• by Karl Greenberg , April 17, 2008

Tommy Hilfiger wants to bring its European concert series, Hilfiger Sessions, to a wider audience. The fashion-apparel company on Wednesday went live with web-based video channel TommyTV, a conduit for the company's jam sessions.

TommyTV, at www.tommytv.com, also extends a relationship that Hilfiger Sessions created between the company and Sony BMG Europe. The channel is a joint venture of Tommy Hilfiger, Fred Gehring, CEO of Tommy Hilfiger Group, and Maarten Steinkamp, CEO Sony BMG Europe, features Sony artists and emerging talent.

The site was produced by Amsterdam-based Media Republic. Tommy Hilfiger and Sony BMG have also partnered with YouTube and Joost to feature TommyTV content in online communities. The audition portion of the site involves participants uploading to YouTube videos of themselves performing.

The Hilfiger Sessions are live events featuring artists playing with new and upcoming talent in gigs in European cities. Recent sessions were in Madrid, Berlin and Amsterdam and were hosted by artists such as Wyclef Jean and Kelly Rowland. There will be eight more "Sessions" concerts this year in Antwerp, London, Dusseldorf, Paris, Barcelona, Milan, Naples, and Prague.

While the TommyTV web site focuses most of its attention of web casts and archival footage of The Hilfiger Sessions, there will also be backstage footage, and artist interviews. It will also have content from Sony BMG's archives.

Tommy Hilfiger Group's Gehring says the sessions, which started in Amsterdam to promote local, established and new musicians, has developed a following in Europe.

TommyTV will also offer live clips streamed during performances, session photos, info on upcoming sessions and auditions, and a separate channel for new talent, and a YouTube-like channel where people can upload their own music.

The company will also host web-based competitions between people uploading their own music; a personalization element, My TommyTV, lets consumers create playlists of TommyTV clips, subscribe to news updates.