The music industry is in a long and drawn-out transition phase. The traditional way of doing things: mega marketing budgets, CD sales in the millions, huge non-recoupable advances and thousands of Euro spent on “flowers” backstage is coming to an end and rightly so.

While tried and tested methods of unleashing pop music onto the world will remain, there are less and less global opportunities for new bands out there. Bands know that they can’t wait around for someone to sign them up. That’s why we are seeing so many new methods of PR, funding and sales techniques pop up (Radiohead’s In Rainbows or Josh Freese’s fan packages to name two examples) .

One such band that is aware of the current situation is Irish rock band Audio Fiction. The New York-based band were among the first 100 bands to be included in the Rock Band Network music store which has just launched. The store allows artists to author and submit songs specifically for Rock Band 2. Bassist Darren Korb is apparently a Rock Band expert so he put the song together in a game-compatible format. The song, Racing The Hourglass is available to download alongside artists like The Shins, The Hold Steady, Floggying Molly and Steve Vai for use in the game.
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