MUSIC MARKETING

Gehring said the site was intended as a marketing initiative to build its brand and would not be selling anything directly, although the two sides were discussing the possibility of charging for downloads in the future.

There are also links from the site through to Tommy Hilfiger's e-commerce store.

"People who go to TommyTV and spontaneously want to get a pair of Tommy jeans will be able to do it," said Gehring.

For Sony BMG, the launch marks an experiment in the art of online music marketing. Global music sales fell around 10 percent in 2007 and the industry estimates that only one in 20 of the tracks downloaded was licensed, costing the industry potentially billions of dollars.

Online music purchasing marked a symbolic milestone when Apple Inc announced last week that its iTunes music store had surpassed Wal-Mart Stores Inc to become the largest U.S. music retailer.

"We are in a moment of transition moving away from the record model to music and entertainment," Sony BMG Chief Executive Maarten Steinkam said, adding that he hoped to discover bright young things through TommyTV.

"I hope we can find a new artist out of it. If we don't find a new artist in the next five to six months, then it's not a failure," he said.