MUMBAI: The National Geographic Society has launched a record label, christened Nat Geo Music, through its music division of the same name.

According to Billboard, the label will record, release and promote modern music from around the globe from a variety of artists and genres. It will be headed by Nat Geo Music GM Mat Whittington, who will report to National Geographic Entertainment president David Beal.

The label will be distributed through INGrooves in the US, Shock Records in Australia and New Zealand, ADA Global in Europe, Japan, the Middle East, and other territories in Asia and Africa, AND Napadogan Music in Canada.

Nat Geo Music, the music division, recently signed with the Kobalt Music Group to globally represent and provide full-service publishing administration for Nat Geo's library of more than 16,000 original music clues.

The new venture is part of National Geographic's continued multi-media expansion, which includes books, DVDs, Web sites and an eponymous cable television channel. A music division, also called Nat Geo Music, launched in 2007, and a Nat Geo Music TV Channel is now available in Italy, Latin America and Portugal.

The new music label will be based in New York City, where the Washington, D.C.-headquartered organization already has offices.

It will put out six to eight albums by the end of this year, media reports quote General Manager Mat Whittington as saying. The artists will range from established figures to up and comers from around the world.

The label will be globally oriented, both in terms of content and distribution. Albums will be sold in stores and on internet services like iTunes.

Poly-bagging CDs with issues of the flagship magazine and working with the music channel as it expands its distribution around the world were among the ways  Whittington saw the label extending beyond traditional retail sales, the report adds.