Activision clarifies Guitar Hero 5 song importing process

GH:WT songs with double bass pedal support isn't a good enough reason to go down this route?

Tool and Hot For Teacher are kind of begging for it.

The extra wait does suck, but makes sense when you consider that they have to make the old tracks compatible with the new GH5 features.

Yeah. Because everyone plays Guitar Hero just for the drums or if they do has two drum pedals.

activison dont care because they dont see a penny from secondhand game sales, to them its just another way to try get people to buy new copies

No need to be a dick about it. Just saying that at least you're getting something.

I'm not trying to be a dick, Baron and I'm sorry it came off that way. I'm just saying it's going to take a while to download all those songs, not to mention a hefty amount of HD space, I'd imagine. Heaven forbid you need a Gold account to accomplish the transfer....

Oh yeah. I forgot that the RB songs take up zero HD space.

That's ok, I'm frequently a douche on here too. I just wanted to see what moral high ground felt like.

The nominal fee is to relicense it on a new platform, RB did the same thing, quit crying.

Plus they're taking everything they did for GHWT are recoding it into the new engine. With RB they were already supported and you still had to pay £3.

I way prefer Rock Band, but it seems people will absolutely refuse to pat GH on the shoulder when it does something good, or will criticise it for things RB suffers from as well.

@ John

Difference there is that with RB1 you could rent it and pay the 5 bucks. Here you are forced to buy it new and still pay the unknown fee. Same goes with the AC/DC RB pack. You buy it and can rip the songs for FREE!!!! Wow, I can't believe this so hard to understand. If anyone could rent GH:SM and rip the songs for 5 bucks, no one here would be complaining, especially RB fans. Sadly, this is not the case.

Activision is fucking you twice, buddy.

@ John:

HMX had to charge the relicensing fee because there was no unique identifier to ensure only one export per copy of the disc. Since then, all songs licensed by HMX are done so for the platform vs. any given disc (with the exception of The Beatles currently). This information was well publicized.

This change in philosophy is why the 4 next-gen Track Packs were able to transfer over to 360 and PS3 from their respective discs. As HMX now simply uses a code to ensure that only one export is available per disc

The one time RB fee was to compensate the artists who had originally only licensed their songs for the first disc. As people could take one paid copy and pass it around for multiple exports.

Since then, each RB track pack (Volume 2, AC/DC, Classic Rock, and Country) has included a one-time exportation code that allows you to transfer content at no additional charge. As now HMX can guarantee the artists who license their content that a copy of the game MUST be sold in order for the tracks to be shifted to the main game.

Meanwhile, Activision forces the customer to purchase a new copy of the disc in order to obtain the code. But then they also have to purchase the rights to transfer that content to the next game.

However, because there is a unique code, there is no risk of duplication. Thus there is no argument to be made that Activision has to help compensate the artists for the potential losses from multiple exportations of a single disc.

The other option of course was to ignore the need for a unique ID, and simply allow multiple exportations per disc with the nominal fee attached. (This is what RB did).

There are other factors to consider that don't help Activision's case in this situation:

1) HMX's process to make exportation a possibility was well-documented before GHWT came about. And while you could potentially argue it was too late at that point for WT....SH was released long enough after that this licensing strategy could've been put into place.

2) The original RB1 export was not in their original plans when developing RB...as at first they figured they would simply release DLC to stack on top of the original game. Once they started RB2, they realized they needed a means of bringing everything together and thus patched in exportability. Thus the need to relicense, and thus the need to charge the fee to compensate for lost sales of RB1 from people passing copies around.

3) If you look on GHWT's manual, the unique owner ID is clear as day on the back. This means that Activision was well aware of a solution to the exportation issue, and simply choose to sit on their hands regarding implementation. You could've been playing you GHWT songs in GHM after all...and also in GHSH. Likewise, you COULD have played your GHM and GHSH songs in GHWT if you so desired. They just choose to not make that option available until now.

So while HMX and Activision both are requring a fee...HMX's fee is not stacked on top of the price of the game, as one copy of RB could potentially provide exportation rights to EVERYBODY who wanted to do it. Furthermore, it was a reactionary move to the changing mentality of the userbase.

Meanwhile Activision's fee becomes a part of the game, as you MUST have a new copy (or at least a used copy with a valid code). Furthermore, it was a planned strategy when other solutions were well known and fully implemented prior to the release of their own games.

I'm sorry, but in this situation, Activision just looks even more crooked than before. As they not only planned this scenario, but blatantly ignored other opportunities to avoid having to charge the user.

And here's the best part. HMX currently has a unique ID with each copy of RB2 (the one people used to get their Free pack of 20 songs). Many people figure this unique code will also be how they ensure only one exportation per copy of RB2 (thus avoiding the need for a fee). If HMX ends up charging a fee for RB2 exportation, you can bet I'll be right there with the others protesting it.

No, they are getting the money they earned. What the fuck makes you think you deserve the songs free?

Fucking leech

What you people did with RB was essentially STEAL the songs from RB1. They had no way to control people who DIDN'T pay for access to RB1 songs the first time to access them on RB2

By your reasoning, since RB 2 is essentially the same game, i should have only had to pay $5 for it, since all I was getting was new songs.

