Mariah Carey’s decision to debut her video for “Obsessed” last week on “America’s Got Talent,” hosted by husband Nick Cannon, is a show of mutual marital support, but also something far bigger.

As the music industry’s traditional infrastructure continues to erode, musicians (and their marketers) are turning to unusual partners. Both Eminem, Carey’s possible target on “Obsessed,” and Jack White’s new band, The Death Weather, debuted videos on Cinemax. Britney Spears unveiled the vid for “Womanizer” on “20/20.”
Video premieres on MTV and other music channels don’t carry the old punch since most of their afternoon and prime-time programming is rarely dedicated to videos.
Shakira promoted her new “She Wolf” single with ABC.com. U2 got attention for its new song in a BlackBerry commercial.
The partnerships extend to in-store appearances. Rob Thomas held one at Bloomingdale’s for his new album. Others, like the Black Eyed Peas, skipped an in-store in New York because it was hard to find a record store big enough.
“The last time we put out a record, we went to a record store,” will.i.am said on “Today.” “In 2009, with YouTubes, Googles, DipDives, we have that one-on-one relationship or one-to-many online.”