After a number of years inside the auspices of media giant Viacom, Rock Band series developer Harmonix have split off and returned to independence. The developer was also responsible for The Beatles and Green Day series of games. The developer made this statement:

Viacom and MTV Networks have been an amazing home for us over the past 4 years. It's where we launched both Rock Band and Dance Central, worked with The Beatles, Green Day, AC/DC, The Who and thousands of other artists. We want to take a moment to thank everyone in that organization who helped make these awesome games possible.

We're excited to be returning to our roots as an independent and privately owned studio. As for what it means for you, the DLC schedule marches on for Rock Band, we will continue our support of previously released titles and we're hard at work on some unannounced projects that we think you're going to be pumped about.

Along with the games, the company launched the Rock Band store which allowed artists to produce and sell their own songs through the line of games.