Konami wants your music for the next DDR

by Jared Rea { Jan 9th 2007 at 2:25PM }

Are you secretly producing some sort of euro-trash-cum-bubbly-pop wonder song that could whip the whole world into a certain state of stomping in place? Konami sure hopes so, as they're once again teaming up with Broadjam to find the next big thing in Dance Dance Revolution -- you!

Konami is looking for songs that are at least a minute and a half long, above 120 beats per minute and include "strong and/or catchy melodies." Any chosen songwriters will get $1,000 and have their music featured in a future game, but, as the contest site oddly notes, "There is no guarantee there will be any winners." Considering you have to pay up to $20 just to enter, it sounds like someone could be making out like a bandit here.

Last year's contest produced four winning entries, all of which debuted (and coincidentally, died) on DDR Ultramix 4 for the original Xbox. With Konami pouring less and less original effort into songs for their Bemani series, contests like these are increasingly valuable to them. It's either this or they dig through the dusty Beatmania library for one more go of "20, November."

Tags: broad jam, BroadJam, dance dance revolution, DanceDanceRevolution, ddr, konami, song contest, SongContest, ultramix

Related From Joystiq

Rock Band platform now has over 1,000 songs
15 days ago
Konami's iPhone games on sale for one dollar each
23 days ago
Rumor: Konami's Rock Revolution may occur in 2009
476 days ago

Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)

ZealousD @ Jan 9th 2007 5:38PM

What a ripoff. You gotta pay $20 so that MAYBE you'll get $1,000? 50 entries alone would pay for a single winner, and even if your song is good enough to put in the game, then Konami basically just payed you only a measly $1,000 for your song, much less than what they probably pay for licensing or making any other song on the list.

n_revolution9 @ Jan 9th 2007 2:41PM

cum-bubbly??

zero2dash @ Jan 9th 2007 2:57PM

DDR is dead; people have moved onto better games and Konami hasn't done jack but churned out the same recycled BS for quite a while now.

DarkTetsuya @ Jan 9th 2007 3:32PM

#2: And yet games still come out. Funny how that works, eh?

s256 @ Jan 10th 2007 3:36AM

There's a lot more great material from other Bemani games that could be transferred to DDR just fine. Or non-music game music by Bemani artists.

Maybe.

Konami needs it to be DDR because they'd lose their "it's a workout!" fire completely. PnM, IIDX and GFDM wouldn't really get anywhere on that level.

I prefer IIDX and especially GuitarFreaks because they're difficult and very fun, and the music is mostly excellent.

thelegendofzaku @ Jan 9th 2007 4:22PM

#2: in no way DDR is dead, as a matter of fact, it's currently Konami's bread and butter, alongside their
other massive franchises like Winning Eleven and Castlevania.

Anyways, it's really good that they're making the series more eclectic, granted it was already there when they had a Ray Charles track in Ultramix 3, giving everyone a taste of diverse music genres.

thelegendofzaku @ Jan 9th 2007 4:39PM

I'm gonna have to disagree with the original poster about the lack of originality in Bemani music. Most of their good tracks are created by various in-house artists such as Naoki, TaQ, DJ Taka, and Akira Yamaoka just to name a few. The contest is merely a way to give indie musicians some much needed exposure.

sheppy @ Jan 11th 2007 10:29PM

Konami's best stuff is found in Beatmania. DDR tends to get Beatmania runoff remixed. But hey, while we're bashing dance games, how about this?

Dear Konami,
please start sending the good Beatmania mixes stateside. While I am not suffering due to owning Red and Happy Sky mixes, many of my friends truly believe the pitiful mix dropped is the best you can do with this series. And while we're on the subject, please create brand new mixes of Dance Maniax. I mean, DDR is fine and all but I haven't been excited about a mix in a long, long, loooong time.

Dear Andamira,
Pump It Up is "teh rox." Seriously. This is a great series that lacks one major thing, US presence. Where is Exceed 2 for my PS2? Do you realize how many flaming hoops of hell I had to jump through to get my second mat that now sits by a played out mix? DDR music variety has nothing on you and while DDR tends to give the same artist 9-10 different names, I have no problem acknowledging Banya under a single name. Please bring more.

Dear Sega,
You've seen the Wii, right? You pretty much have a system begging for a maraca shaking monkey. Please, deliver us another Samba De Amigo. We want it, need it, and love it. Plus, unlike the Dreamcast, majority of the Wii's fanbase is ready and willing to make an ass of themselves with eccentric gameplay. You need money, right? Why else would you have shipped Sonic the way it was?

Dear NamcoBandai,
WHERE THE **** IS MORE TAIKO DRUM MASTER? I have two drums, eager for some more platsic drumbumping going on. Please deliver.

Denjin @ Jan 9th 2007 8:48PM

I would go out on a whim and say DDR is dead but since it's popular here in the US, it is far from dying. But I do have to agree that Konami is getting lazy with this series compared to thier other stuff like the GitaDora series, Beatmania IIDX, and Pop'n Music where they actually create new music and notecharts that are actually enjoyable, unlinke the new DDR game that came out recently.

Ryoga Vee @ Jan 9th 2007 8:45PM

I’m friends with Kristy of The Azoic.
They got on DDR a while ago with their song called Conflict. And I’m sure the licensing they received was about $1000. That’s pretty much standard for a video game unless you are a big time headliner. $20 is only yo weed out the people that are NOT serious, and deture fluff. This is infact a GREAT idea. If it were free do you really think someone would want to listen to 10,000 poorly done tracks made with Acid 3. This keeps it ligit, and fair.