• by Shankar Gupta , June 19, 2006

Sony BMG has unveiled a new ad-supported Internet broadband channel that will host a library of music videos from artists including Shakira, Franz Ferdinand, and Bon Jovi.

Broadband video firm Brightcove will provide the technology platform for the channel and also will be responsible for ad sales, said Adam Berry, Brightcove's vice president for marketing and strategy. He added that Sony BMG is the first "major" publisher that Brightcove will handle ad sales for.

The advertisers at launch are Dreamworks and Hewlett-Packard, which are jointly promoting the animated film "Over the Hedge."

The channel, dubbed Musicbox Video, will include videos from multiple labels, including Sony BMG, Columbia Records, Epic Records, and RCA Recordings. The players will reside on the Sony BMG main site, as well as the sites of individual labels and artists. All the players are powered by flash, and all the videos are streaming.

The new site will be in direct competition with other online music destinations--including those of Viacom Online, which includes MTV Networks and drew 29.5 million unique users last month, according to comScore; Yahoo Music, with 24.3 million unique users; and AOL Music, which claimed 19.4 million uniques.