Both 80’s influenced pop acts Liam and Me and The Anix are creating some A&R curiosity. Three labels are flying to check out the hardcore supergroup The New Tragic. Lastly, much talked about Dan Friedman’s act Ludo should be closing on a deal soon as they will be performing at Don Hills (NYC) Monday, April 17th for Epic, Octone, Atlantic, and Jive. After breaking a 17 year Billboard record with their #1 modern rock song, 10 Years signs a worldwide publishing deal with Warner Chappell.

KOAR higher learning artist Fair to Midland has signed with Serjical Strike records owned by Serj Tankian from System Of A Down. Meetings are currently happening with potential partners including Universal and Atlantic as both labels want to do business with the Serjical Strike and the band. Fair to Midland has been performing in the Dallas scene and built a solid fan base because they seperated themselves from the emo pop punk bands and carved their own path. For more information email Lawyer Ben Mclane.

Check out the track Dance of the Manatee (mp3) and The Walls of Jericho (mp3)

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James Blunt – 1,309,790 – Why? Wrote a big hit “Beautiful”, strong video rotation, embraced by press.

Nickelback – 2,595,415 – Everyone thought they were a one hit wonder. This also proves you don’t need to be friends with a hip crowd to sell a bucket - load of records.

Blue October – 33,991 – Good first week, story developing….

All American Rejects – 970,033 – Has the top 40 crowd. Good for the moment, but hard to follow up.

Hawthorne Heights – 267,722 – Why? paid TV spots rotating 24/7 on MTV and Fuse. Ab Roller TV spots that have similiar rotation have proven to sell as well. Brainwashing does sell records.

Yeah Yeah Yeah’s – 81,181 – Mainstream press gave the record a thumbs down, but critics don’t care about the quality of the product. If you submit to the too cool for school culture, they will peddle the product.

Avenged Sevenfold – 567,287 – Why? Strong video rotation and TRL. Press and MTV2 bought into the rock, the bling and grills. Since Rap and Hip Hop is driving cultural force, I guess the next obvious step is for rock bands to act like rappers. Like other bands, Avenged Sevenfold claim to be the next Metallica and Guns N Roses. Gotta love the no shame approach!

Fallout Boy – 2,151,179 – Why? big budget and well directed video’s broke the band.

10 Years – 268,307 – Why? Strong radio airplay, word of mouth, relentless touring, mentions in celeb magazine US Weekly, and a controversial video that MTV was reluctant to play that contained real footage from amnesty international that included rape victims and sex slaves. You can watch the video here.

Dope who formed in 1997 has signed with V2 Records. The band will begin work on the yet untitled album later this year and it is expected to be released in early 2007. Former Marilyn Mansons guitarist John 5’s pet project Loser who was set to release “Just Like You”, on May 9 via Island Records was recently dropped.

Only a small percentage of the 12 million audience has followed the self-proclaimed King of All Media Howard Stern to satellite. According to industry analysts, Stern took 1 million and 2 million listeners, and his replacements spread across many of the country’s major radio markets, are drawing numbers in a similar range.

With that said, what happened to the 8 million to 10 million listeners?

The poll, which was based on responses from more than 25,000 listeners from 79 rock stations across the country, showed more than half of Stern’s former audience has not stuck with the affiliate replacements. Instead they seem to be gravitating toward similar, well-established morning programs.

In Los Angeles, this is no doubt good news for longtime shows like “Kevin & Bean” on KROQ-FM (106.7) and “Mark & Brian” on KLOS-FM (95.5).

Terrestrial radio is wasting no time in trying to capture the 8 to 10 million audience for instance:

“In most major market cities late last year, counter-marketing largely took the form of billboards touting a particular morning show’s free — as in, no subscription required — services”

“In Los Angeles, “Mancow” Muller, heard on XTRA Sports 570, adopted this strategy. And some rock stations, such as WAAF-FM in Boston, began promoting new online guides for “virgin” listeners to get them up to speed on the show’s colorful characters.”

The war will continue between Terrestrial radio and Satellite with no end in sight.