Rock Band fans rejoice because Harmonix has already started work on Rock Band 3. This is according to MTV Games executive vice president and general manager Scott Guthrie who confirmed that the third Rock Band game is en route in a recent interview with MCV.

Guthrie also confirmed that MTV Games is exploring the possibility of doing another game devoted to one major artist in 2010, like next month’s The Beatles: Rock Band. “We’re exploring both – and possibly will do both. The Harmonix development team are working on what is effectively the next game, or ‘Rock Band 3’.”

“We aren’t standing still – we will keep moving into new areas and look at new technologies that our platform holder partners are also developing, such as Project Natal from Microsoft. We’re working with them to pull some things together. So it’s pretty exciting time for the future of our music game business.”

Guthrie discussed how the music game industry is “transitioning as a category out of the ‘plastic’ area.” This means that MTV will be focusing on software, both packaged and online. Although DLC is not tracked through NPD or Chart Track, Guthrie commented that it is “significant,” a “double digit portion of [their] total revenue stream” which “grows month on month.”

DLC allows MTV flexibility because of reduced manufacture costs and the ability to do different things with artists. “If there are upcoming tours or new songs that a band wants to try out, DLC is perfect. We can do things online in a manner that you can’t with pressed plastic.”

The margins on hardware on the other hand are small, because the instruments are already in the households. In fact Guthrie noted a drop in revenue because [they] are not selling $149 bundles anymore.