital debut via a partnership with MTV and Harmonix, which looks to see the band featured in its own exclusive Rock Band title, slated for a holiday 2009 release. Of course, this is a major announcement for a plethora of reasons. The most important reason is hidden underneath the surface of this monstrous musical development.

The Beatles are potentially the most influential and important band in rock ‘n’ roll history. Yes, I know about Elvis and Chuck Berry, but though they made rock ‘n’ roll popular, The Beatles pushed its mania into the stratosphere. Never before had one band caused such pandemonium over a simple one-song performance. Their popularity and influence is unrivaled, and for this reason they have quite the reputation for their exclusive agreements. In fact, 1987 was the last “jump” the band made, seeing their twelve studio albums remastered and released as CDs. Since then, feuds and lawsuits steaming from trademark issues with their record label, Apple, and computer giant, Apple, have resulted in The Beatles refusing to allow their music to be distributed via iTunes.

So what does all this mean, and why the hell should we care? Well, to be blunt, The Beatles’ agreement to include/distribute their music via Rock Band is not only a major announcement for video game companies such as Harmonix and track-hungry gamers such as myself; but it is also an important moment in music culture as a whole…let me explain.

When The Beatles released their last album in 1970, the standard form of music distribution was of course the vinyl LP. Since then, their music has been released on the each of the popular mediums for their time period, two of which were the cassette and CD. But, The Beatles have yet to indulge themselves in the newest form of musical distribution, that of the digital variety. For this reason, a young generation of music listeners has gone years without having the opportunity to listen to one of the greatest bands of all time. Granted, their CDs can be purchased, and their music is everywhere, but the fact still remains that there is a definitive demographic which has not yet listened to The Beatles, simply because their music is not available in digital format.

Abbey Road: A Musical Crossroads

With the Rock Band partnership, an even younger generation of music fans will now have the opportunity to listen to Liverpool’s finest, which is perhaps the most interesting aspect of this unprecedented agreement. The younger generation, those who have practically grown up with their plastic instruments in hand, will hear the band that influenced the youth of generations past to pick up real instruments and play in a real rock band. Sure, Rock Band is only a game, but it’s an extremely popular game, one that undoubtedly inhabits the living space of many families, and it’s this reason that makes The Beatles’ decision to partner with Harmonix monumental. They will be distributing their music on a new, and very popular, platform, to generations of youngsters who may have never heard them.

I’ve spoken previously about my belief in rhythm games becoming a new and popular medium for musical distribution, and this agreement helps to further demonstrate my theory that these games are just as important to the music industry as they are to the gaming industry. Maybe you don’t think this deal is that important, but just think for a moment about the music you hear on the radio today; in my opinion, it’s less than admirable (unless you have satellite radio). These are young musicians moving further and further away from the likes and greatness of bands such as The Beatles. Maybe a little more exposure to high quality music, such as The Beatles, will have a positive musical impact on the future musicians of the world. It’s a lofty assumption, but anything is possible with John, Paul, George and Ringo.