Music

The most inexplicably controversial singer in the pop world, Lana Del Rey, finally got some positive press. By taking pictures, talking with, and smiling at fans, she has proven herself to be a warm-blooded humanoid and finally people are writing something nice.

The last time we visited with Lana, she was being sucked into the vortex of bad buzz generated by a lifeless and poorly-styled appearance on SNL. One so bad, in fact, that it prompted the guest of our debut episode of “My First Big Break,” Brian Williams, to send a personal note to Gawker asking them to give her the business.
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Create a social media strategy, launch your campaign, and track the results in our Social Media Marketing Boot Camp starting February 16. The online event and workshop will feature speakers including The Onion‘s Baratunde Thurston (left), Facebook’s Morin Oluwole, and bitly’s Tim Devane. Register now.

OK Go has become more famous for their videos than their actual music. Which is part of the explanation of why the band and its music label EMI parted ways in 2010.

Fast forward to 2012 and the band continues to put out some of the most innovative clips, music videos and otherwise. The latest is for their song “Needing/Getting,” which was teased (above) in a Chevy Sonic commercial, part of the company’s “Let’s Do This” campaign, that aired during the Super Bowl.

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Don Cornelius, creator of Soul Train, the Soul Train Music Awards, and Soul Train lines at parties and wedding receptions, died of self-inflicted gunshot wounds early this morning in Los Angeles. He was 75 years old.

With Soul Train, Cornelius created a platform to promote African-American music artists when few other options were available. But while the show provided “television for black folks,” dancers and performers of different backgrounds were also featured. Click here to check out Elton John doing one of the best “Bennie and the Jets” performances ever.

Cornelius hosted the show until 1993, was inducted in the Broadcasting Hall of Fame, and has a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame. For more great performances and a 1995 profile, click here.

Mariah Yeater, the woman who accused Justin Bieber — of all people — of fathering her three-month-old son, has dropped her lawsuit. TMZ has already published damaging text messages that indicate Yeater may have been trying to delete correspondence that points the paternity finger at another guy. But the Biebs hasn’t dropped his intentions of taking a DNA test.

From the beginning, Bieber and his people (which includes publicist Matthew Hiltzik) denied that there was any truth to Yeater’s allegations and they planned to back it up with a paternity test. Now with the case terminated, it would seem Bieber has been vindicated. Even still, E! is reporting that Bieber plans on going ahead with the test.

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Braxton Family Values is a bonafide smash, becoming WeTV’s highest rated original series, according to the network’s senior VP of production, John Miller. So, to kick off Season 2, the singing sisters hit New York’s Tribeca Grand Tuesday for an official press screening and Q&A.

Although the shindig successfully reignited buzz for the show, it raised a couple event planning do’s and don’ts that all publicists can learn from:

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Justin Bieber has announced that he’s going to take a paternity test to prove that allegations that he’s the father of Mariah Yeater’s three-month-old baby aren’t true.

From the beginning, Bieber and his team were confident that Bieber was not the baby’s father, but now he’s bringing science to his defense, a bold move that show’s he’s confident he’s no baby daddy.

Moreover, Bieber has been unafraid of making public appearances and addressing the issue head-on.

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Damn! Why didn’t I check in last night while I was watching that fascinating PBS show Nature: The Radioactive Wolves of Chernobyl?

It has come to the attention of television networks that social media tools like Twitter and GetGlue can really boost a program’s ratings. GetGlue, a New York-based social media site that allows users to check-in and connect in real time while consuming media, has more than one million users and has been a big factor in promotion.

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HP made recent business headlines with its new CEO. It’s also trying to generate headlines for its new ePrint technology, which it’s launching with a sponsored concert tour. Earlier this year, HP partnered with Live Nation and the band Thirty Seconds to Mars. At MediaPost’s OMMA (Online Media, Marketing and Advertising) Global conference on Tuesday in New York, Tariq Hassan, VP marketing at HP, and Russell Wallach, president of Live Nation Network, detailed their multimedia collaboration.

Music and technology combined to form two “passion points,” since “the core music fan is also connected 24/7,” Wallach noted. “In the past, people at concerts put up lighters during the show, and then it was cell phones. Now mobile phones connect you with other fans and those not at the venue, so the music experience is shared.” He reported that during performances 65 percent share on social media sites and 56 percent upload photos.

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Oversharing on the Internet went in to overdrive today, after Mark Zuckerberg and Co. at Facebook redeemed themselves from Wednesday’s worldwide backlash against its revamped news feed.

Facebook’s “clean” design of Timeline pages, music streaming, and more connectivity through an open-graph feature is garnering a lot of praise in the blogosphere. Zuckerberg introduced the changes Thursday morning at f8, a Facebook developers conference, and it wasn’t long until there was positive reaction all over the Web about new partnerships with Netflix (not in the U.S., so they can’t even use that to do a little damage control) and music service Spotify.

Musicians should pay attention to this Facebook transformation.

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Sad news to report: R.E.M has broken up after 31 years. The announcement was made today on the band’s website. The group offered thanks to fans and simply said, after so many years and so many songs, it was time to “call it a day.”

This news might not mean much to many music lovers out there nowadays, but for a slightly older, indie music-loving crowd, R.E.M. was among the greats. TIME‘s blog shares a few memories.

I remember when “Losing My Religion,” a strange song and a strange video, were released. It’s still great stuff. A little more recent but equally lovely is “Daysleeper,” above.

[h/t Associated Press]