No Doubt Apologizes for Offensive Music Video

Mere hours after No Doubt debuted Looking Hot this weekend, the music video was pulled down by the band in reaction to criticism over its depiction of Native Americans.

Video: No Doubt Releases First Single in 9 Years

On Saturday, an open letter on behalf of Gwen Stefani, Tony Kanal, Tom Dumont and Adrian Young was posted to their website regarding the controversy:

"As a multi-racial band our foundation is built upon both diversity and consideration for other cultures. Our intention with our new video was never to offend, hurt or trivialize Native American people, their culture or their history. Although we consulted with Native American friends and Native American studies experts at the University of California, we realize now that we have offended people.

Related: On The Set of No Doubt's New Video!

"This is of great concern to us and we are removing the video immediately. The mu

sic that inspired us when we started the band, and the community of friends, family, and fans that surrounds us was built upon respect, unity and inclusiveness. We sincerely apologize to the Native American community and anyone else offended by this video. Being hurtful to anyone is simply not who we are."

Reportedly, Stefani and Kanal can be seen dressed as Native Americans and fighting their bandmates who are dressed as cowboys.

The single comes off the band's latest album, Push and Shove.

Chris Brown Gives Back, Preps Launch Of Symphonic Love Foundation

Chris Brown is giving back to young people.

The singer will launch a new charity called the Symphonic Love Foundation Monday (Nov. 5), to offer financial support to organizations promoting the arts, education programs on domestic abuse and dating violence, plus HIV/AIDS programs.

"Chris wanted to focus on supporting arts programs because art has been such an integral part of his life," a source revealed to Hollywood Life. "It's been a way for him to express who he is ever since he was a young child. He's been quietly painting for years and sees it as a positive outlet for low income children."

In addition to lending support to other organizations, Symphonic Love will also create youth arts programs, "while encouraging every day public service, respect and kindness." Upon it's launch the charity will also provide an area for young people to showcase their artwork.

"Chris has been extremely generous with both his finances and time with his foundation. "He really wanted to find an effective way to help children and teens. This will be one of the most active foundations established by anyone in his generation. He will be actively engaging with young people and his fans with it," the source added.

According to their website Symphonic Love, "believes in the capacity of love and art to change the world."

Brown has yet to officially announce that he is behind the charity foundation.

Florida Firehouse Under Investigation For Using President Obama Toilet Tissue

A firehouse in Florida has taken their feelings for President Obama to a whole new level.

Members of the team of firefighters are using toilet tissue bearing the president's face to wipe their... you get the idea.

Police in Pompano Beach are investigating where the toilet paper, which was discovered last week, came from, but there's a pretty good chance that they have their guy. The move was likely an act of retaliation by one firefighter who was told to remove his anti-Obama stickers from his locker.

While the firehouse is not against employees having a political stance, the firehouse isn't the place to voice those feelings. "If you have an opinion, you're certainly entitled to it. Everyone has their opinion. Put it on your own personal vehicle or your own personal things," said Sandra King, spokesperson for the City of Pompano Beach.

"If you have an opinion, you're certainly entitled to it. Everyone has their opinion. Put it on your own personal vehicle or your own personal things, but you don't display it on city property, on city grounds that maybe someone else doesn't agree with, that's politically motivated, and it's inappropriate."

This isn't the first time that the president face has been used to get an anti-Obama point across. In September, shop owner in Kentucky drew flack for selling Obama punching bags.

Interview: Def Jam Recordings Sr. VP of Marketing Chris Atlas Talks the Label’s Dominance

Words by Priya Pansuria

With over fifteen years of marketing experience under his belt, Chris Atlas has time and time again proven that he knows what it takes to market and promote an album better than most. Atlas is currently the Senior Vice President of Marketing at Def Jam and the product manager for select artists such as Rick Ross, Big Boi, Kanye West’s Cruel Summer and Jeremih, amongst others.

