A Highway To Success: AC/DC who has sold more albums than the Rolling Stones and Led Zeppelin refuses to sell its music online. “It’s like an artist who does a painting,” Angus said. “If he thinks it’s a great piece of work, he protects it. It’s the same thing: this is our work.” The band has said it does not want to break up its albums to sell individual songs as iTunes usually requires. “They have a purist approach,” said Steve Barnett, the chairman of Columbia Records and former AC/DC manager. “Their instinct was always to do the right thing for fans, think long term and not be influenced by financial rewards.”

Touring Takes a Downturn? Rolling Stone Mag published an article titled ‘Tour Biz Strong in a Weak Economy‘ and they point to blockbuster tours from Tom Petty to the Police.  Dave Matthews Band, Coldplay, the Police and Rush did their usual solid business. And the Jonas Brothers sold out amphitheaters everywhere, averaging almost 18,000 people a show and grossing more than $11 million. Acts that appeal to a less affluent audience like NIN and Maroon 5 were hit with a few sellouts. Warped Tour founder, Kevin Lyman, “People were holding their money tighter to their vests this summer.” In response, many amphitheater tours, including Stevie Wonder’s, Motley Crue’s and Maroon 5/Counting Crows’, reduced lawn prices drastically to fill the venues.

Rising To The Top: Punk band Rise Against sold an impressive 64,701 copies this week of their new album titled ‘Appeal To Reason‘. Check out the Rolling Stone review of the album and listen to the track Savior.

Metallica’s ‘Death Magnetic‘ has been certified platinum only after 4 weeks and sold 65,741 this week. Kid Rock’s ‘Rock N Roll Jesus‘ is double platinum and remains in the top 10. Ironically, after 12 weeks on the charts Miley Cyrus ‘Breakout‘ hasn’t reached a million in sales, which means 11 year olds are fickle and the hype is over.

New Music: Paige Williams hailing from Los Angeles has been nominated for Best Rock Artist and Pop single for the 2008 LA Music Awards, listen to the track Wasting Away.

Signings: The Dallas outfit Rescue Signals has signed with New York based label Rock Ridge Music and Florida rock band Crooked X have signed with Capitol Records