BET Forms Agreement With BMG Entertainment
BET Interactive this week formed an agreement with BMG Entertainment, the global music division of Bertelsmann AG, in which the African-American portal will promote BMG's artists.BET Interactive, which has two Internet properties, BET.com and 360HipHop.com, will highlight three of BMG's artists and, among other things, let its membership pre-order upcoming albums before they appear in stores.
The company, which is owned by the same network of companies that operate BET Television, also will market the artists on its television shows.
BET Interactive, Washington, DC, targets African-Americans from the ages of 18 to 49. It has approximately 450,000 members.
"We're looking to develop a more comprehensive, ongoing working relationship with BMG Music on various levels to create synergistic convergence and interactive opportunities for both companies," said Leyla Turkkan, vice president of music development at BET.com.
Turkkan said the campaign would feature an e-mail component, which will include alerts and newsletters.
Partnering with a global company like BMG, which spends a "considerable amount of money" promoting its artists, Turkkan said, holds marketing benefits for BET as well. By including BET.com in some of their marketing initiatives, she said, it helps build awareness and drive traffic for the company.
BET will promote Arista's Run DMC, RCA's Tyrese and J Records' Alicia Keys.