@ John:

Who said anything about free songs? The songs aren't free if you have to buy a copy of the game to get the unique ID. Just like Rock Band, where the songs weren't free since you still had to pay the relicensing fee.

What Activision essentially is doing is re-releasing the WT and SH songs as DLC for GH5. And to try and avoid the PR nightmare of people having to pay $45 for a pack of songs to a game they already had...they drop the charge of the DLC bundle and offset the difference by forcing people to buy the disc.

And if the fee is REALLY there to offset the cost of the new features...does that mean in 3-4 months when they introduce the next GH title and some other random new feature we're all going to have to rebuy the songs from GHWT, SH & now 5? I highly doubt it.

Yes, You were supposed to have BOUGHT, not rented, not borrowed from a friend RB1, then paid the relicensing fee.


It wasn't supposed to be a free pass to get more songs, any more than Activision's is.


Activision was just smarter about it to avoid being ripped off.

Had RB2 released less than a year after RB1 and not had song transferability, people would have been pissed.


What you are doing is basically saying: I have a DVD copy of this movie, i should get the bluray for free.

Honestly, I mean no offense at all T, but you could have earned the $5 licensing fee in the same time you've spent writing about it.

Activision are not alone in gouging, but have seem to become the industry scapegoat for it.

"They had no way to control people who DIDN'T pay for access to RB1 songs the first time to access them on RB2"

Did you even pay attention at all to anything I just said? HMX and the license holders were well aware that there was no way to uniquely identify copies of RB1 during the exportation process. They knew full well that one person with the game would pass it off to friends and family, or that people would rent a copy.

Because of this, HMX worked out a new licensing agreement with the bands. In order to compensate for users who could potentially hand off one copy for multiple exports, HMX would blanket charge a one-time $5 fee. This fee would help recoup some of the losses from users who rented/borrowed an RB1 disc in order to export.

However, HMX has since then changed their licensing policy. Now instead of licensing songs for the specific disc they appear on, songs are now licensed as part of the overall Rock Band franchise. This means that once they hand over the license, an artist typically will have no idea where the content will show up.

According to HMX, this prevents them having to charge exportation fees in the future, as they now have the rights to move the songs between discs as they wish.

In exchange, HMX has introduced the idea of including one-off exportation codes inside every Track Pack they release...and also have included a code inside of the manual for RB2. These codes will allow them to uniquely identify every single export that is used, guaranteeing to the artists who license their songs that a copy of the game has been sold for every export that takes place.

I guess we'll see when RB3 charges $5 to export won't we.


It must be great in your little world wheere companies like to give product away for free.


Like I said, if you were entitled to free songs from RB1, then i was entitled to free RB2 after only paying a nominal fee since its the same damn game.

"I guess we'll see when RB3 charges $5 to export won't we."

Or we can just look at what they've done already with their Track Packs and see they've found a way to do exportation at no additional charge.


"It must be great in your little world wheere companies like to give product away for free."

There's that word again. Who's saying anything about "free". If the Rock Band Track Pack exportation is "free" then I guess my little world includes one of the two big music game developers...

"Like I said, if you were entitled to free songs from RB1, then i was entitled to free RB2 after only paying a nominal fee since its the same damn game"

Where did I say I was entitled to anything? I simply pointed out why the fees were instituted in the first place. Did you intentionally not read a word I said in my earlier posts?

"What you are doing is basically saying: I have a DVD copy of this movie, i should get the bluray for free."

No, what he is saying is "I just bought a dvd, I expect it to work in my Blu-Ray player". Imagine if you had to pay $2 to the movie studios everytime you watched a dvd in your blu ray and you'll see where he's coming from.

Meanwhile, Activision forces the customer to purchase a new copy of the disc in order to obtain the code. But then they also have to purchase the rights to transfer that content to the next game.


Forces them to buy a new copy? Nonsense. If you have a new copy, you've already payed the license fees. If you bought it used, you don't. The deal with used merchandise is that its used. You can't expect it to be the same quality as new. Just because gamestop fools you into paying almost the same price, doesn't mean its worth it.

If you don't want to buy another copy, well, hell, I sure can't blame you. Just plug in the old disk, I suppose.

As for the additional fee Activision charges, I sort of agree with T, and sort of disagree. It's not entirely ridiculous, since they are adding new functionality to all of the old tracks, as mentioned in the post, but I agree, they should have worked out a better license agreement, similar to what it harmonix is doing with its track packs (Which are rip offs in and off themselves...), and what it will hopefully continue to do with the next rock band game. Only time will tell.

When Rock Band 1 was created, there was no thought of song importation, and this is why there was no code on RB1, and you had to pay $5 to relicsense. RB1's songs were licensed for RB1 and RB1 only.

When GH:WT came out, there was no thought of song importation during the licensing and development portion of the game, as Harmonix announced it late July. All of WT's songs were already licensed for WT and WT only. During late production they decided to add product ID codes on the back of manuals. This allowed for the free DLC promotion (December 08'), and would later allow for a non-abusable form of disc exporting.

