DMB, December meant trophy time at VH-1, in a re-vamped music awards show dubbed "Big in 2002" on December 4. DMB took home a live show performance award, "Taking It to the Stage," trampling such competition as Paul McCartney and Bruce Springsteen.

Shopping around: It's no secret in the cutthroat music business that DMB may be a huge success (and moneymaker) for its parent label, RCA, but the band has yet to crack a lucrative worldwide market. The band wrote off its 2001 European tour to post 9/11 turmoil. Matthews played a solo London gig (supported by a weak "Who's Dave Matthews?" campaign and an in-store performance at a Virgin Records mega store), but both DMB and RCA are twitching at the band's inability to "make it" outside thecontinental United States.

The finger-pointing has continued for years RCA does little to promote the band overseas; DMB has yet to produce a song that moves a fickle European audience. While the band remains committed to the company for two more albums, DMB management appears to be seeking a more aggressive label for both its own recordings and those of the artists signed to ATO Records, Matthews' boutique RCA imprint. Dangling its breakout success, David Gray, as the carrot, DMB management is reportedly seeking a $6 million, three-record deal for ATO, with the possibility of a contract buyout that would include DMB.

Chart action: The band's latest live album, recorded in the summer of 2001 in Boulder, Colorado, and released in early November, made a strong (if brief) debut on