Online distribution hits radio leaving CDs back in the racks.

RADIO & Records Inc., which publishes the trade weekly R&R and a variety of print and online information services, is branching out to another area of the rapidly changing industry: digital distribution of music and other content to radio stations.

The Los Angeles company last week agreed to become the exclusive sales representative for Promo Only MPE from Vancouver-based Destiny Media Technologies, which offers software and a subscription service that enables music labels to securely distribute new singles over the Internet for review and use by program directors.

While most corporate-owned radio stations have been digital for several years--many of them now Promo Only MPE subscribers--music labels until recently still mailed CDs to stations. While major labels such as Sony BMG and Warner Music Group now subscribe to the service, thousands of independent recording labels remain potential users, said John Fagot, Radio & Records' director of digital initiatives and new business.

Radio & Records attempted a similar, unsuccessful collaboration with another digital service several years ago, but that was before the industry was ready to make the conversion, said Publisher Erica Farber. The publishing company now sees a more promising business opportunity in leveraging its recording industry contacts to help out a small company they believe has the most user-friendly system on the market--at a time when digital is becoming the dominant platform.

"It allows all record labels to be treated equally," said Farber, noting that it's easier for program directors to review a wider variety of new music on a digital platform than by juggling a pile of CDs.

Brand Names

How big is branded entertainment? Consider this: Whenever comedian George Lopez dons a NASCAR jersey on his popular sitcom, "The George Lopez Show" it's the kind of thing that Nielsen Media Research tracks.

With consumers increasingly unwilling to sit through a standard television commercial, companies are turning to a variety of product placement strategies to get their products or services in front of consumers--and media research firms are getting on the bandwagon, too.

Nielsen, a unit of Amsterdam-based VNU Inc., has built up a database that tracks placements in television shows. The database recorded more than 100,000 such placements last year during the weeknight prime time on the five broadcast networks.

One reason for the demand of the database: many product placement deals do not fall into the reported $10 million arrangement that Coca-Cola Co. paid to be part of "American Idol." Rather, firms often nurture relationships with a set designer or stylist who can discretely insert a particular brand of perfume, designer jeans, or bottled water into a scene for free.

"You'd be surprised how often the networks themselves didn't know what product placements are appearing on their shows, which drives them crazy because a potential advertiser can decide they don't need to buy a spot because they're getting exposure for a lot less money," said Jim Edwards, a senior editor at Brandweek magazine, a VNU publication.

This week, VNU will hold its second annual West Coast product placement conference in Los Angeles. "The Next Big Idea" is among several such events this year attempting to help advertisers, marketers and producers get a handle on the phenomenon. The conference is set for Jan. 17 at the Renaissance Hollywood Hotel.

Birthday Broadcast

When your radio station's nickname is K-Mozart, the 250th anniversary of the birth of classical music's Austrian wunderkind is cause for celebration on a grand scale--like more than 15 hours of live and taped programming over three days from Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart's birthplace in Salzburg.

KMZT-FM (105.1) is joining two other commercial classical stations in New York and Chicago to organize and broadcast live exclusive concerts by the Vienna Philharmonic and other groups from Salzburg's famed Festspielhaus on January 25-27.

"I don't think any composer in history, even Beethoven, has been honored in such a way," said station owner Saul Levine, who in 1959 launched Westwood-based Mr. Wilson FM Broadcasters Inc., considered the last family owned radio company in the Southland. Levine also operates American standards format station KKGO-AM 1260 and a San Diego sister station that simulcasts the standards format.

For a commercial station, the costs of putting on this unprecedented event are daunting. The stations are giving up thousands of dollars in advertising revenue and they are also picking up the technical costs of airing the broadcast.

K-Mozart's primary audience is affluent adults 50 years and older, but recently Levine's son, Michael, the marketing director, has launched initiatives to draw a younger crowd. The station has given away XBox game consoles and iPods as prizes and has purchased a digital version of a Los Angeles Chamber Music performance of a Mozart work, which will be available for free digital download in February.

Video Pods

Santa Monica College's National Public Radio affiliate, KCRW-FM (89.9), has begun offering video podcasts of its exclusive live sessions of mostly unsigned, independent bands on its signature music show, "Morning Becomes Eclectic."

The station was one of the first in the area last year to offer audio podcasts. The new service, available on iTunes, AOL Music and KCRW.com, will provide additional exposure for the featured bands, some of whom have been signed to record labels and contracted to provide soundtracks on popular television programs.

The podcasts will be available for free, and KCRW officials say the intimate live shows will be unique for iTunes, where consumers download glossy commercial music videos.

DEBORAH CROWE

Staff Reporter

Staff reporter Deborah Crowe can be reached at [phone], ext. 232, or at [e-mail]