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 JANUARY 29, 2010 / WSJ

With digital dominance, business savvy, a niche-busting sound and 1,001 wardrobe changes, she is a new model for success

Pay attention to that woman opening the Grammys.

At Sunday’s awards show, Lady Gaga is expected to play a duet on a single piano with Elton John. She is nominated for five awards, including record of the year, but that’s less important than her broader impact on music culture in the space of a year, which has been seismic.

Her debut album has generated four No. 1 songs. 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. In concert, on video and at past awards shows she has sported full facial masks, worn planetary rings around her head, and framed her face in what looked like a bird’s nest.

“She’s very vaudevillian,” says an admiring Alice Cooper, the rocker whose history of stage theatrics includes simulated decapitations. But he says Gaga’s antics only work because “she can really sing.”

WSJ’s John Jurgensen joins the News Hub and tells Simon Constable why the music industry loves Lady Gaga. He discusses how the singer is a case study in how the business has changed.

Gaga may turn out to be yet another fleeting pop novelty, but many other industry veterans see her as the real deal, and her ambitions and skill at navigating the turbulent industry may make her a durable star. Born Stefani Germanotta, she graduated from Manhattan’s Convent of the Sacred Heart school, then left a music program at New York University to chase a music career. She was signed and dropped from one label, Def Jam, before uniting with a core team of advisers. She then stormed the media in a year when Michael Jackson’s death reminded us how few new music stars transcend narrow genres anymore.

Underneath Gaga’s haystack wigs is a case study of what it takes to succeed in the music business today. Gaga, 23 years old, has 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.

Gaga’s actual odds in the Grammy race are uncertain. For instance, the best-album award typically goes to nominees with a long record of achievement, including recent winners Robert Plant, Alison Krauss and Herbie Hancock. This year, the senior slot is represented by Dave Matthews. Another strong contender: Beyoncé Knowles, who at just 28 is a veteran who leads the pack with 10 nominations. The Black Eyed Peas are reliable hitmakers with a bevy of corporate sponsors including BlackBerry. Newcomer Taylor Swift, the 20-year-old country singer, also has a strong shot at awards.

This year, expect the cameras to hover around Gaga, who will be challenged to top the six different costumes she donned at the MTV Video Music Awards. Divining fashion trends from her outfits would be fruitless. Instead, here are three things Gaga can tell us about how the music industry works now.

She’s a digital phenomenon

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.

“That tells you how pronounced the generational divide is,” says BigChampagne founder Eric Garland. When it comes to the free streams that dwarf her still-impressive sales, Gaga isn’t giving it away for nothing—musicians typically earn fractions of a penny each time a song is streamed on Yahoo, for instance. While most artists stand to profit more from high-margin CD sales, being embedded across the Web can pay dividends in exposure and the loyalty of fans.

She’s got a 360-degree view

The business needs more Gagas. The upheaval of the last decade has forced the major record companies to cut their work force by 60%, according to a recent report by the Recording Industry Association of America. Within the last week, dozens of Universal Music Group employees were laid off. (Gaga’s own publicist took a buyout; his job won’t be filled.) Labels have had to change their relationship with artists and lean on new partners, including the talent managers they often squabbled with in the past.

Without the budget and staff to support their once overloaded artist stables, labels have slashed their rosters and doubled down on acts expected to drive hits. They’re also going after the money artists generate outside the labels’ traditional business of selling music. This has given rise to, in industry parlance, the 360 deal, in which a label invests more money up front (for marketing, for example) in exchange for a piece of merchandise sales, touring revenue and other earnings that artists had long kept for themselves.

The 360 model hasn’t launched big stars yet—with a few exceptions, including Gaga. From concerts, including four sold-out nights at Radio City Music Hall this month, a percentage of her take goes to her label, Universal’s Interscope Records. The label also gets a cut of her revenue from Polaroid, Estée Lauder’s MAC and other corporate partners. Does Gaga validate the 360 model for other artists? While she pockets relatively less money on tour, Interscope puts more muscle behind her than it would have in the old days. “Would she be in the position to play in front of 20,000 people a night if the record company had not put up the marketing dollars?” says Gaga’s manager Troy Carter.

