I recently paid an interesting visit to the set of Josh Schwartz’s ("Gossip Girl," "Chuck") music-centered web series, “Rockville CA,” which premiered Tuesday on TheWB.com. Featuring both indie newcomers and fan-favorites like the amazing Eagles of Death Metal, the show is set in the fictitious Club Rockville in Los Angeles — the name is a homage to the 1984 R.E.M. song “(Don’t Go Back to) Rockville”. 

The 20-episode season follows Hunter (Andrew J. West), the self-deprecating, smarty-pants good-guy type, a music blogger with a crush on Deb (Alexandra Chando from “As the World Turns”), an A&R rep for Wall to Wall Records. Deb comes to the club to see and sign her favorite acts, and that's where the peaks and valleys of new love are played out. Each edition takes place over the course of one night, with a single band playing in the background. To sweeten the deal for interested viewers, the show’s home page on TheWB.com features interviews with the included bands and exclusive live performances of two of each band’s songs.

The musical acts on the show are a diverse mix of up-and-comers, established acts and foreign imports. Synth-pop singer-songwriter Lights is featured in an episode, as are British indie rockers the Kaiser Chiefs and Swedish shimmer-crooner Lykke Li (who appeared on the recent N.A.S.A. release with Kanye and Santigold).

My visit was an interesting one. The series was shot at the Echoplex, a tiny rock club in the Echo Park neighborhood of Los Angeles and downstairs-neighbor to the Echo. It's a venue I've developed a deep love for, having been in attendance for impossibly intimate, jaw-dropping performances by the recently-reuined Jane's Addiction and the Bronx in recent months. So naturally, to see the TV world descend on such a sacred musical space - catering trays, hipster assistants, glad-hands (oh my) - had me a bit...bristled at the onset, if only from a principled sanctity-defending standpoint.

After all, wasn't doing this kind of thing "selling out" back when we were kids? Would Kurt Cobain have been caught dead as the background band at the Peach Pit on "90210"? Would Chris Cornell let his music be used as pop-culture TV wallpaper? (I'm referring to the Soundgarden Cornell, naturally. Not the Timbaland team-up R&B Cornell who now spouts such lyrical gems as "that bitch aint a part of me...")

Naturally, there are very different answers to those questions in today's world. The record industry is in an all-out freefall, CD sales are down a staggering 20% from last year, and artists have to throw away the playbook and take advantage of new options available to them. It's the only way to survive. The album advances have dried up, as have the rock-star treatments. Suddenly, people are coming around to the realization that getting your music on a show watched by millions of people is a good thing.

The Kaiser Chiefs were the guest band on the day of my visit, cheerfully following the direction of the TV crew for a captive audience comprised of about two-thirds fans and one-third show extras. They're not my favorite band, but it was an entertaining learning experience to see the integration of the music into the show's production. Contrary to my knee-jerk assumptions, the featured band on each episode of "Rockville CA" isn't relegated to the background, just playing recognizable snippets going into and coming out of commercial breaks. They appear to actually be showcased throughout the show, with a clear intention of giving music fans a new way of checking out new music. And that's how it should be done.

Check out "Rockville CA" today on TheWB.com.