Parental Advisory News Report 3.07.10: Lady Gaga
Posted by Dan Haggerty on 03.07.2010
This week the PANR does an editorial on the secret of Lady Gaga’s success. Is she an industry outsider like she claims? What is the secret of her success? How is she like Susan Boyle and what does their huge sales say about the music industry in general? Click the link for the full story and the answers!
Greetings everyone, this is the PANR and I am your host. Despite a very pissed off disc in my back and being knocked down on non-straight edge society approved drugs, and also despite a dearth of interesting news from the industry, politics, and the usual weird odds and ins, I am here today.
So, with such a wasteland of music news worthy of a first print run, I decided to go back and do something I've been missing lately, and that is some old fashioned commentary on the music industry. With an interesting quote from Lady Gaga this week I've decided to use today's column to do just that. Have a good one everyone and I hope spring is breaking out in your corner of the universe today as well.
Lady Gaga – Industry Outsider?
Lady Gaga is continuing to show she is one of the hardest working women in music with multiple appearances in the last week that range from award shows to interviews. This week an odd interview in England flew under the radar, one that revealed more about Gaga and the music business as a whole. Although I don't think that was the intention.
Appearing on the British show "Friday Night With Jonathan Ross", Lady Gaga was wearing another wacky outfit. This time the singer was wearing a large phone on her head, it being one of those old time rotary dial phones with the cords. The show itself airs this week for the curious.
Hey – I really do try and stay ahead of the headlines here. I reported that Jackson's doctor would be targeted by police several weeks before it broke as well as iTunes's 10 billion songs (cheap plug).
Anywho, she discussed the business and the Brit Awards. "I didn't speak to anyone at the Brits." She added that she feels disconnected from the industry. "I'm an outcast from the music industry," she explained. "I don't have any friends in the music business."
Regarding her appearance in general: "I would rather die than have my fans not see me in a pair of high heels. I'd never give up my wigs and hats for anything. You see legendary people taking out their trash. I think its destroying show business... I feel completely detached from the celebrity world. You never see me falling out of nightclubs. Be whatever you want to be, it's not about emulating me ... it's all right to be different."
I found this to be a remarkable statement, one that points to the heart of the business. Lady Gaga really is an outsider. She came out of nowhere and promoted her music the old fashion way – She did it herself. That is the point of all those costumes; she has created a self publicity tool and brand in one brilliant (for pop music) method.
No one since Madonna has done this good of a job and hyping their music by hyping themselves, and most importantly for the rest of the pop princesses of the world, she has done it properly without becoming a train wreck splattered all over the tabloids. That is what Madonna did, became controversial and had the press watching her and ready to ape anything she said. No crotch shots while drunk at a nightclub, but calculated cone bra's in videos breaching (then) taboo like subjects. The press covers Gaga completely different from the latest Spears or Whinehouse story because Gaga's exploits are surgically put together to get people's attention so that they are weird, notable, but most importantly the only thing they talk about. We laugh at the Spears of the world, we laugh at what Gaga wears.
It's a small difference but in the long run it will mean a lot more for how we perceive each person. When Spears dresses funny, she comes across as an out of control kid and a partying spoiled brat (hot school-girl outfit or not). When Gaga does it she looks like she is still in show mode. Part of that is precisely by what she said, she doesn't go out and do dumb things on the town. We know when she shows up with a Lobster on her head she is doing it intentionally. In a way, both want to be caught on camera, but only one does it on her terms. We laugh about it, and as one commenter once put it well "that girl isn't right", but truth be told Gaga only cares that we're talking about it. What we say is indifferent.
And this has entirely been done by her. You certainly don't see the label behind this, and in fact they seem completely caught up for the ride. Like Madonna, she creates the story we talk about. Madonna was only different in that she would go in head first to take social norms and ride the edge by pissing people off on hot subjects, even if sometimes those subjects were also her creations (like stigmata in a video).
It's a remarkable thing because on a level the best artists at working the press are the ones who know when to check their ego at the door. You can't care what people are saying about you, and just need to have them talk about and hopefully be entertained by it. This idea goes back to the advice the immortal Jack Benny gave an up and coming talk show host named John Carson:
"Don't worry whether people like you, just as long as they like your show and go home happy".
That incredibly insightful piece of advice served Carson well, as he was less concerned on a level whether people laughed at him only that they came to the show and laughed at the show itself. In the end, he did it with style and became the biggest talk show host in history.