She could be the next Madonna

On the song “Bad Romance,” Gaga chants “I want your ugly, I want your disease.” She lovingly refers to her fans as “monsters.” On stage, she bleeds from simulated stab wounds. Despite these dark theatrics, she’s become a darling of mainstream radio by drawing from Madonna’s playbook, with thumping dance beats, a shape-shifting image and a playful obsession with celebrity.

While Ms. Swift represents the pretty (but friendly!) girl next door, Gaga’s allure is that of a misfit run amok in the system, a role that has helped her cut across disparate subcultures, including teens, finicky hipsters and gays, to whom she sends frequent shout-outs. While Gaga’s bared skin and professed androgyny have raised the eyebrows of interviewers like Oprah Winfrey and Barbara Walters, she isn’t shocking, per se.

“That’s a tool that’s no longer available to pop artists,” says Danny Goldberg, the longtime manager and former label head. Since rap music, he adds, “those taboos have been removed and that, to me, makes her that much more impressive. She doesn’t have that easy ticket to notoriety.”

She’s also determined not to be niche. Last year, the Recording Academy’s nominating committees received a record 17,000 Grammy submissions. Many of those hopefuls hailed from what could be called music’s growing middle class—made up of acts that carve out niche audiences within subgenres such as indie rock. Only a few artists, including Ms. Swift, have defied that trend as newly minted superstars. While some acts try to get there with experimental strategies, such as giving music away free, Gaga used an old technique: cementing her image in music videos such as “Paparazzi,” in which she hobbles on crutches.

RedOne, Gaga’s primary producer, hails from Morocco and has an outsider’s take on American music. “The songs have to be lyrically simple and easy to sing along to, even for people in the world who don’t speak English,” he says. Studio pros like Grammy-winning mixing engineer Manny Marroquin are being hired to replicate her chopping synths and densely-layered sound. “Everybody’s saying, ‘Make it like Gaga,’ ” he says.

Such a now-trendy sound won’t last forever. Gaga’s longevity will hinge on evolving before its expiration date. Alice Cooper suggests softening things up: “I’d love to hear her sing a Karen Carpenter song.” In fact, before she was Lady Gaga, Ms. Germanotta was a piano-playing singer-songwriter who haunted open mics in New York. Rather than attempt to outdo her own outlandish antics, Gaga may dial back toward that former persona. Next month, for instance, she’ll begin pushing the single “Speechless,” a stormy piano ballad in the mode of Sir Elton.

Says Tom Corson, executive vice president and general manager of RCA Music Group, a rival to Gaga’s label: “It’s not just about great songs. In the best-case scenario, it’s a full multimedia package.”

Aside from my Yahoo Mail, the KIA Charts and this blog, I visit the following pages almost everyday. They really keep my day occupied during my blank periods at work and at home. They are very potent in easing my daily stress with their eye-candy factor somewhat hehe.

www.albumartexchange.com
This awesome site is eating most of my free time at work.  It boasts a huge collection of old and new album covers. I usually download a lot of these "digitally cleaned" album covers for my mobile phone music art (just like iTunes). I prefer this site over iTunes because I mostly download my mp3s from Amazon.com and need album covers for my players. The pictures are meticulously scanned by uploaders, fully or partially "cleaned" by removing digital blemishes and available in different sizes. Other members can continue enhancing or cleaning the unfinished arts too. It's a collaborative community project of album art lovers. Old vinyl covers often comes out like brand new albums. How can you resist putting that crisp Beatles or Nat King Cole old covers for your mp3 downloaded collection. And while browsing the archives, I would remember songs I bought in the cassette tapes era, thus prompting me to download the mp3 reincarnates (via Amazon) of my long forgotten songs. 


The Japan Times
When I crave for online news, I go directly to a couple of news sites I considered my favorites. Nope not CNN or Yahoo News. I click through the pages of  the Japan Times and BBC News. The Japan Times is my digital morning paper. I drink coffee reading through its pages. It kickstarts my morning anxiety to what's happening around my neighborhood. This is a very essential portal for me.


