2010's Biggest Video Star: Dr. Dre

Product placement, the not-so-subtle art of marketing a product on screen, is now a prevalent way for studios and directors to secure money for movies and music videos alike.
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What do Justin Bieber, Black Eyed Peas, Maximum Balloon, Eminem, Far East Movement, Keri Hilson, Timbaland, Keyshia Cole, Lady Gaga, and Greyson Chance have in common? They, and many others, helped make Dr. Dre the biggest video star of 2010. If you're confused because you never saw Dr. Dre in any of their music videos, don't be. He wasn't, but his products were.

Product placement, the not-so-subtle art of marketing a product on screen, is now a prevalent way for studios and directors to secure money for movies and music videos alike. And the collaboration between Dr. Dre, Jimmy Iovine (Interscope), and Monster's Noel Lee have helped make Beats by Dr. Dre ubiquitous in the world of music videos.

For Dre, Iovine and Lee, it's a match made in headphone heaven. With nearly every artist signed onto Interscope Records having to promote Beats headphones, earphones, or speakers somewhere in their music videos, Beats and Monster have racked up millions of dollars worth of free advertising and millions in the bank.

What to expect in 2011? Thanks to Beats by Dr.Dre, Justbeats (Justin Bieber), Heartbeats (LadyGaga), and more, I'm pretty sure visits to audiologists will be on the rise.

For those of you wondering where Dr. Dre was all year... he finally materialized in "Kush" the video for his newest single in early Dec. 2010.

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