Idolator

Avis to MTV's music-related-television Hertz Fuse is trying to move beyond the emo demo—and into the exciting world inhabited by people between the ages of 18 and 34—and it's trying to do so by putting music back in the spotlight, pitching itself as a "curator" of sorts for people on the lookout for new sounds. Why the channel would decide to use this particular moment in time to use music pedantry as a way to attract audiences is something of a mystery, but then again, this statement of purpose represents something of a step forward for a channel whose music content very recently consisted largely of a ton of top ten countdowns that had arbitrary lines drawn between them (I still will never figure out what constitutes a "guilty pleasure" in the mind of the channel), a relative lack of bleeps compared to its main competitor, and a rock-oriented show that tried to play up its lack of a title as a selling point. More »

Undaunted by the eternal shelving of her very expensive solo album, lead Pussycat Doll Nicole Scherzinger is still trying every trick in the book to be taken seriously as An Artist. The latest: A promotion for a Brazil-inspired Caress Body Wash (with passion flower cream and acai oil!) that features La Scherz singing lead on the "Caress Brazilian Mix" of Duran Duran's "Rio," a song that really didn't need to be remade and that certainly didn't need to be remade with her thin vocals and a super-cheesy-sounding "Latin" guitar line. Somehow she hasn't realized yet that the American public can't miss her if she hasn't gone away, although judging by her brand-new stage name, maybe the people running her career are figuring that few people realized she was actually out there making music sans backup Dolls in the first place. More »

Extreme metal harlequins Slipknot have a very peculiar image on the front page on their Web site, one that allegedly reveals what their new masks will look like (they're really into masks, if you didn't know). "100% real," says an executive at their label. If this isn't an April fool, and they're actually going to move around stage wearing in those things, I'm impressed. Very Rapa Nui meets 12 Angry Men. Screencap of the masks after the jump, in case you don't want to have your computer bogged down by Flash. More »

Hey, remember PlaysForSure? The Microsoft-branded DRM that the company abandoned when it developed the Zune and that even Wal-Mart won't use? Well, in a last-ditch effort, Microsoft has decided to rename PlaysForSure in a way that makes sense to no one except the marketing executives who probably thought "hey, this dying technology that we're saddled with does have a purpose: cross-promotional branding!" when they came up with this scheme: More »