Dear Singstar -

You break my heart again and again and yet I keep coming back to see how you are. You haven't been in my PS3 in months and I miss you. Yet, to be honest, I think I've found someone new. Her name is Rock Band 2. I know she's not everything you are, but she is a lot of things you aren't.

You keep trying to get me to try something new, which is admirable, but at the same time Rock Band, she gives me something I want week after week. You want me to Anouk and she wants me to Lenny Kravitz. I can't try what I don't know.

You'll always hold a special place in my heart. Just know that you can call me when you get your act together.

Yours,

Dr. Strangepork

Will be getting Red Red Wine since it's not on disc.

For those who are disappointed with SingStore, I suggest buying the PS2 discs. There's a ton of good songs there, including ones that may never see the light of day on SingStore due to licensing issues.

I can't believe how awful these updates are. I also cant believe how Singstar is such a thing of the past. AFAIK, Lips does everything better.

Someone at GAF made a really good post about the licensing situation:

It's a bit more complex than that, especially if you have a read of this. They first need to license the original sound recording and the video from the record label, but also need to pay the original composer and songwriter as well, usually via a publishing company which can often be completely different to the record label that owns the recording. People complain about the lack of recent pop music or classic songs on the Singstore but it has to be remembered that Universal own a huge chunk of both ends of the market, especially when it comes to the publishing side of things. For example they own the publishing to all of the Motown back catalogue, all of Island Records work (including artists like Bob Marley) as well as work by more recent "major" pop artists like Rihanna and the Pussycat Dolls. I do think it all basically comes down to Universal wanting more money for downloads than Sony is willing to pay and/or wanting a different pricing system to the flat rate one that's used at the moment (ironically the flat rate on iTunes was supposedly what was motivating them to leave that particular service at one point but now this is going to change to keep the labels happy). They're quite happy to license songs for Singstar discs and as downloads for Lips in particular where they can charge more than the standard flat rate price for their songs. If Singstar moved to the new iTunes price model for the Singstore maybe things might change and Universal may get on board in a bigger way, but I can't see it happening any time soon.

Some songs, like YMCA, Queen, etc. were passed on for the U.S. so far, since U.S. distribution rights were owned by Universal. Most of the popular U.S. artists are Universal, if people didn't know (in other countries, they don't have as big of an impact). Almost every rapper is apart of Universal also.

However, what some don't know is, just about every song in this update (and most others), have been a top 10 charted song in at least one country (whether it's Sweden, Australia, Norway, Netherlands, Britain, etc.). Since SingStar is targeted for every region (mostly Europe since 85% of its fanbase is there), that's where many songs come from (and as of recent, the amount of songs people want from Europe has been pretty high, where many were thanking the SingStar team for finally putting up songs they requested). Like I also say, if a song is Sony BMG, EMI, or Warner, you MIGHT see it one day in the SingStore. If it's UMG, forget it, never will happen at the moment. Their music will continue to come on discs, whether it's PS2 or PS3.

To also let everyone know, the update went live in all regions at once, where none got delayed.

I understand there being problems with UMG music, but Sony also has a large catalog of music they can release too. But still they don't and just send us all these unknowns, sure some are good but for the most part I never heard most of these artists.

Mana Knight will never stop making excuses for them... I'm still annoyed at how few updates we get and how much of the music is non-US music. No excuses.

To also let people know, the SingStore is a lot like iTunes in a way (strict DRM and fixed pricing structure). In case many of you didn't know, there was a lot of UMG dispute over the years with iTunes:
http://www.nytimes.com/2007/07/02/bu...rsal.html?_r=1
http://www.nytimes.com/2006/08/29/bu...rssnyt&emc=rss (they even back free rivals, based on not being happy with the structure of iTunes)
http://www.engadget.com/2007/08/09/u...-snubs-itunes/
http://www.paidcontent.org/entry/419...s-not-included

Eventually, UMG got their way with iTunes (or well, they put the biggest push for variable pricing):
http://tutor2u.net/blog/index.php/ec...iable-pricing/

A lot of it comes down to, UMG (who owns the largest catalog by far of music) definitely knows Sony needs them more than they need Sony. To probably get them on board, SingStar pricing structure would need altering (probably charging $1.49 - $2.24, or maybe more), maybe DRM would need altering, etc. Basically, they'd want to control it in some way like they control everything else. Even I wondered, why don't they at least allow their crappy music to appear in the SingStore at its lowest pricing, but it seems to be more of an all or nothing. You either get all their music, or you get nothing.

EMI Group on the other hand (1 of them 4 big music companies, who is based in Britain) are the exact opposite as UMG, where they badly want their music to be downloadable anywhere, regardless to what the rules are (which is why you see a decent amount of their music in the SingStore, even their more popular stuff. Coldplay, Radiohead, etc. are EMI). But most EMI stuff comes from Europe though.

I'll admit, I actually had no idea UMG was like this until recently. I thought they weren't supporting SingStore for others reasons (although part of it was money), but it seems like it might just come to this. Disc on the other hand is no problem because shares are never evenly divided, and the pricing to get artists on disc isn't bad (and UMG has always been very supportive on SingStar discs too).

