Harmonix talks upcoming Rock Band DLC, 100 million songs downloaded, Wii owners buy little DLC, no Rock Band 4 in 2011

A portion of a Game Informer interview with Chris Rigopulos, Vice President of Strategy and Business Development for Harmonix…

GI: Who are some of the unannounced artists we’ll see coming to Rock Band 3 in the coming months? Are there any new artists that haven’t been in the game before? Any returning favorites?

CR: We have an amazing lineup of DLC scheduled for May, including new tracks from the Foo Fighters, Lady Gaga, and Ozzy Osbourne. First up, the Foo Fighters continue to add to their legacy with the release of their new album Wasting Light, which debuted at No. 1 on the Billboard 200 last week. On May 10, we’ll release a pack of their music, as well as two Pro Guitar/Bass upgrades to songs from the Rock Band catalog. I am a huge fan, and I’m looking forward to Tuesday. We will have all the details on Ozzy, Lady Gaga and more coming soon.

GI: Among these artists coming to the game, what songs, albums, or song packs are you most excited about?

CR: That’s really tough. I’m pretty excited about the entire May slate. Ozzy. Foo Fighters. Lady Gaga. All are Day One purchases for me. But I should mention that tucked in among these amazing May releases is a classic Peter Frampton track - “Do You Feel Like We Do” from Frampton Comes Alive. It’s this epic 13-minute jam with some blistering keys, brilliant guitar playing, and of course, the signature talk-box guitar effect. This masterpiece will pummel you, wear you down, but ultimately leave you begging for more. I can’t wait! Plus, it’s a great value on a dollars-per-minute basis.

GI: How many songs total have been downloaded over the life of the Rock Band franchise? Do you have a sense of how that number breaks down over each year of the franchise?

CR: We recently hit a significant milestone; more than 100 million songs have been downloaded for Rock Band. It’s amazing. On behalf of Harmonix, I should probably take this opportunity to express our sincere thanks to all of our fans who have propelled us to these heights and to all of the artists whose music lies at the heart of the Rock Band experience.

GI: Can you offer any sense of on which console you see the most or the least DLC activity? Is there a dramatic difference between the number of players who download songs on the 360, PS3, or Wii?

CR: Well, the behavior of 360 and PS3 users is pretty similar, but if pressed, I would say 360 users buy the most DLC. They do have access to the largest catalog of music with all of the Rock Band Network content. Not surprisingly, our Wii users are a distant third. The Wii is a great console and does a lot of unique things really well, but DLC is a less integral part of the Wii user experience.

…we’re not planning a Rock Band 4 disc release in 2011. Rock Band 3 is a big game with lots of available music content and lots of new goals and challenges. We want to give our fans the time to explore that fully. But rest assured that Harmonix is still developing new ideas and concepts to advance the Rock Band franchise, and we look forward to sharing those when the time is right.