Her new album, ARTPOP, was conceived as an exploration of what happens when high-brow art meets low-brow pop and if there’s really any difference between the two. It’s a theme broached in her previous albums—and touched on by Kanye West in his oil-painting-turned-music-video for Power—but with ARTPOP, Gaga is trying to position herself as the second coming of Andy Warhol. Pop artist Jeff Koons designed the album’s cover, which features a naked sculpture of Gaga cupping her breasts while giving birth to a shiny blue ball. It’s art that could be easily mistaken for a slapdash Photoshop (ADBE) job.

Considering Gaga’s massive following of “Little Monsters,” as her fans call themselves, and the fact that her last album, 2011’s Born This Way, sold over 1.1 million copies during its first week (with a boost from a 99¢ promotion on Amazon (AMZN)), ARTPOP could’ve been the year’s biggest hit. Interscope Records (VIV:FP) spent about $25 million promoting the album, culminating in an over-the-top “artRave” event at Brooklyn’s Navy Yard on the night of ARTPOP‘s Nov. 11 release. CONTINUE READING

Buzz Track: Sold Out

Jake Sims is a young UK solo artist already captivating a global audience with over 150,000 views for his YouTube covers and 50,000 hits for his original material on Soundcloud. He was first discovered when he was awarded Best Male Vocalist by BBC Gloucestershire. After winning the prestigious ‘Best Male Vocalist’ in the C.Y.S Voice Of Wales, he was invited to headline at St. David’s Hall. Sims is gifted with an amazing voice.
Contact: sean@jamartistmanagement.com

Buzz Track: The Kid

Adam Jensen has become a Kings favorite after listening to his new self released single “The Kid”. Jensen has made a name for himself with a commitment to his songwriting craft and relentless gigging which includes dates all over the world and opening for artists such as Kid Rock, Train, and many more. Jensen is nominated for “2013 Songwriter of the Year” by the New England Music Awards, and previously received the LA Music Award for “Male Vocalist of the Year.” His debut EP, “Head on a String” reached as high as #7 on the iTunes singer/songwriter chart.
Contact: jon@buddyallenmgmt.com

On Saturday, it was revealed that Interscope, Lady Gaga’s label, has spent $25 million dollars to promote her flop album “ARTPOP,” which is set to sell around 250 thousand copies in its first week — that’s a 75 percent drop from the first week album sales of “Born This Way” only two years ago.

Some have compared the fate of “ARTPOP” to Michael Jackson’s “Invincible,” where $30 million was spent on the promotion for an album that didn’t even launch one solid hit single. But “ARTPOP” is really Lady Gaga’s “Glitter.”

So, how was the money spent? We talked to a music industry analyst (who wants to be referred to as ‘Jacob’ for this story), who has worked at both Warner Brothers and Arista over the past twenty years. He works closely with people from Interscope and told us that the past year has been a huge nightmare for Lady Gaga and Interscope.

“She originally was going to have the album ready by last Christmas. They made her re-record it. When her tour wasn’t selling, they invented a hip injury and told Gaga to go away for months so the public could be interested in her ‘comeback.’ After the lead single ‘Applause’ didn’t get such a great reception, they made her re-record the album again. I hear that they allegedly paid radio stations in order to put the song at the top of their playlists,” Jacob laughs. CONTINUE READING

Temara Melek who we featured just opened for Demi Lovato in Los Angeles at the Belasco Theatre. Temara recently came back to LA from a UK promo tour and at the age of 15 and with no major label backing, she is going global as MTV, VIVA, The Hits Radio and In Demand supported her new release “Karmas Not Pretty” in which she got Nationwide coverage throughout Great Britain. Check out the track Karma’s Not Pretty.
Contact: dani@straightfwdmusic.co.uk