Epic Records, Microsoft in Xbox 360 deal

updated 8:53 a.m. ET March 17, 2006

LOS ANGELES - Xbox 360 gamers will get a year of free music videos and other content from artists signed to Epic Records under a promotion deal between the record label and Microsoft Corp., the companies said Thursday.

The arrangement calls for Epic Records to feature 12 of its artists on a program dubbed Artist of the Month, which users of Redmond, Wash.-based Microsoft's popular gaming console can access over the Xbox Live entertainment network.  (MSNBC is a Microsoft - NBC joint venture.)

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.

Xbox Live members will be able to download exclusive music videos free and compete for a chance to play an online game against the Epic recording artists.

The first artist to participate in the promotion will be British singer Natasha Bedingfield.

New York-based Epic, a unit of Sony BMG Music Entertainment, is banking its artists will find a new audience among video gamers. Sony BMG is a joint venture of Sony Corp. and Bertelsmann AG.

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