WT has to still have the relicense fee, but it is limited to one copy to prevent abuse. You don't buy the $5 fee to gain the license. You buy the $5 to "improve" the license you already own. This was meant for people who already own the game or will buy the game, not for renters or borrowers looking to score all of the songs for $5.

The $5 you paid for RB wasn't to buy all of the songs, it was to relicense the songs YOU ALREADY OWN. If you didn't own RB1, YOU STOLE FROM HARMONIX. The same company everyone loves so much. Way to go guys!

Nobody reads the fine print.........

Read above moron.

because they purchased the license to use it ONCE. If they just let you import tracks for free, they'd get their asses sued off

What I would like to know is why they put the unique code on yet are charging you the fee. If they had the plan to include a code to let you import them then why didn't they relicense the songs then? Rock Band did it with AC/DC and their other track packs.

Because ACDC is not a real rock band game.

It's a glorified special walmart edition track pack.


They licensed them ahead of time that way.

GHWT came out right at the same time as RB2, why would they let the artists negotiate a higher license fee for the POSSIBILITY of importing into future games until seeing if it was a deal breaker for Rock band.

Now they need to relicense, hence the fee.

If you think harmonix wouldn't have liked to make everyone who imported the songs pay for RB1 you are

A: Retarded
B: not from a planet where businesses like money

Like I said, if your argument is to hold any water, then by rights, I should have only had to pay $5 for RB2 since I already owned the platform and was just getting new songs.

How are you so stupid?

Oh, you're blinded by entitlement.

I honestly don't get how you can't understand this, I'll try to make it simple.

RB licenses songs for the RB platform*
GH licenses for an individual game

This means you won't be paying a "nominal fee" when you export your Rock Band songs, you've already paid for your songs, why would you have to pay for them again?

It does mean that you will pay a "nominal fee" for each time you export from your GH games. So when GH5 comes out you can pay a fee for WT another for SH and another for VH. When GH6 comes out you get to pay a fee for each of those above, plus GH5! Why would you want to keep paying fee's like that?

*Yes, Rock Band charged the $5 fee. This was because they didn't have a code to identify unique users of a disc who had already paid for the songs. Now they do, so it won't happen again. If every unique disc user has to pay another fee with RB3 I'll be first to complain, it won't though because the songs are licensed to the platform.

"If you think harmonix wouldn't have liked to make everyone who imported the songs pay for RB1 you are"

Of course they would like that to happen. They didn't have this in mind at the time though, that is why we have the $5 fee to export. Activision is making everyone pay for a unique copy of GH and then slapping them with another fee. Harmonix now has that in mind for future songs, so there is a unique code for each disc. That way you have to pay for the songs, but only once. Not twice like GH is doing.

Yes, all those people though who rented or borrowed a game to import rock band songs, did NOT pay harmonix for the work of coding the songs, writing the charts, etc...


You STOLE from harmonix. you are a scumbag, quit trying to rationalize it.

Um...excuse me, how did I steal from Harmonix? I still own my Rock Band 1 disc.

Because the songs were licensed to the respective game they were released on. To play them on a new game they need to Relicense the content.

Because Activision wants your money and decided to license the songs to a single game instead of the platform like how Harmonix does.

this is retarded.do you gotta rebuy your library for every new ipod you get?

Well said! +1

I guess people here forgot that Rock Band also had a re-licensing fee.

Remember kids:

When Harmonix does it: It's totally awesome so it's totally ok to hand over your money to them.

When Activision does it: IT'S TOTALLY EVIL CUZ GH IS SUCH A GARBAGE GAME, etc etc etc.

Remember these are the first steps into becoming a Rock Band too- I mean fanboy.

Jason stop sounding so butthurt.

Not every Rock Band fan is complaining this Guitar Hero importing code thing. I don't even see what the whole hubbub is about.

...It doesn't make Guitar Hero any better as a game, in my opinion, though

Jason, please remind me when Harmonix required everyone to use a unique code and pay a fee? I only remember using a unique code, but not paying a fee for the AC/DC tracks and just using the Rock Band 1 disc with no code and paying a fee.

@ CTC XBL

Because Harmonix licensed those songs on the Track Packs for that particular pack and RB2 before they released them. When the first RB came out, they didn't know that they were going to have a feature to import those songs to RB 2, much less even know that an RB 2 was going to exist. So they had to re-license those songs for RB 2, requiring the $5 fee.

Yes, I understand why Harmonix has done it that way. This isn't the same though, Activision had the foresight to put in a unique code on GHWT, just like how the RB track packs have codes. So why are we paying a fee to import GHWT songs when we don't have to pay a fee to import RB track packs? Activision obviously knew we would be importing their songs, that's why they included the code.

Umm, yeah I had to pay $5 to send the tracks from Rock Band 1 to Rock Band 2.

There's a difference between TRACK PACKS (which is DLC on a disk) and retail games. Get the facts before you start moving your little fingers.

Actually, the code on the manual was for free DLC when the game came out.