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Lady Gaga – Sony Music Entertainment | Universal Music GroupThe music industry can be split into?mainstream?and independent?artists with the so called ‘Big Four’ (now the Big Three) controlling the market. In a similar way that the?oligopoly?of film distributors?control film distribution (Warners, 20th Century Fox, Paramount, Universal, Sony, Disney) mainstream music distribution is controlled by the Universal Music Group, Sony Music Entertainment and Warner Music Group with EMI sold off in pieces and acquired by Universal and Sony though horizontal integration?in November 2011. Distribution controls the market with heavy promotion?and?marketing?key to an artist’s commercial success. The Big Three, whose businesses also include film distribution are in turn owned by parent companies that provide significant, additional revenue –?Universal MG?are owned by French conglomerate?Vivendi?while?Warner Music Group?is part of?Time Warner?allowing for?cross media fertilisation, convergence and synergy.Sony?remains one of the largest media corporations in the world whose business interests include film distribution through?Columbia Tri-Star?and?MGM, music distribution, gaming through PlayStation and global sales of electronic devices and media.?Universal Music Group?was founded in 1934, owns 27% of the market share (Sony own 23%) and in 2010 audited $4.5bn of revenue. Despite the music industry’s claim that since 2006 as a result of piracy there has been a 20% fall in CD sales Universal remain globally successful. Artists signed to the Universal Music Group?brand?include?Lady Gaga, Kayne West, Lil Wayne, Black Eyed Peas, Justin Beiber and Eminen?– all mainstream recording artists offering music from?safe, established genres?including Pop, R n’ B and Rap. There has been much speculation in recent years whether the music industry has been ‘hurt’ or not by?illegal downloading?(one argument suggests illegal downloading makes consumers more aware of artists and more likely to buy into their products) but the fact remains?Universal?and?The Big Three?are able to?exploit emerging markets?using new?digital technology?maximising profit.Universal?are in constant legal battles with online organisations they believe have breached?copyright?e.g.Grooveshark?in 2011 (illegal downloading) and also frequently acquire smaller organisations throughhorizontal integration?and make ‘deals’ with other providers – Universal have recently secured a deal with Social Networking site?Imeem?where users can download music for free with a portion of the advertising revenue?generated by Imeem going to Universal.Universal MG, Sony ME and Abu Dhabi Entertainment?created the online?music video streaming site Vevo?in 2009 which went online in the UK in April 2011, designed to control the digital market and compete with free?file sharing sites like YouTube?(owned by Google).? Universal and Sony have the financial backing to?multi platform syndicate?Vevo making it available through Google TV, fee as an Application on the?iPhone?and?iPad?and also available on?Android?and?Boxee. Currently the Vevo library is 45,000 music videos but is only available (as of time of writing) in the US, the UK, Canada and the Republic of Ireland. Profit is made through advertising revenue and links take consumers to?merchandising available through Amazon for example. The content of Vevo is often censored to widen the appeal and offers ‘official’ music videos that are currently not available on?YouTube.Lady Gaga’s?Telephone?for example is only available on YouTube unofficially with the closest consumers can get to see the original video is with the text played backwards.Universal and the Big Three are interested in?control and ownership and illegal downloading and file sharing are a ‘thorn in their side’. Since 2005 consumers (who are now often producers of music) have been able to upload for free as long as they confirm their age which is a simple procedure (apart from in China).User generated content?continually challenges the dominance of The Big Three but only to a limited extent – YouTube itself is now a multi-billion dollar organisation started by 3 ex PayPal?employees and based in California. Many?‘internet stars’?have been created as a result of YouTube but often this fame is short lived (but financially lucrative) with longevity more associated with the backing of a large music Publisher and Distributor like Universal – Lady Gaga’s single?Bad Romance?was the most viewed YouTube video in 2010 but would not have sustained that success without the backing of Universal and Sony.Lady Gaga is a?critically and commercially successful?artist winning 5 Grammy Awards, 13 MTV Video Awards and selling 23 million albums and 64 million singles globally but she has been carefully marketed, promoted and pre packaged to audiences. ‘Gaga’ was a struggling, independent New York ex Art College performer who had her own individual style and approach. Intelligent and music literate the?initial genre?she worked within was avant-garde electric dance which, by its very description attracted a?niche target audience. In 2006 she was ‘discovered’ by an A and R Man working for the well known label?Def Jam Recordings?and signed to them but was dropped after 3 months as a result of her drug and alcohol dependency and wild child representation. Lady Gaga became heavily involved in New York’s underground scene and became interested in the burlesque writing and performing highly sexualised songs that contributed to her current?secondary persona. It is argued Lady Gaga’s ‘dangerous’ reputation is carefully crafted to exist just on top of the levels of acceptability with artists such as?Amy Winehouse?offering a similar?secondary persona, albeit more extreme and with tragic consequences.Gaga was discovered again by A n R Man ‘Herbert’ working for?Famous Music Publishing?who saw the potential of this unusual artist. Famous Music was acquired through?horizontal integration?by?Sony Music Entertainment?and Gaga was hired to write songs for established artists like Britney Spears?