CBS Revives Label

CBS Corp. is launching a new subsidiary with a familiar name: CBS Records. The label is being reborn with an eye toward saving money, since its primary purpose will be to generate music for the TV shows CBS produces, thus reducing the amount the company spends on licensing fees.

According to studio execs, music-licensing fees have been climbing at a rate of about 20 percent a year, in part because studios now license music for Internet distribution.

"Saving music costs alone is a success," Nancy Tellem, president of CBS Paramount Network Television Entertainment Group, told the Wall Street Journal. "Whatever additional revenue we generate is an added bonus."

At first, music on the label will be sold on iTunes, with CD releases through other labels, distributors or retailers determined on a case-by-case basis.

Music industry vet Larry Jenkins is consulting on the venture and told the Journal the label will focus on signing singer/songwriters and other "self contained" acts that can write and record quickly and inexpensively.

The first three artists signed to the new label are singer/songwriters P.J. Olson and Will Daily, and the rock band Señor Happy.