Rock Band DLC songs are disappearing as licenses expire

After 275 weeks of constant song updates, some of the DLC from Harmonix's Rock Band are starting to expire. Over 4000 songs have been added through DLC over the years, with last week being the last week any new songs would be added to the Rock Band store. Yesterday on their Facebook page, Harmonix posted that some of the licensing of its earlier DLC are starting to expire.

Harmonix wrote, "When licensing songs for release for any platform, including DLC, agreements include term limits on how long the content may be sold on a given platform. This isn't specific to Rock Band — it's something that exists in pretty much all licensing agreements."

So far, the only songs being affected and pulled from the Rock Band store by expiring licenses are:

Metallica Pack 01

• "Ride The Lightning"
• "And Justice For All"
• "Blackened"

That pack was released on November 20, 2007, and will now no longer be available for purchase. If you've already bought that pack, nothing changes, and you'll still be able to play those songs.

As for this happening in the future, Harmonix stated, "We'll post as more information becomes available, with relicensing updates likely coming in on a quarterly basis. We're hard at work to minimize the impact on the RB catalog and RB community, securing extensions for an overwhelming majority of content and, most importantly, making it a priority to give you advance notice if songs are expiring and have to come down. We'll do our best to make sure that you have one last chance to buy these legacy catalog tracks!"

I find it fitting that this happens first with Metallica, a band that's long been vocal about piracy and isn't hesitant to file a lawsuit. It's not at all the same situation as this one, but it's just, like I said, fitting that it's the Metallica DLC pack being taken down.

You can follow Senior Editor Lance Liebl on Twitter @Lance_GZ. He likes talking sports, video games, movies, and the stupidity of celebrities. Email at LLiebl@GameZone.com

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