mtvU is a division of Viacom's MTV Networks which produces a 24-hour television channel that is available on more than 750 college and university campuses across the United States, as well as several digital cable packages. It provides a more targeted alternative to MTV, and gives advertisers and music promotion companies access to college-age viewers, access that universities offer in an attempt to attract students to on-campus housing. The music played on the station is primarily indie rock, pop punk and hip-hop.

MTV Network's proposal for a channel targeting college students, tentatively called MTV University, became public in February 2002. According to The New York Times, the channel was seeking to compete with Burly Bear Network, which was on 450 campuses and attracting nearly a million viewers a week, along with College Television Network (CTN) and the most recent entrant at the time, Zilo. CTN began as a venture that installed video jukeboxes on campuses.^{[citation needed]}

Seven months later, after CTN was in financial trouble and National Lampoon had just acquired the defunct Burly Bear, MTV Networks acquired CTN for $15 million.

Tegan and Sara are a Canadian indie band formed in 1995 in Calgary. Composed of identical twin sisters Tegan Rain Quin and Sara Keirsten Quin (born September 19, 1980). Both Tegan and Sara play guitar and keyboard and write their songs.

Tegan and Sara Quin were born September 19, 1980 in Calgary, Alberta. They began playing guitar and writing songs at age 15. They initially played as Plunk without a drummer or bass player. In 1997, they used their school’s recording studio to record two demo albums: Who's in Your Band? and Play Day. In 1998, they won Calgary's Garage Warz competition, using the studio time they won to record their first professional demo, Yellow tape, which was followed by Orange tape and Red tape.

Two songs from Red tape appeared on their first album, Under Feet Like Ours, which they released independently in 1999 under the name "Sara and Tegan". They later changed their name to "Tegan and Sara" because it was easier to pronounce and reprinted the album using that name. They also wanted their name to stand out amongst the other 'Sara' musicians at the time such as Sarah McLachlan and Sarah Slean. Tegan was easier to remember.^{[citation needed]}Neil Young's manager signed them to Young's Vapor Records label, and they released This Business of Art through Vapor in 2000. They have toured extensively since then.

The Cataracs are an American hip hop indie-pop duo formed in Berkeley, California, consisting of David “Campa” Benjamin Singer-Vine, a songwriter and vocalist and Niles “Cyrano” Hollowell-Dhar, a songwriter, vocalist, and producer. The duo started out as an independent group, during their years at Berkeley High School. The two were first signed to the label Indie-Pop. They are currently based in Los Angeles, California.

The duo met in their sophomore year while attending Berkeley High School. Singer-Vine was featured in a rap CD that was being passed around campus. When Dhar eventually heard the CD, he subsequently created a response. However, the “diss” response brought the two together and they soon became friends. In 2003, the two joined together to create what is now The Cataracs (named after the phrase “Who smoke ‘til your eyes get cataracts” from Snoop Dogg's song “What's my name Pt. 2”). In the summer of 2006, they released their first album, Technohop Vol. 1. In August 2006, the group joined with The Pack to make the single “Blueberry Afghani”. The song soon became a hit and was chosen as a “Download of the Week” by 106 KMEL and many music sites such as The Fader, UK’s Hip Hop Connection and XLR8R praised it.

Paolo Giovanni Nutini (born 9 January 1987) is a Scottish singer, songwriter and musician from Paisley.

Paolo Nutini's debut album, These Streets, was released by Atlantic Records in the United Kingdom in July 2006 and included the singles "Last Request", "Jenny Don't Be Hasty", "Rewind" and "New Shoes". "Last Request", the most successful, reached number five on the UK Singles Chart. The album peaked at number three on the UK Album Chart and was certified 4× platinum by the British Phonographic Industry (BPI). It has been in the album charts for a record-breaking 196 weeks.

In May 2009 Nutini released his second album, Sunny Side Up, which debuted at number one in the UK and has produced four singles; "Candy", "Coming Up Easy", "Pencil Full of Lead" and "10/10". It has so far been certified 4x platinum by the BPI. On 19 February 2010, it scooped "Best International Album" at the 2010 Meteor Awards.

Nutini's father is of Italian descent, from Barga, Tuscany, although both his parents are third-generation Scottish.

The Ready Set was formed on November 17, 2007 in the basement of Witzigreuter's childhood home. Jordan Witzigreuter is the lead vocalist and sole member of the act. Witzigreuter generally writes and records on his own, using a backup band when on tour. He has once stated, "The Ready Set is, always has been, and always will be just me." The name was adopted due to the artist's concerns that his last name, Witzigreuter, would be difficult for people to pronounce. Jordan resides in his hometown, Fort Wayne, Indiana. Pete Wentz signed The Ready Set to his label Decaydance Records on November 24, 2009. Wentz assisted Jordan in releasing his debut full-length I'm Alive, I'm Dreaming.

It was announced on September 3rd, 2011 that a new EP, [1], would be released on October 11, 2011, but the date was later pushed back to November, 2011.

In an interview with Just So You Know, he stated he hopes to release a full length album in Fall of 2012. He also said he will have some other things being released before that.