Jay Leno May Get Dragged Into The Music Business

noah | February 27, 2008 1:30 am
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Sony is being pretty aggressive about signing big-chinned yukker Jay Leno to a late-night deal, and since they have a lot of fingers in a lot of entertainment-industry pies, they have the ability to offer Leno more than just enough cash to keep him in motorcycles until 2050. In addition to his own theater and some production credits, the New York Times reports that Sony is offering him a curious music-related incentive:

Sony Pictures Television has made an approach through intermediaries to let Mr. Leno and his representatives know that as soon as he is allowed to discuss his next move, the studio will make him a rich offer for a syndicated late-night show that would make him the highest-paid host in late-night television, put his name on a new theater on the Sony lot and give him a financial interest in Sony music artists who appear on his show.

No word on what sort of profits that “financial interest” would be derived from–surely Sony isn’t hoping to entice Leno with the promise of money derived from record sales in 2008?–but it’s a curious carrot, and something that seems eerily similar to the music-and-promotion machine that Warner Music Group is obviously hoping for with Perez Hilton’s rumored imprint, especially as far as “encouraging” synergy goes.

Suitors Are Set to Say to Leno, Long Live King [NYT; HT Velvet Rope / Photo: AP]

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