Sony Music’s Web Efforts Bear Fruit

If its true that the the web rules, then the world's #2 major label group just got closer to the throne. Sony Music Entertainment recently became one of the Web’s top 10 entertainment music destinations according to the independent comScore Media Metrix alongside the likes of AOL, Yahoo!, MySpace Music, MTV Networks, Last.fm and imeem.

During June, Sony Music’s network of artist websites attracted more than 33 million visits and almost 20 million unique visitors. One driver of the success has been Sony's move to employ globalization capabilities that allow fans to automatically view artist sites in their local language, interact with nearby fans and read regional news. Sony also offers points and rewards for fans who visit frequently. They've added recommendations in an on-demand audio player that suggests new tracks based on songs the user has already selected, and an integrated lyrics function.

The Sony Pictures Television digital advertising sales  team has attracted AT&T, Old Navy and Virgin Mobile USA.  That's a far different group of advertisers than just last summer when Hypebot was able to place a "Major Labels Are Obsolete" ad on the front page of Sony's manin Columbia Records site paying a mere $3.62 to Google Adssense.

When asked to provide a list of artist sites that they felt were strong examples beyond Britany and Beyonce' of their new intiatives, a Sony spokesperson provided these examples:

• theavettbrothers.com
• danielmerriweather.com
• gavindegraw.com
• gossipyouth.com
• howieday.com
• jasonmichaelcarroll.com
• kristin-chenoweth.com
• lenkamusic.com
• livvifranc.com
• themanchesterorchestra.com