“It’s a great way to get fans of mainstream artists from My Chemical Romance to Hilary Duff to discover emerging bands before they sign their first ‘big deal’,” explains DX’s Ben Hordell. “It’s the perfect cross-promotion. We think that once fans get a taste of DX artists at VTM, then they’ll click on over to DX to see who else we have for them.”

Also doing some clicking will be decision makers at the major labels, notes VTM’s Alex Hamilton. “Because we have voting pages for all the major label artists, we think we have a lot of label folks who are taking a couple of minutes to check out the DX talent. As we add even more features to help Xpose DX artists, we think we could become a very powerful resource for major label A&R executives, the guys with the power of the pen.”

In the first round of DX voting, the big winner was Columbus, Ohio’s Fatkid Dodgeball, which won over Wideawake, Roots Down Below, Ludo and Zox. “Fatkid Dodgeball has a very aggressive and loyal fan base,” says Hordell, “and that’s something the labels like to see, especially if they like the music, too.”

The next round of voting is now underway through Friday evening, Nov. 24 and features tracks from In Theory, Copperpot, Cedarwell, Zac Brown Band and Ordinary Peoples. Bands who want to get in on the action can sign up with DX through the site at www.decentx.com. Voters who want to support their favorite artists can do so at www.votethemusic.com.