Companies Tapping Musicians To Extend Brand Awareness

As record labels struggle to adjust to a harsh new digital reality, other companies are stepping up their involvement in music, going far beyond standard endorsement contracts and the use of songs in commercials. Procter & Gamble, for example, is joining Island Def Jam in a joint venture called Tag Records, a label that will sign and release albums by new hip-hop acts. It is named after the body spray that P&G acquired when it bought Gillette.

Bacardi announced it is helping the English electronic music duo Groove Armada pay for and promote its next release. Caress, the body-care line owned by Unilever, commissioned the Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger to record a version of Duran Duran's "Rio" that it gave away on its Web site to promote its "Brazilian body wash" product. And Red Bull is starting a label that is expected to release music before the end of the year.