Red Hot Chili Peppers – 442,469
Nick Lachey – 171,657
James Blunt – 70,856
Godsmack – 50,981
Jewel – 43,276
Nickelback – 41,311
Taking Back Sunday – 33,436
Panic! At The Disco – 29,395
Fray – 28,226
Blue October – 18,432
Arctic Monkeys – 7,409
Shinedown – 7,048

 
James Blunt jumped 22% from 58,153 to 70,856, this guy is on the roll. The Red Hots had a great opening week, BUT!….The double disc Stadium Arcadium isn’t as strong as the previous efforts. Regardless, still need to give the RHCP props because they are well..RHCP. Arctic Monkeys continue to plummet. Panic! At The Disco (pictured) jumps from 27k to 29K with a total of 585+.

According to Hits, Richard Branson sold its stake in V2 Records to Morgan Stanley.  Branson, an English entrepreneur best known for Virgin supposedly chose its name because a female friend involved in setting up the initial record label commented “We’re all virgins at business“. Branson who is known for his outlandish media events has signed such groups as The Sex Pistols and Culture Club. Branson is currently working a new space tourism company, Virgin Galactic, which will license the technology behind SpaceShipOne to take passengers into suborbital space.

We hear Branson is working on a compilation called “See You On the Moon”……….

Former Wind-Up artist Alterbridge is currently in negotiations with several majors. Expect a deal to be made rather soon. For more information email Jeff Cameron & Randy Dease. 

Indie critic’s darling  Jeff Klein  is currently working on new demos for his third album, recently free from his One Little Indian recording contract, he’s currently entertaining offers from several labels.  Klein will be on tour in the U.S. in May & June as the support act for The Twilight Singers.  He’s toured with Joseph Arthur, The Honorary Title & People In Planes in 2006. For more information contact Keith Hagan at 212-334-6116.  

KOAR Higher Learning artist My Favorite Highway is heading to NYC and will be performing private showcases for majors. For more information email Dan Friedman

 

“MTV, the US cable television music channel owned by Viacom, will launch a digital music download service on Wednesday designed to compete with Apple Computer’s highly popular iTunes service.”

“The service, called ‘Urge’, will use Microsoft’s latest Media Player technology and represents perhaps the most serious challenge to Apple’s dominance of the legal digital music download market to date.”

“While other rival music download services have had limited success, none has had the marketing muscle of MTV behind it or been as tightly integrated with Microsoft’s technology – the latest version of Windows Media Player software will launch along with Urge this week.” Read the full article.

Somewhere between indie and mainstream, between emo and pop/rock, you’ll find My Favorite Highway. Quickly expanding their fanbase through polished and exhilirating performances as well as the spread of their self-released EP ‘The Pre-Release,’ My Favorite Highway are rapidly becoming the unsigned band to watch. With their unique spin, MFH somehow sound like The Rocket Summer, Coheed and Cambria, Saves The Day and a number of others without sounding anything like them. Currently in the process of releasing a full-length album and preparing for a tour this summer. For more information contact legal Daniel R. Friedman at 314.497.1060

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