Because I'm bored, here's the Euro update for the 29th:

The next in our series of fortnightly SingStore updates will be live on Thursday 29th January In English - Kylie Minogue Confide In Me Modern Talking Cheri Cheri Lady Paul McCartney & Wings Jet Rita Red Shoes Dream on Girl Suede Everything Will Flow Suede Saturday Night Supergrass Diamond Hoo Ha Man The Divine Comedy Something for the Weekend The Divine Comedy National Express Westlife Fool Again Will Young Grace Wings Band On The Run In Italian - Franco Battiato Bandiera Bianca Max Gazzè L'Amore Pensato Neffa Cambierà Velvet Boy Band In Norwegian - Sputnik Lukk opp din hjertedør In Spanish - Ana torroja No Me Canso Chambao Pokito a poko Joaquin Sabina 19 dias y 500 noches Pastora Lola Pereza Si quieres bailamos

only 2 songs on there that i'd be moderately interested in. the 2 Wings songs are the only ones that i've ever even heard before.

unrelated to the crappy updates, lately i've noticed that when i play Singstar on my PS3, the music is really tinny sounding. i checked my audio settings from the XMB, and it looks like it's set to put out a high quality 5.1 signal. i'm definitely not hearing the hq sound though. any ideas? is there a audio settings menu in Singstar that i'm missing? i'm using the optical audio out, and my receiver is defintely able to handle better sounding signals.

To let everyone know, the tracklist posted at Joystiq PlayStation is NOT final for North America. The NA tracklist will have some tracks removed, and some added (all previous updates have been this way, such as Red Red Wine, I believe in a thing called love, etc. were added specifically for our update). We will not know the NA tracklist until it goes up. That is why I stopped posting the U.K. tracklist early because lately the updates have been a bit different.

Also, I had a discussion with someone at the SingStar World forums that we will not be surprised if there's a drop in U.S.-based labels. Main reason is that since the Euro/GBP/etc. have dropped more in the recession, the cost to license a U.S. -based label has gone up. The only way to compensate that is to raise prices (along with variable pricing like I've said), but who knows if that will happen.

Also, it appears SingStar Queen is PS3 and PS2. But right now it seems like it will be PS2 only for the U.S. (but Europe gets both).

Ah, so Singstar will get worse instead of better. Not surprising, but still disappointing.

I've been neglecting my duties lately.

OP updated.

I don't think this has been posted yet, but here is the SingStar Queen tracklist (the game is for PS2/PS3, but the U.S. might only get the PS2 version).

01. A Kind Of Magic 02. Another One Bites The Dust 03. Bicycle Race 04. Bohemian Rhapsody 05. Breakthru 06. Crazy Little Thing Called Love 07. Don't Stop Me Now 08. Fat Bottomed Girls 09. Hammer To Fall 10. I Want It All 11. I Want To Break Free 12. Innuendo 13. Killer Queen 14. One Vision 15. Play The Game 16. Radio Ga Ga 17. Somebody To Love 18. The Show Must Go On 19. These Are The Days Of Our Lives 20. Tie Your Mother Down 21. Under Pressure 22. We Are The Champions 23. We Will Rock You 24. Who Wants To Live Forever 25. You're My Best Friend

Comes from the SingStar World forums:
http://singstar.invisionplus.net/?mf...&showtopic=830

The tracks in bold have never been on the SingStore for U.K. or any game. The

thanks Mana, i'm really excited about the Queen disc. for a second i didn't see Don't Stop Me Now, and i was going to be majorly disappointed. some really great songs on there.

any ideas on my sound issue?

unrelated to the crappy updates, lately i've noticed that when i play Singstar on my PS3, the music is really tinny sounding. i checked my audio settings from the XMB, and it looks like it's set to put out a high quality 5.1 signal. i'm definitely not hearing the hq sound though. any ideas? is there a audio settings menu in Singstar that i'm missing? i'm using the optical audio out, and my receiver is defintely able to handle better sounding signals.

one thing i haven't tried is taking the receiver off of auto detect, and setting it to use one of the 5.1 signals, although i'm assuming it's a stereo signal anyways.

Originally Posted by bendeco45 thanks Mana, i'm really excited about the Queen disc. for a second i didn't see Don't Stop Me Now, and i was going to be majorly disappointed. some really great songs on there. any ideas on my sound issue? one thing i haven't tried is taking the receiver off of auto detect, and setting it to use one of the 5.1 signals, although i'm assuming it's a stereo signal anyways.

Speaking of your sound issue (sorry, I don't pay lots of attention to the every post due to everyone complaining when it all comes down to what I said many times).

Anyway, I actually had a similar problem (but not with SingStar. I had the issue with R2 and Warhawk). I had my audio on my TV on auto, and because of that, it changed my audio settings on my PS3 games to 5.1 channel or surround sound, causing the audio to cut out. Some games I was able to change it in-game, some I had tor reset the game. Ever since I turned off auto volume on my TV, I stopped hosting an issue for now.

thanks. like i said, i'll try taking the auto detect signal off of my receiver, but another thing i just thought of is to unselect the 5.1 signals in the PS3 sound settings menu. maybe it's trying to put out the 5.1 signal that's just not there, and it really should be putting out the stereo signal. who knows, i'll report back after i've tried it tonight.

Update 1/29/09 :-

Divine Comedy, The - National Express
Divine Comedy, The - Something For The Weekend
Kylie Minogue - Confide In Me
Modern Talking - Cheri Cheri Lady
Paul McCartney & Wings - Jet
Rita Red Shoes - Dream On Girl
Suede - Everything Will Flow
Suede - Saturday Night
Supergrass - Diamond Hoo Ha Man
Westlife - Fool Again
Will Young - Grace
Wings - Band On The Run

Originally Posted by Azumangaman I can't believe how awful these updates are. I also cant believe how Singstar is such a thing of the past. AFAIK, Lips does everything better.

You can't be ing serious.

There's no way.

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Originally Posted by TimPV3 You can't be ing serious. There's no way.

Ya Rly!
My random opinions = SUPER SRS BUZINESS

Most people that actually follow what I've said in this thread would know why I'm very frustrated with Singstar.

I understand where you're coming from and I agree with you on these updates. I wouldn't say LIPS is already better after only a couple of months, but we'll see, and competition is always a good thing, hopefully it'll make singstar release better music for download.