As it has with previous installments, Electronic Arts will act as distributor, implying the company has renewed its distribution agreement with Viacom that expires this month. The decision also comes despite EA’s recent announcement that…

it would be scaling down its distribution business to focus more on owned titles.

Posting the announcement to fans on its Facebook page, the company said Rock Band 3 "will innovate and revolutionize the music genre once again," and promised more details forthcoming soon.

The company is pursuing the game in spite of an industry-weakening decline in the once-booming genre of peripheral-equipped music games. Although the franchise has generated over $1 billion dollars to date, the category in general saw sales contract by as much as half throughout 2009.

MTV Games parent Viacom also saw Rock Band declines drag on its balance sheet in its last fiscal quarter, and expressed a need to refocus away from pricey peripherals in favor of software.It also said that due to royalties it would need to be more "selective" about track listings, and that it needs more support from the music industry in that department.
Further, Viacom said last month it will seek a "substantial" refund from some $150 million in target-based compensation that it paid to Harmonix developers in 2007 for the success of Rock Band.

MTV Games has held the position that the music genre isn’t declining, merely evolving. Increasingly interoperable peripheral controllers and userbase saturation mean the primary revenue source for the category is shifting away from high-priced bundles and toward software and digital downloads.(Gamasutra)

The Rock Band Network already offers more than 100 tracks, some from recognizable indie artists like The Shins and Of Montreal. The list…

of available songs (full tally after the break) also includes a few tunes I’d love to try out based on their titles alone: "VP of Booty Reports" by Speck, "If Trucks Drank Beer" by Error 404, and "Goth Girls" by MC Frontalot.

Harmonix and MTV note that they have 300 artists waiting in the Rock Band Network pipeline, too, such as Flight of the Conchords ("You Don’t Have To Be A Prostitute"?!), The Smashing Pumpkins, Twin Atlantic, All That Remains, Clutch, Prong, The Gaslight Anthem.

A Drug Against War–KMFDM
Angel Lust–Fake Shark-Real Zombie!
Another California Song–Zack Wilson
Arigato–Gandhi
Australia–The Shins
Backyard Buildyard–Steve and Lindley Band
Battles and Brotherhood–3 Inches of Blood
Buried Cold–Rose of Jericho
Burn it Down–Five Finger Death Punch
California–The Kimberly Trip
Can I Stay–Stephanie Hatfield and Hot Mess
Cease and Desist–The Main Drag
Children of December–The Slip
Creepy Doll–Jonathan Coulton
Crushed Beyond Dust–Skeletonwitch
Day of Mourning–Despised Icon
Disengage–Suicide Silence
Don’t Let Me Down (Slowly)–The Main Drag
Dove Nets–The Main Drag
Drunken Lullabies (Live)–Flogging Molly
End Quote–Full-Source
Even Rats–The Slip
Fade Away–Of Last Resort
Far Away from Heaven–Free Spirit
Fight Back–Ron Wasserman
For the Love of God (Live)–Steve Vai
Fortune–Kristin Hersh
Get the Hell Out of Here–Steve Vai
Give–The Cold Goodnight
Goth Girls–MC Frontalot
Grumpytown–Speck
He Sleeps in a Grove–Amberian Dawn
Heimdalsgate Like a Promethean Curse–of Montreal
Homosuperior–The Main Drag
Horses in Heaven–Fake Shark-Real Zombie!
How We’d Look On Paper–The Main Drag
Hyperbole–Glass Hammer
Icarus’ Song–Furly
If Not Now When–Color Theory
If Trucks Drank Beer–Error 404 feat. CJ Watson
Ikea–Jonathan Coulton
In Memories–Giant Target
Inside Out–Nick Gallant
It’s Good–The Humans
It’s Not You, It’s Everyone–Full-Source
Juke Joint Jezebel–KMFDM
Kick Some Ass ‘09–Stroke 9
Lady in a Blue Dress–Senses Fail
Lemon Juice–Scratching The Itch
Lilith in Libra–You Shriek
Limousine–Stars of Boulevard
Liquid Smog (StompBox Remix)–WaveGroup Feat. Becca Neun
Little Black Backpack ‘09–Stroke 9
Liverpool Judies–The Fisticuffs
Love During Wartime–The Main Drag
Mechanical Love–In This Moment
Megatron–The Main Drag
Mississippi Kite–Kristin Hersh
Moonboy–The Dirty Love Band
Nancy Drew–Pink Flag
No Direction–Longwave
No Heroes–You Shriek
Not My Fault–Ultra Saturday
Ox–Zack Wilson
Paper Valentines–James William Roy
Parhelia–Heaven Ablaze
Persistence of Vision–Matter in the Medium
Race The Hourglass–Audio Fiction
Red Sky At Morn–Full-Source
Requiem for a Dying Song–Flogging Molly
Rip’er–Lead the Dead
River of Tuoni–Amberian Dawn
Running for the Razors–Fake Shark-Real Zombie!
Rx–Wounded Soul
Sequestered in Memphis–The Hold Steady
Sestri Levante–Fake Shark-Real Zombie!
Sick–Bif Naked
Signs–Giant Target
Sissyfuss–Surprise Me Mr. Davis
Sleep On–Glass Hammer
Stand for Something–Skindred
Still There–Bojibian
Superhero!–Ultra Saturday
Survive–Lacuna Coil
Tadpole Search and Rescue–Chaunce DeLeon and The Fountain of Choof
Talk About–Dear and the Headlights
Talk Them Down–The Main Drag
Teeth, Face, Outerspace–The Main Drag
The Attitude Song–Steve Vai
The Buddy Disease–Scratching The Itch
The Complexity of Light–Children of Nova
The Future Soon–Jonathan Coulton
The Heist–DnA’s Evolution
Tongue Twister Typo–Blackmarket
Top Back–Alias Unknown
Tricky Girl–The Main Drag
Trippolette–Andrew Buch
Turn Yourself Around–Nick Gallant
VP of Booty Reports–Speck
Watch It All Go Down–Foreword
We Are the Best–C&O
Whatever Is Wrong With You–Marillion
What’s Your Favorite Dinosaur?–The Main Drag
You Got That–The Everybody
You’re My Everything–Scratching The Itch

(Gamasutra)