LADY GAGAMEDIA CASE STUDY

LADY GAGA – BACKGROUND & CONTEXT

In 2008, Lady Gaga made a striking entry into the pop music scene. With her album, The Fame, she became the first artist to produce five number one hits on Billboard’s Pop Songs chart from a debut album.

Lady Gaga also grabbed the pop spotlight with her outrageous persona, built from an eclectic collection of characteristics, including unpredictable theatricality, avant-garde fashion, gender-bending performance, and GLBTQ activism.

The Italian-American star, born Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, maintains her public image with a team of stylists, designers, producers, and choreographers she calls the “Haus of Gaga.” Referencing her larger-than-life persona, Gaga claims, “my whole life is a performance. . . . I have to up the ante every day” (qtd in Stein and Michelson 109).

Lady Gaga’s subsequent musical releases, The Fame Monster and Born This Way, which followed in November 2009 and May 2011 respectively, definitely upped the ante. For example, the title song from Born This Way, released in February 2011, quickly topped the charts in 23 countries and set an iTunes record for selling one million copies in five days.

To date, Lady Gaga has sold 16.5 million albums and 29.5 million digital singles, which helped to put her in the number one position of Forbes’ 2011 Celebrity 100 index, which measures both fame and wealth .

As illustrated by her record-breaking following on Facebook (57 million fans as of May 2013), Twitter (37 million followers as of May 2013), and YouTube (1.2 billion views), she has a massive and loyal fan base.

Lady Gaga– Artist, Image & Music

Feature Connotation

Look/image

Gender

Nationality

Musical Instruments

Ideologies -Beliefs

perpetuated by the artists

Make notes on Lady Gag’s first few hits, analysing them using the following features as

anchors.

Key Information Technical

Conventions

Audience Representation

Purpose:Entertainment?

Persuasion?

Profit?

Form:Performance?

Narrative?

Conceptual?

Genre:Rock? Indie? Pop?

Tone:Happy? Serious? Sad?

Erotic? Mysterious?

Camera Shots:

Lighting:

Costume/Make Up:

Colour:

Setting:

Props:

Who is the target

audience?

How are they

being targeted?

What is the artiste

doing?

What are they

wearing?

How are the men &

women represented

in the video?

How does this target

their audience?

Think about age,

race, gender.

FACTORS TO CONSIDER IN MUSIC VIDEOS

LADY GAGA – Tracks to analyse

Just Dance (2008)

Poker Face (2008)

Love Game (2009)

Paparazzi (2009)

Bad Romance (2009)

Telephone (2010)

Alejandro (2010)

Born This Way (2011)

Judas (2011)

Applause (2013)

Lady Gaga's Videos

Hidden symbolism in Lady Gaga

videos

LADY GAGA – what is the Audience Appeal?

1. The Music – the “sound” : Genre

2. The Music - lyrical content : Narrative

3. The Image: Representation

4. Fans – Audiences: niche vs. mainstream

5. Fans – pleasure: Uses & Gratification: Escapism + Fan community

6. Music Videos – connection / authenticity

7. Music Videos – Star persona / Escapism

8. Internet – Exposure / Raising Awareness

STARTER QUESTIONS – CONSIDER…

1. To what extent does Lady Gaga challenge or reinforce genre conventions?

2. Explore the key gender representations of Lady Gaga.

3. How do audiences respond to Lady Gaga? Remember – media texts are generally polysemic.

4. To what extend does Lady Gaga target mainstream audiences?

5. Is Lady Gaga all style over substance?

6. How important are record labels to the marketing of an artist?

LADY GAGA -

INDUSTRY

Which label is Lady Gaga signed to?

How does that benefit her?

LADY GAGA –

GLOBAL

What rival to YouTube does Lady

Gaga’s label use?

What is significant about this?

LADY GAGA -

BACKGROUND

The article states Lady Gaga’s

original image and music genre

were niche.

What were they and how were they

managed to ensure success?

LADY GAGA -

MARKETING

What turned Lady Gaga from a

“troubled niche artist” into a global

star?

What is meant by “post-feminist

icon” in relation to Lady Gaga?

LADY GAGA -

MARKETING

How successful was “Telephone”?

Account for the song’s success.

LADY GAGA -

MARKETING

How important as a marketing

device was “intertextual

referencing” in the video?

LADY GAGA –

DIGITAL TECH.

What role does the industry’s

official Lady Gaga website play

in helping promote Lady Gaga?

Why is digital technology

important here?

LADY GAGA –

CROSS MEDIA

What is significant about this

“controversial” Q magazine cover?

