• The New York Times, Monday, July 7, 2008 12:30 PM

As record labels struggle to adjust to a harsh new digital reality, other companies are stepping up their involvement in music, going far beyond standard endorsement contracts and the use of songs in commercials. Procter & Gamble, for example, is joining Island Def Jam in a joint venture called Tag Records, a label that will sign and release albums by new hip-hop acts. It is named after the body spray that P&G acquired when it bought Gillette.

Bacardi announced it is helping the English electronic music duo Groove Armada pay for and promote its next release. Caress, the body-care line owned by Unilever, commissioned the Pussycat Dolls singer Nicole Scherzinger to record a version of Duran Duran's "Rio" that it gave away on its Web site to promote its "Brazilian body wash" product. And Red Bull is starting a label that is expected to release music before the end of the year.

Unlike Starbucks, which got into the music business to sell CDs at its stores, these companies want to use music to promote products they already sell. "It's not about money," says Sarah Tinsley, a global marketing manager at Bacardi. "It's a branding exercise."

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