A Look Inside J Records Digital Marketing Dept. - Part 1

Part 1 Of 3 - Tarek Al-Hamdouni of J Records graciously agreed to answer a few questions and give us a rare look inside a major label's digital marketing efforts.

HYPEBOT: How old is the J Records digital marketing department and how big is it?

TAREK:  J Records is a relatively young label. We were formed by Clive Davis in 2000 after he was ousted from Arista. Coincidentally enough, we're now merged with Arista under Sony BMG. It's no secret that major labels have been behind in the Digital Music Era. J Records has not necessarily been ahead of the curve, but we have always had an eye on digital marketing... the department has existed since our inception, though head count of the department is at 3 + an intern (this is expected to grow in 2007).

HYPEBOT: What project(s) are you working on now that might be of interest to our readers?

TAREK: As usual, our 4th quarter is filled with releases. Holiday sales are one of the major booms of the industry and most of our project managers like to put out releases at this time (not to mention Holiday Compilations). As a result, we have project after project we are putting out from now until early January. We run a good amount of video contests with the hopes of developing our newer acts as well as a host of other projects. New websites are built and updated for nearly every new artist release as well as MySpace pages which have become a easy way to access avid fans. Our current releases for the quarter are Monica, Mario Vazquez, Paula DeAnda, Rod Stewart, Ruben Studdard, Barry Manilow, Fantasia, Tyrese/Black Ty, and Mario. Projects we are currently running are:

• Say Anything Video Contest: www.myspace.com/SayAnything
• Paula DeAnda Video Blog & Paula DeAnda "Pimp My Profile": www.myspace.com/PaulaDeAnda
• Rhymefest Video Contest: www.rhymefest.hi5.com
• Black Ty Behind The Scenes: www.youtube.com/blacktymusic

TOMMORROW: Do you see your department's importance growing within J's overall marketing efforts or more as an adjunct to traditional marketing?