Both gaming and music blogs have been abuzz the last few days over Harmonix’s announcement that they’re developing a new Rock Band Network in which any band — unsigned, indie, or major label — can submit tracks for download and purchase via Rock Band. That is, they’re starting a new digital distribution method for music, one which is interestingly all about playing, and which, on the surface at least, seems to be about as open to small artists as it is to corporate music.

Here’s a blurb from a recent Billboard article:

The Rock Band Network recently started a closed beta trial, which MTV expects to expand to a public beta test in August. The company hopes to open the Rock Band Network store before year’s end. Songs available through the new store, which will remain separate from the existing “Rock Band” store, will be initially available for download to users of Microsoft’s Xbox 360 game console. MTV expects to eventually make the popular tracks available for use on the Sony PlayStation 3 and Nintendo Wii game systems.

“We’ve figured out how to make it so anybody who owns and controls masters and publishing can put music into ["Rock Band"] at their own pace,” says MTV Games senior VP of electronic games and music Paul DeGooyer. “We’re talking about a set of serious professional tools to allow people on the front line of writing and recording songs to completely control their destiny with respect to interactive products and then giving them direct access to the download store.”

Rather than deal with Harmonix directly, artists and labels will submit songs to a community of Harmonix-trained freelance game developers and other interested programmers who will prepare the tracks for “Rock Band.” Additionally, labels can either hire trained developers or school their existing employees to do the work in-house.

Songs submitted through this process must then be reviewed by other developers to check for playability, inappropriate lyrics, copyright infringement and so on. Harmonix will post approved tracks to an in-game download store separate from its existing “Rock Band” store where creators can set their own price (50 cents to $3 per song) and receive 30% of any resulting sales. Gamers will also be able to demo 30-second samples of each track.

So, okay, I’m actually a little skeptical that this won’t turn into a flood of major-label songs — big companies have the resources to allocate staff to make playable tracks out of all sorts of stuff, while smaller indies and unsigned bands will have to do it themselves. The Billboard article goes on to say that this is a good thing, in that it allows much more content in general to be provided through RBN, regardless of who’s providing it.

But, I think what gets most people excited about this is that it’s a new venue for anyone to contribute (well, anyone in a band, or anyone who produces music which can be translated to a drum, guitar, bass, and vocal part). I’m dying to see how much good “unserious,” relatively uncommercial stuff will make it through the process. Will we see the next ridiculous “Chocolate Rain” come through here? Will we see countless versions of “Chocolate Rain” itself submitted through this?

Anyway, I’m excited for the possibilities. And, I might dig out my guitar and try my hand at recording something for this as well.