The business of being Lady Gaga
Lady Gaga would be the last artist on earth I’d be interested in as a singer but as a business phenomenon, she’s considerably more interesting. Certainly the Wall Street Journal thinks so.
As one of the few on the planet not to have heard her before this evening, what are the first impressions? Well, she can sing. Her voice is Anygirlartist in the World with a touch of Deborah Harry and Cyndi Lauper but without the interest and distinctiveness of those two.
Of course, 321.5 million plays on My Space says I’m wrong about her music.
Her sound is Eurotechnobeat and a complete bore but hey, there’s obviously a massive audience out there in digital land for her – I’d imagine those Beyoncists and anyone who’s into that sort of thing would go for Lady Gaga.
The WSJ has this to say:
She topped the digital sales chart for 2009 with 15.3 million tracks sold. Her dance hits, including “Poker Face” and “Paparazzi,” recalibrated the sound of pop radio with a spacey Euro vibe that’s crept into songs by rock and rap artists. She grabbed attention beyond the music world with outfits that make her look like a refugee from a sci-fi film.
[She']s made shrewd use of new digital platforms, while still leveraging the clout of a major label, an institution deemed obsolete by many proponents of DIY culture. She is a product of a new kind of recording contract which goes beyond just selling records to encompass everything from touring, merchandise–even her make-up deal. Though she writes her own material, she is as focused on visual theatrics, fashion, and global appeal as she is on the music.
Lady Gaga’s towering digital sales, almost all of them iTunes downloads, only tell part of the story. In fact, much of Gaga’s audience got her music for free, and legally. They have listened to free streams—by the hundreds of millions—on YouTube and the other online services that Gaga currently leads, according to research firm BigChampagne.
On MySpace, Gaga has had 321.5 million plays. By contrast, singer Susan Boyle tallied only 133,000 plays, despite scoring the No. 2 selling album of 2009. A difference (among many) between Gaga and the dowdy Scotswoman discovered on a British talent show: Ms. Boyle’s material, including “Amazing Grace,” was traditional—and so were most of her buyers. Some 97% of her albums were sold on compact disc.
It’s an interesting article.
Filed under: Politics & economics, Society & human issues
Roughly 1 in 5 downloads translate to a sale(80/20 rule?).
Looks like a neat business model-use the sponsorship to create the hype, set up a few servers to host the tracks and rely on 20% of people to like/be honest enough to pay for her songs.
Only question is: what’s the break even?
Where’s that Wardsworth chappy when you need him?
STB.
“As one of the few on the planet not to have heard her before this evening, what are the first impressions?”
Yuck!!! But that is my reaction to almost all the noise that passes for modern music, hence I don’t see all the fuss made by the labels about downloads.
You said it with the word business. She doesn’t appeal to me but then she doesn’t irritate either. Pop music has always been a bland commodity but with the odd gem here and there.
Interewstingly some conspiracy nuts have Lady Gaga as the poster girl of the Illuminati…. the mind boggles
I can see how she as an artist would appeal to the youngsters of today and she also knows how to use electronic media and social networking to capture her audience. Yes a good business woman!
As far as I am aware I have never heard her. But maybe that’s because I prefer radio 7 to radio 1.
STB, to work out the break even point, we need to know the fixed costs of recording and promoting the song, making the video etc (a staggering large figure, usually); and then how much she gets from each actual paid for sale (a few pence). The maths of it is no different to selling vinyl singles back in the day – the few pence royalties you get from a download are probably much the same as the few pence you used to earn from selling a single.
For “illegal or free downloads” read “taping it off the radio or from a friend’s single”, it’s the same difference.
As to Lady Gaga, the really interesting question is whether she has a penis or not.
I wish I’d thought of her name!
You’re Lady Elegant.
i just found out that Lady Gaga is also a mezzo soprano. she really has a great voice and i love her style. :
I sincerely love Lady Gaga and her extraordinary dresses although she really let herself down now going out in see through undergarments.