Recording artists often need an online profile to get DJs interested. YouTube, mobile phones and TV ads help labels get songs out there. But artists doing it all themselves, via their own website, and music on their own labels and via YouTube and other platforms is the new paradigm. By using videos, they are getting a direct audience reaction to their music. Marketing and A&R (artists and repertoire) executives are using the internet as small, digital, live music venues.

PolitiFact has selected Romney's claim that Barack Obama "sold Chrysler to Italians who are going to build Jeeps in China" at the cost of American jobs as the 2012 "Lie of the Year." The site itself has notably been praised for holding politicians on all sides of the spectrum accountable for comments, claims and ads. "It was a lie told in the critical state of Ohio in the final days of a close campaign - that Jeep was moving its U.S. production to China. It originated with a conservative blogger, who twisted an accurate news story into a falsehood. The …

Per a new CMO Council poll, most marketing dollars will be spent against television next year but marketers say search is a far more effective medium for generating consumer demand. Over a quarter surveyed said TV was best for brand positioning, while 44% said that search was the superior vehicle. They also said they aren't satisfied with their current digital-marketing performance, a sentiment marketers expressed last year.

Attacks on energy drinks recall historical attacks on Coca-Cola. That's what Monster Beverage CEO Rodney Sacks said at an investor meeting on Tuesday, where the company announced a 14.2% improvement of net sales for the third quarter.

In-store movie rental service Redbox this month will launch an $8-a-month instant video streaming service, "Redbox Instant by Verizon," matching Netflix's charge for unlimited streaming. The deal offers choices from its bigger library of movies and TV shows, including four one-night DVD rentals per month from Redbox kiosks. Streaming and DVD-by-mail packages start at $16 on Netflix.

Watch your large back, Walmart: The web is going to eat you alive. Venture funds spent $242 million on online retail startups in the last quarter alone, more than any other period since 2000. E-commerce, meanwhile, is now a $200 billion-plus industry in the U.S., set to ratchet up 15% a year. Trends driving bricks and mortar to the dustbin: even traditional stores are seeing their online business boom; markup as part of traditional cost structure; free delivery, free returns; and subscription commerce.

American Airlines on Wednesday introduced packages of airfare upgrades for extra fees for round-trip flights booked through its website. An extra $68 gives a traveler a checked bag, priority boarding and no change fee. The industry in general is moving toward more fees with extras. Airlines have said it's about giving passengers more choices for improving their flight experience.

A family-run dry-cleaning business has come under fire for putting pro-life messages on wire coat hangers. Springdale Cleaners, which has 10 branches in Ohio, has for five years returned clean clothes to customers with a paper hanger cover which reads: "Choose Life" and has a picture of the owner's baby granddaughter. Owner Paul Dehler introduced the coat hangers because his sister is a member of a pro-life group and they asked about advertising.

In January, Toyota is expected to announce a customer service campaign to alert about 700,000 vehicle owners of 2007-2013 Lexus ES, 2006-2012 Lexus IS, and 2013 Lexus GS models due to a problem with the emergency trunk release found by Consumer Reports. The consumer-product testing organization found that the emergency interior trunk escape lever on its 2013 Lexus ES and GS can snap off during use, potentially leaving a trapped occupant without any way to escape.

For the holiday season-to-date, shoppers have spent $26.6 billion online, up 13% versus the corresponding days last year, according to comScore. The firm predicts that Green Monday (Monday, Dec. 10, 2012 will turn out to have been one of the heaviest online spending days of the season and the busiest day of the busiest online spending week on record.