March 11, 2009
My colleague Jeff Beer over at our sister publication Creativity recently interviewed Sam Spiegel (aka Squeak E. Clean) about his new album and balancing the demands and benefits of commercial and personal music-making.
March 10, 2009
Hip-Hop magazine Complex has dug deep and put together the "Top 10 Failed Rapper Clothing Lines" in honor of G-Unit member Young Buck's recently kaput David Brown line.
March 09, 2009
There are probably few artists as closely tied to a piece of hardware as U2 is to the iPod. But now, with a sponsored global tour to promote its new album "No Line on the Horizon," the band has left Apple for RIM's Blackberry.
March 06, 2009
In a new campaign aimed at hip-hop fans and spendthrifts (who isn't right now?), Honda has tapped unsigned, un-bling'd rapper Mickey Factz as spokesman for the Accord.
March 03, 2009
Following in the rhinestone-studded paths of Avril Lavigne and Hayden Panettiere, none other than Britney Spears has signed on to be the new face of Candie's Only at Kohl's. She's being trumpeted as "the 2009 Candies Girl," and the two brands are co-sponsoring her Circus Tour beginning tomorrow as well as working her into their promotional materials for this year's collection.
March 01, 2009
Hearing that giant consumer brand Sony has been filming experimental musicians to promote its line of Walkman digital music devices seems to make perfect sense to these American ears.
February 27, 2009
Tic Tac Micha is a 16-year-old Uzbek who has transformed the boxed mints into a variety of percussive instruments, from a rattle drum to a self-playing cymbal to, you guessed it, a shaker.
February 27, 2009
Dolly Parton has signed a deal that will place Dolly merchandise in 588 Cracker Barrel locations, according to USA Today.
February 23, 2009
According to NME, Swiftcover will not cover musicians. Ironic given that Iggy Pop is the company's spokesperson.
February 20, 2009
Vanity Fair Brands recently held a talent competition to find ladies willing to play music while wearing some over-the-shoulder-boulder-holders. Thus, the Vassarettes were born.
February 20, 2009
Multi-platinum country rock act Rascal Flatts is working with JCPenney for a broad marketing and promotional deal, which includes in-store promotion, tour support, merch and TV ads.
February 13, 2009
It seems strangely fitting that Mandy Moore would become the future Mrs. Ryan Adams and a corporate shill for detergent in the same week.
February 11, 2009
According to an analysis by GreenLight, this year's Grammy telecast could be a milestone in the decline of celebrity endorsements. In the media and talent rights clearinghouse's first analysis of the ads, these types of commercial messages declined by about 46% this year, while the use of licensed "contemporary or iconic" tunes increased slightly.
February 10, 2009
French electronic duo Justice and Ed Banger Records designer So-Me have designed a new Club Coke 2009 bottle exclusively for European dance venues.
February 09, 2009
R&B superstar Chris Brown has run into trouble with his own squeaky-clean sponsor Wrigley this weekend after an alleged altercation with Rihanna.
February 06, 2009
Here's a sampling of branded songs -- skewing heavily toward beverages, natch -- hitting optimistic notes.
February 06, 2009
Having just recently apologized to fans for the "mistake" of allowing his latest greatest hits album to be exclusively released in Wal-Mart, The Boss is back in action on behalf of the fans, this time giving Ticketmaster a good blasting for the way that it handled the recent sale of tickets for his forthcoming tour.
February 05, 2009
Roundup of stories on music-branding and licensing: First up, Ad Age's Claude Brodesser-Akner has a piece over at Madison & Vine on the precipitous decline of celebrity retail brands, from LL Cool J to Ashley Judd, whose clothing is languishing on shelves.
February 04, 2009
According to a story in last night's Wall Street Journal, Live Nation and Ticketmaster are well on their way to merging into one mega "360" entertainment powerhouse. From the simplification of connecting with fans to the mountains of data Collected, this presents a potentially fascinating deal for brands.
February 03, 2009
No matter what you thought of Converse's "My Drive Thru" with Santogold, Pharrell and Julian Casablancas, can you really resist a rendition sung by fifth graders?
