Sony takes digital route to promote hip-hop

SHANGHAI Sony BMG China has signed a content partnership deal with Shanghai-based digital hip-hop music service Dai-Biao to host and promote its artists.

Under the deal, Dai-Biao will feature songs and ringtones from domestic and international Sony hip-hop artists on its digital music download site, www.dai-biao.com. Dai-Biao CEO Duane Kennedy described the recently finalised deal as a step in the right direction.

"It's ground-breaking in the fact that now major record labels are dealing with niche-focused digital media companies, giving them access, because we?e about building communities," he said.

From the start of 2007, songs from the likes of Justin Timberlake, Beyonce and Outkast will be available for download at a cost of between Rmb1 (about 13 US cents) and Rmb3. Older songs will sell cheapest, with exclusive new releases and major hits at the other end of the scale.

Sony sees the partnership as an interesting way to promote and distribute content to a focused market, according to  Jami Yang, vice president of digital. "I think this is the best way to increase our penetration and get the right repertoire to the right consumer," she said.

The company isn't expecting a big sales boost from the deal, but is interested to see how it grows, Yang added. 'This is an interesting experiment for us," she said

Dai-Biao is also hoping to launch a 20 to 30-minute magazine-style TV show on Hunan Television some time in mid-February.

The show, likely to  feature in a late afternoon timeslot, would feature Sony artists and drive traffic to the website, Kennedy said.