NORWICH – Depending on how you define success, the members of Lithium Zero say they’ve had a pretty good run – considering friendship and music have always been reason and reward enough for them to keep up a rock band.

No matter how you define success, the currently dissolved (well, sort of) alternative rock/pop foursome from Norwich recently reached a lofty height in the afterglow of its playing days: capturing the ears of MTV, which purchased rights to the band’s music off its only studio album, New Treason.

“It’s more than we ever really expected,” said guitarist and vocalist Rob Leahy.

“To have MTV want your music – it validates what we were doing,” said bassist Dan Sepello. “It’s not like we were beating their door down – they found us. It’s a feather in your cap.”

The recent success is the result of the band’s popularity on Ichannel, an Internet radio station Leahy submitted Lithium’s music to several months ago.

“They ran with it,” Leahy said. “I’ve heard requests from all over the country for it.”

Executives from the MTV dating-show Next contacted guitarist Mike Sepello, Dan’s younger brother, through the group’s MySpace.com account after hearing their songs on the web.