Not to be outdone by social networking sites that have effectively taken the role of labels by promoting and distributing music for emerging artists, EMI (LON:EMI) has relaunched its Angel Music Group site as an “A&R 2.0” venture it’s calling ScoutR. The site lets unsigned musicians upload demos and then other users rate them. Those that make it onto the top 10 list then get a guaranteed listen from Angel’s very own A&R man. ScoutR also features the usual run of online music site services: the ability for members to personalize their own pages, downloadable wallpapers and screensavers, and events listings, as well as a regular update from the label’s MD and a detailed staff section.

SEE ALSO: UPDATED: EMI CEO Nicoli Is Out; Terra Firma Takes Control; Nicoli’s $6 Million Takeout

Josh Saunders, head of EMI’s digital projects, speaking to the Guardian: “By opening up and being more transparent, we want to move away from the ivory tower image of the record company.”

EMI was a bit of a trailblazer among the white elephant music labels when it struck a deal with Apple to sell DRM-free music; it will be interesting to see if other labels follow their social media lead too.

EMI plans to promote the site through pages and relationships with MySpace, YouTube and Bebo, Flickr and Last.fm: not taking any risks in trying to surpass the established 2.0 players on its own steam, then. release