L.A. Rock Band Discovers Power of Online Music.

It starts like the typical story of a struggling rock band: a group attracts a smattering of diehard fans by playing local clubs, then records a CD in the living room of one of its members.

At that point, most bands carpet-bomb local radio stations and record companies with their debut effort. Most times, they don't hear anything and keep toiling in obscurity.

But that hasn't been the fate of Los Angeles-based- Stand, which is being courted by several major record labels after becoming one of the first L.A. bands to build a following via the Internet.

It began five months ago, when one band member unintentionally uploaded several songs onto MP3.com, a Web site where unsigned bands can make their music available for downloading by the masses.

Since then, Stand has had five songs -- half of their debut CD -- enter the Web site's Top 40 download list. Two are among the Top 10. Their songs have, been downloaded more than 5,000 times and their self-designed Web page is also getting thousands of hits.

While that exposure has only translated to a couple hundred CD sales, it has gotten the band the kind of attention needed to-graduate- from the club circuit to the recording studio.

"We got 11,000 hits on our Web page," said lead guitarist Simon Quinn. 'That doesn't happen if the music (is bad)."

The band members didn't want to jeopardize a possible contract by naming the interested record companies. But they. believe a deal is imminent. "Let's just say it's a real exciting time for us," said -lead singer Paul O'Toole.

Quinn, who acts as Web master of the band's homepage at www.standband.com, said he was playing around on his computer in April when he unintentionally posted- a few Stand songs on MP3.com.

"I uploaded it by accident," he laughed. "Then I had to call (the other band members) and say I made a mistake. But it turned out to be wonderful."

The songs were reviewed by several "musicologists" -- staff members of MP3.com who listen to every submission to make sure bands aren't uploading established artists and claiming the music as their own. One of these reviewers, decided Stand warranted some extra attention, and named them as one of the site's featured artists.

Over the next few days, Stand shot into- the Top 40. "We got a dozen or so orders for CDs the first week, and we didn't have to sell our soul to anybody," said drummer Tom Murray.

Their music even grabbed the attention of Michael Robertson, chief executive of San Diego-based MP3.com. "To me, they seem kind of an '80s flow," Robertson said. "I thought they sounded pretty good."

The Web site rankings and recommendations make it easier for listeners to find music amid the 30,000 bands listed on MP3.com. Many groups aren't very good and can make the site appear to offer nothing more than songs recorded by tone-deaf 13-year-olds.

But Robertson said such controlled anarchy appeals to the members of Stand.

"It's kind of al modern way for people to create an underground music network," said O'Toole. "People can swap tapes."

Before forming Stand, its members all had regular jobs. "Some wore ties while others swung pickaxes," says O'Toole. Now, between performing, writing songs, and meeting with record executives and club managers, music has become a full-time career.

O'Toole believes the growing Web profile is a major advantage because it increases the band's exposure to the college crowd, which is savvy enough to use MP3.com and outgoing enough to share good music With friends.

"If you-figure 5,000 people just got your records (online) and most of them are college kids who each have 10 friends, then something like 50,000 people could have your record," O'Toole said.

"We don't even have 10 friends," Murray laughed.

Nick Flavin, a disc jockey for student radio station KLA at UCLA, discovered Stand on MP3.com and started playing their songs. 'They're a breath of fresh air compared to most of the stuff that's out there right now," Flavin said. 'They remind me of the Violent Femmes."

Now Flavin wants to bring Stand to UCLA to perform a live show.

Stand was formed when Murray, Q'Toole and bassist Mike "Gus" Agostinelli met through mutual friends and via guitar store connections in August 1998. Quinn came on board five days before they played their first show and had to rapidly learn how to play 17 songs.

Their burgeoning popularity on the Web has spared them some of the indignities suffered by other bands that only play live. "We don't always have to hear things like, 'Do you know any Bad Company?'" Agostinelli said.

But the music posted on MP3.com still isn't making much of a stir in the brick-and-mortar music stores. "I don't notice that it's impacting anything," said Howard Krumholtz, the main buyer at the Tower Records store on Sunset Boulevard. "I do all the buying, through traditional channels."