TVT Records Offers Online Songs Of Snoop Dogg, Nine Inch Nails

TVT Records, hoping to spur Internet-users to purchase its music online, have made upwards of 1,500 tracks available as free downloads in a promotion that runs through Dec. 31. The campaign, dubbed "Downloadable Christmas," features songs in the Microsoft Windows Media format that will time-out after 60 days.

Snoop Dogg's ''G'd Up,'' from his forthcoming TVT album, ''Snoop Dogg Presents Tha Eastsidaz,'' is among the available selections. The song isn't due to hit stores until Dec. 7, and the album--his first under a new deal with TVT--is scheduled to be released in January.

Other artists featured in the promotion include Nine Inch Nails, Speech, Sevendust, XTC and Guided By Voices. The downloads are available via TVT's official website.

In related news, the online preview of Metallica's forthcoming symphonic album ''S&M'' attracted more than 1 million listeners since the promotional effort debuted last Thursday (11/19), according to the band's publicist.

Metallica and Elektra Records, through an alliance with more than 150 websites, has been streaming ''S&M'' in its entirety during the week-long promotion. Metallica's official website features listening instructions. The promotion included a live webcast of Metallica's Nov. 23 performance with the Orchestra of St. Luke's at Madison Square Garden in New York.