Def Jam was recently placed at the number one spot on The Source’s Power 30 list this year. Atlas spoke to me about the consistent hard work that played a vital role to help make that possible, as well as how Def Jam effectively puts together marketing campaigns for its artists.

Def Jam made the number one spot on The Source’s power 30 list. What about Def Jam this past year do you think helped make that possible?

We had back to back number one albums. Between hits on Billboard Top 200 and R&B and Hip-Hop, Frank Ocean, Nas, 2 Chainz, Cruel Summer, we had a consistent string of number ones. We also exposed a lot of new talent on the roster that we’re excited about for the coming year.

We had the soundtrack for the summer with the consistency and variety of the records that came out.

As you mentioned, Def Jam has had several number one albums this year. What preparations went into getting ready for the release of those albums?

I think we were fortunate to have a series of great releases and artists primed in terms of starting the early set-up of their singles at the end of the previous year going into the beginning of this year.

A lot of the artists work hard themselves in terms of speaking to their fans, going on tour and creating virals. We were able to add to the artists’ visibility and support them. The summer lined up perfectly. We plotted and looked at how things were laying out. We saw [the summer] as a runway for “Let’s take over the summer.”

What are the challenges of having to juggle the release of more than one album?

The good thing about Def Jam is that we have a really strong team. We have a strong team of project managers as well as promotions’ support. So even though we may have had a summer where every two weeks we had a new release, the strong team we have can support that flow of releases.

Also with the diversity of the projects, we were able to give each [artist] their own shine. Frank Ocean is very different from Nas, Nas is very different from Rick Ross, and Rick Ross is very different from 2 Chainz. We market each of them differently. We don’t have a cookie-cutter formula. And fortunately, they all have great music. With great music we can create great campaigns and great strategies.

Cruel Summer recently dropped. How do you go about marketing that album with G.O.O.D. Music being a group of unique artists?

The beauty of Cruel Summer is that not only do you have an artist leading the way like Kanye who has such a strong brand himself, but the whole crew has strong brands and personalities. They all have a fan base of their own. You have all this new talent in the crew as well.

The mission statement and mantra from Kanye in terms of being the best and putting out the best music. And you have each of these different artists that lend their own creative devices to help make the best music.

We had conversations around the office where we compared it to The Avengers in terms of the release. Where in The Avengers each super hero had their own power so with Cruel Summer, each artist had something different that they brought to the table. It’s like the perfect blockbuster album.

So how does marketing for Cruel Summer as a group differentiate from marketing for those artists individually?

There’s different things that we do and there’s different ways to promote it in terms of advertising. It’s important to market where you target consumer is. You may hit more strip clubs than pop clubs for one artist or go more mainstream.

There’s still that underlining core consumer that loves them all. But for them individually, maybe college kids are into it or dirty south kids are into it. Each artist brings out the audience in which they appeal to. Sometimes the audience overlaps but you always start with a core group you are speaking too.

What are some upcoming albums from Def Jam that you’re working on right now?

Big Boi. We’re looking forward to Big Boi’s album Vicious Lies and Dangerous Rumors which is coming out before the end of this year. Big Sean and Pusha T are working on their solo albums respectively that we’re excited for the new Ludacris project. He has a new single out with Kelly Rowland. They’re all putting out singles and setting up for releases for the upcoming year.

How is it working along side Barry Weiss and Joie?

It’s cool. They have a great sense of music and both have been in the industry for several years. They get what it takes to be competitive and aggressive. They’re both strong music men in their own right.

With the digital age on an onward rise, especially within music, how have you seen or helped marketing techniques change at Def Jam over the years to help with that?

We definitely support the digital revolution. I think digital marketing has allowed, not just us, but the industry in general a tremendous outlet to reaching consumers and allowing consumers to reach the artists. The realm of what you can do within the digital landscape is incredible. We support any new trends in the digital landscape because it continues to allow for new marketing ideas and new marketing ideation.

