PR firm Edelman will tackle Hollywood's digital dilemma.

Music labels and movie studios face a digital dilemma.

They want to give consumers easy access to products such as DVDs and downloadable music, but at the same time the companies must protect the intellectual property behind their content.

To meet the challenge head-on, public relations firm Edelman has formally expanded its digital entertainment, rights and technology practice in Los Angeles. The group's title reflects its mission: to provide a PR strategy that strikes a "balance between protecting intellectual property, encouraging new technologies and meeting the evolving needs of global consumers."

The practice already has more than a dozen accounts, thanks to Edelman's previous work with digital clients. The firm handled the launch of MySpace.com and consumer-education campaigns on illegal downloads for the National Academy of Recording Arts and Sciences and the Motion Picture Association of America. The firm also guided Starbucks' launch of its entertainment division and is helping Toshiba and its studio partners roll out their high-definition DVD format. Warner Bros., Avid, Xbox and CinemaNow are also on its client list.

"This is not digital PR; this is PR for digital clients," said Gail Becker, general manager of Edelman's Los Angeles office, who will serve as the practice's global leader. She sees her firm as filling a need for firms trying to maintain the integrity of intellectual property in a market in which emerging delivery platforms are becoming more accessible and user-friendly.

"Now that consumers are becoming content creators in a rapidly expanding landscape of competing distribution technologies, the communications challenges are growing exponentially," Becker said.

The recording industry campaign offers a case study of Edelman's practice in action. When the academy wanted to tell consumers to avoid free illegal downloads of music, Edelman formed "What's the Download Interactive Board," a group of young music enthusiasts. The board met with recording celebrities and honchos as part of the academy's Grammy ceremonies. Publicity surrounding that event and promotion online and in traditional media resulted in a spike in traffic at the academy's Web site. behavior," said Becker.