What part does synergy play in this?

LADY GAGA & SOCIAL MEDIA

BACKPLANE

Backplane got its start by creating private social networks for music artists and major social

influencers. It all began when Lady Gaga received 1.3 trillion social impressions following the

release of her Born This Way album. The social wave that was created brought tens of millions of

people on to social networking sites. Inspired by Gaga, they were looking for a place to share

their passions for music, dance, fashion, and art - a place where they felt free to be themselves. It

quickly became obvious that what was forming was more than a page on a social network. It

was a social network. And while her massive following gained her millions of ‘likes’, it was the

social sites themselves with ad revenues and data insights that stood to reap all of value.

Her fan-site LittleMonsters.com currently has 4.9m users.

LADY GAGA – IMAGE ANALYSIS #1

How do the following images represent Lady Gaga?

What connotations do the images have?

What is the focus?

How is colour important?

Is the choice of font relevant?

Who would these images appeal to?

How do think the images will impact on the marketing of Lady Gaga as an

artist?

LADY GAGA – ALBUM COVERS

LADY GAGA – ALBUM COVER

LADY GAGA – ALBUM COVER

LADY GAGA – IMAGE ANALYSIS #2

How do the following images represent Lady Gaga?

What connotations do the images have?

What is the focus?

How is colour important?

Is the choice of font relevant?

Who would these images appeal to?

How do think the images will impact on the marketing of Lady Gaga as an

artist?

LADY GAGA – Magazine Covers

LADY GAGA – Magazine Covers

LADY GAGA – Magazine Covers

LADY GAGA’S FANS – LITTLE MONSTERS

LADY GAGA’S FANS – LITTLE MONSTERS

Read the below statement from Lady Gaga to her ‘little monsters’ about her

interactive littlemosnters.com fan zone.

Welcome home, little monsters. This is for us. LittleMonsters.com is a place for all

monsters to gather, to create, to share, and to inspire. Remember, it's up to us to

keep LittleMonsters.com a safe and accepting space for everyone, so please...

Be brave. Dare to create and share your art with the world. Be kind. Encourage

and support your fellow monsters. We don't want to put anyone down, be it other

Little Monsters or other artists.

Be tolerant. Never make anyone feel unwelcome or judged; treat everyone with

respect, love and acceptance.

Be original. Please only upload content you've created or have permission to

post.

Be a contributor. Post good content and good discussion will follow. Don't ask for

likes. Up-vote great comments, and down-vote those that take away from to the

discussion (there is no room for negativity within LittleMonsters.com).

Be safe. Protect your privacy, and respect the privacy of others.

Be respectful. Keep things appropriate for everyone, including all of the young

little monsters out there. Please no nudity or explicit content. If you repeatedly

post content that offends the community, we may have to limit your access.

Most importantly... be yourself.

HOMEWORK – READ THE LADY GAGA

ARTICLE - “SPECTACLE OF EXCESS”

LADY GAGA – RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Industry

1. Who are the ‘Big Three’ music distributors?

2. What other media do the ‘Big Three’ produce?

3. What percentage of the music market do Universal Music group own?

4. Who else are signed to Universal? What does this suggest about the label?

5. What platform did Universal create to compete with YouTube?

6. What is the appeal of vevo?

7. What influence did Universal and Sony have on Lady Gaga’s success?

8. Do you attribute her continuing success to the record label or other factors?

LADY GAGA – RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Representation

1. How is Lady Gaga represented?

2. How does her stance on LGBT issues contribute to her representation? Look into her

activism involving ‘don’t ask don’t tell’ in the USA.

3. What kind of role model is she?

4. How might a post-feminist read Lady Gaga?

5. How might a Marxist read Lady Gaga? Consider her position both as a brand and a

product. Think about how she relates to Capitalism and Neo-liberalism.

LADY GAGA – RESEARCH QUESTIONS

Audience

1. How do Lady Gaga’s ‘little monsters’ define themselves? How are they

unique as a fan base?

2. How are the audience positioned to read Lady Gaga?

3. What is user generated content?

4. Find an example of a popular video (user generated content) which relates

to Lady Gaga.

5. How important is social networking in relation to Lady Gaga and her fans?

LADY GAGA – ALBUM SALES

Lady Gaga - Albums

The Fame (2008) worldwide sales 15 million

Born This Way (2011) worldwide sales 6 million

Artpop (2013) worldwide sales 2.6 million

Cheek to Cheek (2014) worldwide sales 0.7 million (Jazz covers with Tony

Bennett)

REVISING LADY GAGA