How’s this for a sign of the times? Mötley Crüe s new single “Saints of Los Angeles” only sold 10,000 copies on iTunes and Amazon in the US and Canada upon its release last month, whereas on Rock Band 47,000 copies were sold on the Xbox 360 version alone.

We all know the death of the CD is imminent, but is the MP3 player next? With new acts releasing downloadable tracks on Rock Band are proving to be very profitable. It’s great to get a new song to listen to, but being able to play adds another exciting feature to a new release.

Rock Band and Guitar Hero offer new downloadable songs every week and for a new band that may not have many listeners are now getting lots of new ears from gamers wanting to play new songs. Back-catalogue songs are very popular, and old classics like “Bang a Gong” by T-Rex are getting new life breathed into them.

Rock Band released its first full downloadable album in April this year, Judas Priest’s "Screaming for Vengeance" and there are other albums in mind for the future such as the Who, the Cars, and Pixies.

Song packs containing three songs cost $5.49 or 440 Microsoft Points, while song packs containing six songs cost CAN$9.99/800 MPs. Individual songs are available for $1.99/160 MPs.

The price for downloadable albums will vary, according to how many songs are on the album. Judas Priest’s album was $14.99 or 1,200 MSP. That price isn’t bad, since a song on iTunes costs $0.99 and an album can cost $9.99.