• by Wendy Davis  @wendyndavis, September 1, 2005

America Online's new online reality show, "The Biz," in which contestants compete for the chance to run a record label, will go live next week on the site www.thebiz.com. Automobile manufacturer Chevy will be a major sponsor of the show.

AOL has created original Web-based reality programming in the past, but such programs were not as ambitious as "The Biz" in their "level of complexity, excitement, general size, and scope," said Producer Jordan Kurzweil.

At launch, the site will reveal the initial 50 contestants, chosen by AOL from a pool of more than 9,000 entrants to date (would-be record moguls have until today to apply). The site will contain Web pages for each contestant, as well as video segments; all players also will have their own blogs.

Judges will whittle down the contestants to 20 on Sept. 15, then eight on Sept. 22. After that, they will gather in New York, where they will compete against each other in various record-management related tasks.