(herself a controversial figure),?New Kids on the Block?and Pussycat Dolls.She eventually secured her own recording deal with Sony and was heavily promoted during the?2008 Monster’s Ball Tour?– Sony (and Universal in the UK) saw the potential of Lady Gaga as a?brand?and paid millions of dollars to make audiences aware of this emerging talent.In terms of?genre?Gaga changed her style to Pop (an embedded mainstream genre) but?hybridised?her work with Glam Rock offering a?USP. She drew upon and makes?intertextual references?to?David Bowie?and?Queen?in her work which made her more of a successful, commercial proposition combined with her raunchy, sexualised representation constructed by Gaga and developed by Sony and Universal. Lady Gaga was seen as a latter day?Madonna allowing herself to be sexualised for the?male gaze?but also offering a stronger, controlling and more?pluralistic?representation which arguably frames her like?Angelina Jolie?in?Lara Croft?as a?post feminist icon.The Monster’s Ball?tour successfully ‘placed’ Lady Gaga as a mainstream recording talent who sold millions of records but also had a representation that could be?exploited in other media. Gaga was now a commodity –?viral hype?about her past is continually referenced and as a?constructed star?notions of ‘difference’ were associated with the artist. One of the key appeals of Lady Gaga is her ability to allow audiences to accept the empowering idea that they are different. Gaga is different so it is acceptable they are different. Universal and Sony worked to create this?secondary persona?placing Lady Gaga as an alternative but aspirational role model?for female audiences but as a sexualised representation for male audiences. Gaga has herself an ability to self publicise and has over the years associated herself with humanitarian causes (popular for performers) and been associated with publicity stunts like wearing a raw meat dress at an awards ceremony – a strong ideological fashion statement and also constructing a myth of androgyny by a carefully manipulated photograph suggesting she may have a ‘penis’. An unauthorised Ice Cream vendor in Covent Garden in 2011 even started selling Breast Milk flavour ice cream under the brand name Gaga Breast Milk (baby connotations). Lady Gaga criticised the stunt but soon realised that although technically the vendor was not exploiting her brand specifically the extra publicity did her no harm. With a safe, mainstream genre and sophisticated understanding of the music industry and film culture (see textual analysis of?Telephone?later) Lady Gaga has become one of the most?globally successful?recording artists.Key Lady Gaga tunes have included?Just Dance?making?intertextual references?to?David Bowie’s?Let’s Dance, Poker Face,?Bad Romance?making intertextual references to the road movie?True Romance?and?Telephone.?Cross media marketing?and?convergence has seen her given her own TV show – A Gaga Thanksgiving and in terms of?synergy?her music has been used in films including?Beastly,?Gulliver’s Travels?and?The Karate Kid.Lady Gaga Telephone Music Video 2010 (Broadcasting)Telephone?was written and performed by Lady Gaga and first released in February 2010 as a?digital download?and CD single. In terms of?synergy?it saw Gaga hook up with?Beyonce, again a globally well known artist but whose songs followed the?conventions?of the R n’ B genre. In terms of?narrative?the song explores Lady Gaga preferring the dance floor instead of answering her lover’s phone call but the song itself was originally written for Britney Spears before Lady Gaga became well known. The song sold well digitally supported by a high production value music video?with claims of 7.4 million copies worldwide in 2010 through?saturated global distribution?by Sony (3 million copies were sold in the US during 2011). Audiences were maximised with the?hybridisation?of genre by the two artists combining Dance Pop with, to a lesser extent R n’ B through Beyonce’s representation.The video became an event movie and was filmed in late January 2010; through careful marketing?and?viral hype(stills of the video were posted online including on Lady Gaga’s official website) the massively?high production value?9 minute video was released on?Vevo?to critical acclaim and commercial success in March 2010.The narrative uses the lyrics of the song only as the essence – Lady Gaga is bailed out of prison by Beyonce after which they go to a diner where they kill the male customers having breakfast, escaping and ending up in a Police chase.The video in terms of?genre?is a Road Movie with a?revenge narrative?making direct intertextual references?to?Ridley Scott’s?1991 film,?Thelma and Louise?starring?Gena Davies?and?Susan Sarandon. As in the music video both protagonists are pursued and clasp hands during the end sequence taking the narrative further than Gaga and Beyonce by deciding to drive their car of the edge of the Grand Canyon. Telephone is arguably a more empowering storyline than Thelma and Louise (Davis and Sarandon decide to end their lives instead of being caught) but the film is still discussed in terms of?pluralistic, feminist representations. Using?post feminist readings?again Lady Gaga and Beyonce are more sexualised (much more sexualised) but in control.Further?intertextual references?are made to?Quentin Tarantino’s?1994 film,?Pulp Fiction through titles and font and the name ‘Honey Bee’ (Honey Bunny) and?Kill Bill: Vol 1?