The New CBS Records

It's not the old Columbia Records, but CBS is getting into the new age record business. This time it is doing it on the cheap. No start-up expenses, no worries about artist development, no expensive infrastructure. CBS wants to be paid for music that appears on its television shows. One of the benefits of the transitioning music business is that all it has to do is release songs on iTunes and voila! -- their in the record business. They can also take advantage of their broadband channel to deliver the music to the market. Imagine what they might do with radio or TV to promote it. Now old line media companies are beginning to think new age. Television shows are virtual soundtracks these days compared to the golden age of television. ABC's Grey's Anatomy led the way with appealing music on the popular hit show. ABC went far enough to tell viewers how they could buy the soundtrack music. I'm not sure whether ABC made any major money or, for that matter, any money at all on the music. The CBS move is an interesting one to watch. It acknowledges the awesome power of music (would there be an iPod with only podcasting?) and validates the notion that "old dogs" like Viacom can learn new age tricks.