Has your favorite musician died? Stick around long enough and he or she will surely make an appearance again via hologram. At the rate things are going, and for the right "appearance" fee of course, you may eventually invite your own hologram Rock ‘n’ Roll Hall of Famer to perform at your wedding or other private event.

The "virtual performance" business kicked off in April when Dr. Dre debuted a hologram of Tupac Shakur on-stage at Coachella. As Entertainment Weekly notes, that was followed by plans to resurrect Lisa “Left Eye” Lopes for live shows and the re-creation of Elvis for a concert series.

It also got the Jackson family talking about whether they should bring Michael back on the road — after all, he's already on the comeback trail with Pepsi this summer as part of its (ironically) "Live For Now" marketing campaign.Continue reading...

It's a well known fact that the brand value of dead celebrities lives far beyond the celebrities themselves. Bob Marley may have died in 1981, but his name has made him immortal, at least in terms of earning power. Elvis continues to have perennial brand presence, getting an extra boost from Graceland's year-long celebration of his life in this, the 35th anniversary of his death.

But this past weekend, a whole new form of dead celebrity worship came to life at the Coachella music festival in California. On Sunday night, Dr. Dre and Snoop Dog performed "live" on stage with Tupac Shakur, the rapper who was killed in 1996. Of course, Dre and Snoop performed live; Tupac's performance was a holographic video with updated audio tailored to the crowd. Still, the image was so seemingly alive and so stunning that it may prompt a Tupac tour, according to The Wall Street Journal.Continue reading...

As Google quietly ramps up Disco, its still-in-beta group texting app, GroupMe is hoping to establish itself as the top-of-mind brand for group messaging.

It's also trying to create a business model. Today it announced its latest feature: a tab that promotes musical artists, concerts, events, and TV programs through a "Featured Groups" tab in its main menu, which leads to branded groups and sponsored partnerships.

The news will certainly be welcomed by brands looking to get a piece of the group messaging buzz.

Think of it like "sponsored tweets" on Twitter.

GroupMe users can simply click on the tab to tap into conversations, and can start a chat about any of the five brands (all entertainment-based, so far) on board: two cable TV networks, with Oxygen promoting its Bad Girls Club series and MTV promoting America's Best Dance Crew; Bon Jovi; and the Bonnaroo and Coachella music festivals. 

For concerts and musicians, updates on show dates, giveaways, and a chance to chat with celebrity artists are on offer. "Bon Jovi could jump right in and answer questions for you," GroupMe co-CEO Jared Hecht told Fortune.

"These are essentially brand experiences that give users a great time. It's a really cool way for brands to engage real life groups of friends that are already talking about the brand anyway."Continue reading...

The iPad launch day arrived and consumers lined up. [Washington Post]

Apple saw more sales than previously estimated. [Bloomberg]

Coachella promotes its concerts with an iPhone app. [LA Times]

Dr. Dre and the Red Sox created themed headphones. [Boston Herald]

Americans eat more prepackaged foods than fresh. [NY Times]

Old Spice takes a cure from Axe and gets physical. [BrandFreak]Continue reading...

PETA members around the world rejoiced to hear that Stella McCartney would be collaborating with former Smiths frontman, Morrissey, on a collection of leather-free footwear.

‘I’m working with Morrissey on a line of leather-free shoes which I’m really excited about,’ Stella told theDaily Mail last week ‘we are still in the early stages but the shoes could be launched next year.’

The famously vegan singer gave the name Meat Is Murder to a classic 1985 Smiths album, and is known for banning any food that "used to have a face" from his tours. So passionate is Morrissey that, earlier this year, he threw a temper tantrum at the Coachella music festival and stormed offstage in disgust over the smell of cooking meat wafting from a nearby food cart. McCartney is equally as uncompromising, and has refused to employ leather in any designs since the creation of her fashion line 15 years ago.Continue reading...