BBC News Online
When it comes to news outside Japan, I visit BBC News. This site is clean and straight to the point unlike CNN Online which I believe is overhyped, too commercial and tabloidy. When the CNN cable channel started in the early 80s, it's really good and very professional. But its online counterpart is  overladen with ads, very Americanized flavor, a jungle for sensationalism and prone to psychological warfare in terms of media mileage for some kind covert propaganda. The side-effects of globalization vis-à-vis the Americanization of the world hehe.



http://www.umdmusic.com/
Speaking of Americanization, I love American music hahaha. My mom's American and I love her. Although I grew up mostly with my father in UK, my music in the 80s include Madonna, Michael Jackson and Whitney Houston along with the Culture Club, Tears for Fears, Duran Duran and hehe Wham! My favorite music chart database is umdmusic.com. Back then, I would write down the weekly Top 40 songs in the radio countdown of Casey Kasem. But in this digital era, I am very lucky (along with this ultra-lucky young generation) to have modern access to these historical music chart records archive.




www.billboard.com
For the freshest songs, I would browse the latest charts at Billboard Online. From here, I could try to listen which songs I would like to download. 



Amazon MP3
After browsing UMD or Billboard for old and new music lists, it's time to buy music! Yay! This is the fun part because I can listen again to old songs during my childhood music or new songs for me, my hubby and my baby daughter. The ouch part is the paying part hahahaha. **loenla checks the remaining coins in her pocket



www.pcworld.com
PC Gadgets? Music players? Troubleshooting? This is my top bookmark for online helps, web tutorials and budget tips for buying electronics. This is the site where I learn how to upgrade PC parts and *gulp* install my very first SATA hard disk hehe. I know how to install PATA harddisks (after frying one in 1998 by wrong power cable hehe). Back then I was nosey and techno-nerd with our company computer technicians. I wanna know how to do this and that, how to install this and those. They were helpful and they were really patient in giving a crash course in upgrading pc parts like inserting memory sticks or AGP video cards. But lately I am kinda rusty and bummed. I dunno how to install pci-express cards and i would never even attempt to install my own processor. Leave them to the pros, I say. hehe. But I've been watching the do-it-yourself videos, and various computer tips all over. Fascinating stuffs. A++ 



Nikkei.com
My work homepage at home. Aside from my daily day office job, I also "work" at home via my PC by monitoring my stocks. Some are overseas which require me to stay up late, very late. I standby for my broker's call regarding the market status and I give instructions how to manage the portfolio. One interesting experience in stock market culture is the rumor-mongering. Sometimes I stay put because there are malicious entities in the stock world that wreak fear among investors just to shake things up. You have to know your people and trust comes into play oftentimes. It's your money, your investment, your life. Just don't put all your eggs in one basket just in case.




Reflexive.com
When there's worktime there should be playtime. This is where I download my games. If you see me idling in my favorite trivia channel. I am either working or surfing this site. Tons of games to your liking. They are not free but it usually let you try the game for sixty minutes of playtime. But if you do like the game, buy buy buy! Compared to the free online version at Yahoo! Games (which resets from the beginning every time you logout from the site) the paid Reflexive games are really worth a small entertainment investment.
Some games I've purchased:
Zuma! Revenge
Bookworm Deluxe
FlipWords2
Restaurant Empire (my favorite game so far)
Wik & The Fable of Souls
Chuzzle Deluxe (Colleen loves this game!)
Tales of Monkey island - Chapter 1 (I am currently playing this one)
Poker Superstars 3 (Koji loves this one)
Burger Shop 2 (my latest download -verry addicting!)



www.gamefaqs.com
I'm really a cheater when it comes to games. And this is the premium website where to get your tips, tricks and codes to beat that hard games. This site caters mostly to console, hand-held and PC/Mac games, so tips/cheats from flash-based games from reflexive.com are rarely seen if not absent at all. Nevertheless, I can now beat Koji with my "new" moves from Tekken strategy pages or read a great walkthrough of those hard RPG games. The step-by-step guides effectively glide me past a difficult area in my games. I still play Gameboy Advance (believe it or not). From Pokemon to Zelda Minish Cap to Mario and Luigi's Adventure, I can relate to my little "nieces and nephews" whenever they ask me about how to beat Raichu, for example LOL.


www.deviantart.com
Lastly, my favorite artsy site. This is where I get my cliparts, desktop wallpapers, mobile themes and screensavers. It's a small community of digital artists displaying/promoting their work of arts. Thumbs up! Wait til you see the nudes LOL.