Madonna didn't (still doesn't) care if people are shocked, mad, or enjoyed what she did, as long as they still talked about her, which in turn kept her relevant when other 80's singers well to the wayside. The right people will be their and they will hand over their money to be entertained. Lady Gaga now insures people are talking and entertained by what she does as well. We laugh at what she wears, but we are entertained and keep talking about it and if sales is any indication that entertainment is translating into hard sales.
In business, this is what you cal branding. Lady Gaga has branded herself like a product and we react to the product and not her. Most pop divas don't manage their appearances (and lives) as well and we treat them like the image they inadvertently give us.
The Outsiders
Lady Gaga really has come out of nowhere in the last year and a half, going from nobody to one of the hottest names in music and pop culture. When she says she felt like an outsider at the award show, I believe her. She really is an outsider although how long that truly lasts is another thing. She got to this point on her self created image and a good years of sales and turning heads.
The thing I would be curious to know is how many people get or score deals precisely because they attend these shows and hobnob with power players. How much of the music business run's like our Federal Government – Power brokering? I'm not being cynical and saying the music biz is necessarily corrupt, but when you get that much money and deals together in any business people maneuver to get a piece of it. Just an interesting thought to chew on.
As for Lady Gaga, she went right by them and became a sensation despite the music system in place. Now, musically, it's not all that original. Perhaps a more danceable and bouncy pop compared to the usual R&B pop music we get. But everything around the women is new and fresh. Weird, but then again rock and roll along with pop music has always been weird. Part of the charm is that these people end up being larger than life personalities.
Maybe, just maybe, that is part of the secret of her success. She is an outsider. She has created music and more importantly an image that came from left field (i.e. not from inside the machine itself), and instead of being shoehorned into a style or mold that they wanted (R&B Cookie Cuter Artist #98) she is what she wanted. Sure, she admits it's to get people attention, but she is doing it her way. That means she is doing it in a way she believes in and the results show it.
She is riding those outfits all the way to the bank.
Now, let's take this a step further. Susan Boyle is also an outsider who has stormed the music charts in a very short time. She skipped the industry completely by becoming a darling of the media after a stunning performance on a reality show. And really, when there is international footage on the news showing Simon Cowel sitting there with a stunned look on his face that goes from disbelief to pure joy (!), you know it's one of those one in a million moments. The women, dispute personal drama and a lot of cracks at her appearance (actually refreshing compared to the usual plastic diva), does deserve a huge toast for coming out of nowhere and scoring such a huge success.
And much like Lady Gaga she did it without going through the big label hit making machine. Sure, they went and got a record contract, but it's not like the label sat down one day and said "we're going to get a bad looking, over weight lady to sing cover songs in a classical style". I mean, come on.
So, I'd say it's safe to say that these ladies are indeed outsiders. Boyle just bypassed the labels through sheer luck of getting on that show (well, lucky to be there because her voice truly took over from there). Gaga doesn't know anyone at those award shows because she comes fresh into the industry without the usual hobnobbing and strings attached. Although inevitably that will surely come, she won't be an outsider for long…
And the million dollar question is, what does it say about the state of the music industry when the biggest new names in recent times also score some of the biggest sales of the year when they are outsiders of the industry.
Is It 1975 All Over Again?
As I have recently talked much about in my other column, by the mid 70's music was getting stale to a new generation of kids who thought bands like Zeppelin were old news and not hot anymore. That was what made punk so huge. It was new music that had the image of being outsiders and with it the idea of being fresh and edgy again. We music fans just don't like authority much, so gives a bit of trouble in our music and something unique that flips off the status quo. Same thing with grunge a decade and a half later. It was new, street level, and against the status quo.
Now, as I look at the music scene today and see that the top four money makers of last year was a teen age country girl fresh to the scene, a dead pop singer that was huge two decades ago, and Lady Gaga along with Susan Boyle, both outsiders in their own way, you really have to wonder what kind of signal we are sending the labels.
Maybe, just maybe, it's that we're not into what they are punching out now. When two of the biggest names of the year are fresh, one in style and the other in music, I would hope someone is looking at their P&L statement and having a "What the Christ?" moment.
Putting It Together
Obviously, there is always more at work that what we see. And certainly there is also plenty of artists last year who did well for themselves as well. But it is something to kick back and chew on.
What if part of the success of some of these people is because they came from outside the industry? And what if we buy into it because we like it more than what is offered, does that make us outsiders to the same music scene?
