Zack O'Malley Greenburg's Blog, page 102

Monster CEO Noel Lee On Life After Dr. Dre

Monster Profits: CEO Noel Lee at SXSW.

Even among the thousands of musicians, groupies, journalists, publicists and sloppy partygoers who descended upon Austin for South By Southwest last week, Noel Lee was hard to miss.

The Monster Cable CEO could be found cruising 6th Street—or, even more improbably, the second floor of Austin Music Hall during last Friday's 50 Cent-Eminem concert—on a gold-plated Segway.

Lee stands out in other ways, too. Starting in 2009, his company has been the exclusive m...

T.I. Talks Business: New Album, Marvel Series, Tom Cruise Film?

T.I. gets his Grand Hustle on.

T.I. has accomplished quite a few superhero-esque feats in his career. On the music side, he managed to earn roughly $20 million over the past three years despite spending much of that time behind bars. On the personal side, he once convinced a stranger not to jump off the top of an Atlanta skyscraper.

So perhaps it should come as no surprise that the next addition to T.I.'s entrepreneurial and/or cinematic resumés may be a deal with Marvel.

"I will not let any...

Nicki Minaj To Earn Millions As Face Of New Pepsi Beverage

Nicki Minaj: Cash Money, Young Money, More Money.

Nicki Minaj became the first female to grace FORBES' Hip-Hop Cash Kings last year, pulling in $6.5 million, enough to land the No. 15 spot on the annual accounting of rap's top earners. Expect her bulging bank account to grow even more in 2012 following a massive deal she recently signed with Pepsi.

According to Derek Jackson, the Glu agency chief who brokered the agreement, Minaj will become the face of a new Pepsi beverage nearing its...

The Top-Grossing Musical Acts of South By Southwest

see photosAP

Click for full photo gallery: The 10 Top-Grossing Acts Of South By Southwest

There are quite a few prominent individuals known as "The Boss," from late Yankees owner George Steinbrenner to rotund rapper Rick Ross. But when it comes to the top-grossing acts to grace the stage at South By Southwest, there's only one Boss: Bruce Springsteen.

Though Austin's annual music extravaganza is known primarily as a springboard for up-and-coming musicians, there are always a handful of veteran a...

Lil Wayne Debuts Multi-Million Dollar DEWeezy Campaign at SXSW

DEWeezy Does It: Lil Wayne launches his new campaign.

Last night's Young Money showcase at the Austin Music Hall had all the trademarks of a typical Lil Wayne show: plenty of affiliated guests (Mystical, Jay Sean, Lil Chuckie, etc), the obligatory shirt removal and, of course, a healthy dose of impassioned lyric-spitting from the diminutive rapper.

One element, however, was decidedly different from Lil Wayne's norm. Plastered all around the 4,200-capacity arena were banners bearing the word...

St. Patrick's Day Score: Inside The Big Business Of Irish Music

St. Patrick's Day Surprise: Seven-time all-Ireland accordion champion John Whelan serenades Steve Forbes and friends in the newsroom.

St. Patrick's Day has long been a financial boon to pub owners, breweries and purveyors of just about anything green. But until this past decade, there wasn't always a pot of gold awaiting the musicians who provide live Celtic and Irish music for the occasion.

Seven-time all-Ireland accordion champion John Whelan, who recently graced the FORBES newsroom with a...

Kendrick Lamar, Kevin Liles Offer Branding Tips At SXSW

SXSW: Branding with the best.

You're probably tired of hearing the word "branding." From music to marketing, it's one of the most over-used words in the modern-day business lexicon. But it was hard not to get something out of the eclectic panel on the topic yesterday at the Austin Convention Center.

Titled "Taking the Throne: The Brand is King," the discussion featured Kendrick Lamar, the Compton rapper touted by Dr. Dre; Kevin Liles, the former Def Jam president who recently started his own...

SXSW 2012: For Rising Artists, Many Roads To Austin

The Staves at SXSW: How can one act stand out among 3,000?

There are over 3,000 bands at South By Southwest this year. You can't turn around without bumping into somebody's guitar. So how do all these artists wind up getting gigs in Austin to begin with? What do they do to set themselves apart? And how much, if anything, do they get paid?

Yesterday I posed these questions to a half-dozen up-and-coming musical acts: British crooner Ed Sheeran, Sacramento rapper Chuuwee, U.K. trio The Staves...

Forbes 30 Under 30: Party On Fifth Ave

30 Under 30: The Forbes party.

In December, FORBES released its first-ever 30 Under 30 issue—a look at the best, brightest youngsters in a dozen different industries, from Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in social/mobile to rapper Mac Miller in music.

Miller has a song called "Party On Fifth Ave," and on Tuesday evening, that phrase couldn't have been more apt. That night a remarkable 113 of the 360 list-makers from all over the world descended upon the FORBES headquarters at 60 Fifth Avenue i...

SXSW 2012: Where The Magic Happens

SXSW: The Media Room

On a typical evening in Austin, Texas, savvy locals avoid 6th Street — one of the only parts of town that tends to resemble tourist traps like New Orleans' Bourbon Street or New York's Times Square.

But when South by Southwest descends upon the Lone Star State's capital, the whole city turns into a swarming morass of musicians, groupies, fans and journalists (Star Wars fans: think Mos Eisley, with guitars). The boulevards become choked with traffic; lines to bars and...