I'm on my soapbox again about the changing landscape for entertainment marketing and sales. I want to do a quick follow-up to my last article about the challenges that face Habbo Hotel, the popular virtual world for teens, when trying to cut a deal with the record labels to feature and sell their music. Today, the popular German teen rock sensation, Tokio Hotel, did an appearance in Habbo's Canadian Hotel and they are not alone. So far over 300 celebrity guests have visited Habbo to chat with fans and promote their projects. Clearly the artists as well as the record labels see the promotional value of following the fans to their online hang-outs. Habbo was subsequently the first virtual world to sign a deal with William Morris Agency. So why not set up a system to easily monetize music in this new media channel?

I know we should probably not look to the German music market as indicative of world taste, after all they love David Hasselhoff's odd baritone, but Universal Germany's teen band Tokio Hotel is an interesting phenomenon. They have sold nearly 3 million CDs and DVDs in their homeland in a time when kids get most of their music from the Internet. With four number one singles and two number one albums (the band members were between 13 and 15 years old when recorded their first album) they've become the biggest act to come out of Germany in 20 years.