February 09, 2010

By By Chris M. Walsh, N.Y.

-- Ballys Total Fitness will use music from Universal Music Group as a sales and customer service incentive, starting next month. The newly signed deal between the companies is for two years. Ballys will use MP3 downloads to acquire new members, reward member loyalty and incentivize employee sales performance. Bally has committed to purchase 4.5 million downloads from UMG to distribute to its new members during monthly promotions and to current members at important milestones in their membership, according to a release announcing the deal. Beginning in March, most new members will receive 20 music downloads with their Bally membership. The downloads can be redeemed at a Bally branded site that Universal Music will build and can be accessed through Ballyfitness.com.

-- For the first time in almost 30 years MTV has overhauled its iconic logo and has removed the "music televison" tag. The new logo debuted on-air Monday. Still intact is the large "M" with the graffiti font "TV" but the emblem now features rotating photos of MTV talent behind the giant "M." From the Hollywood Reporter's Live Feed blog: "Basically it looks just like the old logo, only with some cropping. The design is getting flak from bloggers, but this is long overdue. Having "Music Television" on there was just a constant reminder that MTV was branding itself one way, programming itself another."

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