(2003) by reference to the vehicle they escape in, ‘The Pussy Wagon’ driven by Uma Thurman inKill Bill?(also a female on male?revenge narrative). It was also suggested (which is borne out from studying stills) that Gaga has a more than passing resemblance to Amy Winehouse in the video. All of the filmic and musical references suggest that Gaga and her production team understood that making literary homage to existing?iconic texts?was one way to develop a?secondary target audience?with significant?cultural capital.Star marketing?clearly appealed to the?primary target audience?as fundamentally did the overtly sexualised representations and careful framing?intended to appeal to a male and female audience aspiring?to the representations.Homage is also made to dominant US culture through the wearing of stars and stripes bikinis in the dance routine. Lady Gaga’s?sexualised persona?is exploited to the max in the video with Beyonce appearing as more clean cut but being drawn into guilty pleasures by Gaga who she says has been a ‘bad girl’. Beyonce’s clean cut image again is more akin to her own?secondary persona.Sony invested heavily in the music video?Telephone?ensuring it was?distributed?across as many?global platforms?as possible.?Production values?include an extensive ensemble cast including paid dancers and Rock Band?Semi Precious Weapons. Costume design was significant and the video used existing locations and built sets, multiple camera technology and CGI special effects. Lighting was high key and the?mise-en-scene?evidenced saturated primary colours. The ‘film’ was further evidence that the music video is not ‘dead’ but conversely still a vital and essential tool to the?promotion?of any artist with?convergence?a key factor with distribution across a number of media platforms. In addition to paid promotions viral hype is also created online through a direct?mode of address?‘speaking’ to fans through star and fan websites but also in a more?interactive?way through social networking links. In a world where many artists are moving away from this high production value, filmic format in favour of ‘lo-fi’ internet clips,?Telephone?worked for Gaga and Sony.Lady Gaga Official Website (E Media)As with Music Videos,?Music Industry Star Sites?are an essential tool for music recording artists, and paid for by the record company – in Lady Gaga’s case Sony and Universal. Gaga is pictured in a standard?hero shot?within the?leaderboard?(masthead) in?stereotypical pose. Like all the photographs that the website will link to all will have been authorised by the record company in terms of?publicity. The colour palette is not too feminine and conventions of graphic design and layourt are nearly sophisticated. Standard?conventions?are used as a marketing tool?including?merchandising links?to an online shop, events and a chat page which also advertises Lady Gaga’s Facebook and Twitter page (again all paid for and authorised by the record company). It is only?Music Industry Fan Sites?that contain material that is not always acknowledged and authorised by the likes of Sony and Universal. A button will allow easy?navigation?to the music video of Lady Gaga’s latest single, her biography, ticket sales and downloads through iTunes. In again an intelligent?marketing?ploy, foregrounded on the home page are messages from fans to Gaga creating the?myth?of personal communication which is?anchored?by her social networking sites.?Synergy?and convergent links?are crucial to Music Industry Star Sites.Lady Gaga Q Magazine Front Cover (April 2010)Working in conjunction with Sony and Universal this carefully?constructed photo shoot?draws on the?hype?that Lady Gaga may indeed ‘have a penis’ after all.Gaga is seen topless with a rubber bulge snaking down her leg – some US stores refused to stock this edition further adding to the?hype?and generating sales for an artist already?globally successful described on?Q?magazine by the?cover line, “Move over Madonna, Lady Gaga has risen”.This?anchored?her status as the ‘new Madonna’ in terms of her?secondary persona?and in her increasing record sales – reflecting this role she isf ramed centrally in medium shot?encoding her importance; the whole page is hers and Gaga is the?USP?of this edition of the magazine.Seen clearly from the other cover lines (Slash, Jimi Hendrix and Gorillaz)?Q?is a British music magazine who are normally associated with the rock?genre?marketing to an older demographic?than would read other magazines like?Kerrang?or?NME. However, mainstream success?is mainstream success and the predominantly male readers would be drawn to this type of cover simply in terms of the?male gaze?which in turn would create extra publicity for Gaga while maintaining a communication with her literate?secondary target audience?who in terms of?cultural capital?would understand for example the?intertextual references?in?Telephone. Use of pun by way of a sexual reference is evident from the word ‘risen’ again recognising the demographic.?Synergy?is clearly an issue with this?Q?cover with one mainstream text selling the other?– Q is owned by one of the largest magazine publishing organisations,??Bauer?while Gaga is the ‘property’ of Sony. This is a mutually beneficial relationship where, as with her music videos and website she is constantly promoted?and in the public eye while?Q?remains ‘The UK’s biggest music magazine’ (circulation) by associating themselves with such a successful artist. ................
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