What, in your opinion, has proven to be the strongest technique to pushing an artists’s album?

It depends on the artist. I think a number of techniques work. For Hip-Hop artists it could be viral videos because it just gives a visual component to artists that fans can appreciate. The use Twitter and Instagram, it’s almost like having a conversation with an artist. It’s great that some artists are really aggressive with their social media and communicate with their fans directly. I think it’s valuable. The whole digital landscape and the interactivity that artists can have with their fans are groundbreaking.

Artist Managers Must Understand Their Role Is Now Business Development

Like everything else in the music business, the role of the artist manager is changing. In the good old days (you know, a year or so ago), artist managers largely concerned themselves with helping the artists with whom they worked get record deals, and then – post deal – acting as a liaison between the label and the band.

This is, of course, a radical oversimplification, and certainly neither getting an artist a deal or working with a label is an easy job. However, this was, for at least the majority of artist managers, their role.

Today, for the vast majority of managers, their principal role is different. No longer should they be concerning themselves with getting their artists signed. Rather, they should concern themselves with developing and unlocking value for their bands; i.e. business development.

If, as I think you should, you view your band as something for which you must develop brand equity, it’s no longer about leveraging that brand equity into a record deal. Rather, it’s about leveraging the brand equity to create direct revenue streams, as well as strategic partnerships where you, again, create visibility (thus increasing brand equity) and revenue.

All those hours spent mailing things out to A&R people at labels, taking meetings with A&R people at labels, and, generally, thinking about A&R people at labels, and all those hours fighting with those at the label over marketing budgets, and everything else, now must be hours spent doing – for lack of a better phrase – “business development.”

This, again, brings us to the problem that has plagued the industry for far too long: most managers are completely unprepared to do business development. Most have no proper business training, and, through no fault of their own, will flail around in a market that punishes those without the requisite skills. Thus, most will fail. Some, on the other hand, will take the time to learn business fundamentals, and will change the paradigm.

Certainly, as stated above, there are a lot of generalities in this here post; many great artist managers have long thought of their role in terms of business development (I’m thinking specifically of people like REM’s Bertis Downs, Kristin Hersh’s Billy O’Connell, Phish’s John Paluska, Dirty Dozen’s Marc Allan, Whitesmith’s Emily White, and Dead Confederate’s Dawson Morris – certainly, there are many others; leave me a list in the comments). I do think, though, that most haven’t thought in these terms, and I fear that too many are still thinking in terms that revolve around getting their band signed – sort of the anti business development.

So…go on get educated, innovate, and start building something.

Cee Lo Caught Admitting Crime on Tape?

A woman who has accused Cee Lo of sexual battery has allegedly obtained an audio recording of the rapper/singer admitting he drugged her. According to TMZ, the unidentified woman, at the urging of police, made a “pretext call,” in which she baited Cee Lo to talk about the incident. A source for the Goodie Mob star refused the claim and told the gossip site that the alleged victim visited a civil attorney before going to police.

A rep for Cee Lo did not respond to a request for comment.

NICKI MINAJ RELEASES "FREEDOM": LISTEN TO THE NEW "ROMAN RELOADED -- THE RE-UP" TRACK

The old Nicki Minaj is back on her latest track "Freedom."

After taking a leave of absence to go a little cray-cray on Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded, Mama Barbz returns to Earth and the dreamy roots of her 2010 debut. "Freedom" is reminiscent of the sonic and breezy soundscapes heard on "Right Thru Me," "Your Love" and "Save Me" off Pink Friday; songs that first showed the world that Minaj could not only rap, but also sing. Lyrically, Minaj is still confrontational yet reflective. She shouts out Young Money, then raps that all the new femcees on the scene owe her big time for paving the way.

"Freedom" is one of eight new tracks that will be bundled on her deluxe re-release, Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded -- The Re-Up. The song hit iTunes earlier today. Pink Friday: Roman Reloaded -- The Re-Up drops on Nov. 19.