Amazon Powers Track Sales For ABC's New 'Music Lounge'
This story was written by Tameka Kee.
With record labels cutting promo budgets and less room for "new artists" on radio playlists, getting a song featured on a hot show like Grey's Anatomy or Gossip Girl can be the biggest break in an emerging artist's career. So when fans flood the network's site with questions about the new song, it makes sense to have a place to capitalize on that demand. And that's what *ABC* is doing with its new "Music Lounge": Fans can watch music videos and behind-the-scenes show footage, stream songsand most importantly, buy themthrough ABC's distribution partner *Amazon.com*.
At first glance, the idea seems like a win-win for all the parties involved: the artists get exposure and the labels get track sales. (It's not clear whether ABC is getting an affiliate's cut of those sales, but it does have BlackBerry as a site sponsor, so that's a revenue stream). Dawn Soler, ABC's VP for TV music also told THR that the network was working with Epic Records, among other labels, for initiatives like the Music Lounge that could ultimately help reduce track licensing fees for shows. Meanwhile, Amazon (NSDQ: AMZN) gains a little more traction in the MP3 sales market, though ABC said it hadn't ruled out partnering with iTunes in the future. Release.
By Tameka Kee