• Bloomberg, Thursday, October 8, 2009 10:46 AM

As promotion budgets at the music labels go south, along with their revenues, marketers are stepping in and sponsoring recording artists' tours with very attractive deals, reports Kristen Schweizer. Research In Motion's "BlackBerry Loves U2" ad campaign is a case in point.

"BlackBerry made the TV commercial with our music and then spent many millions of dollars on media and TV worldwide," says U2 manager Paul McGuinness. "They provided a budget that no record company could have possibly matched."

Other developments: Bayerische Motoren Werke's Mini brand has hired Paul Weller to write a song for its 50th anniversary, and Bacardi has lined up Groove Armada concerts and released an exclusive EP. So far, though, most brand money ends up in the hands of top acts, says Steve Mayall, a director at Music Ally.

"We've taken a skeptical view because we haven't seen anything beyond high-profile brand partnerships," he says.

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