Madonna's New Album Turning into an Interesting Case Study
Tuesday, April 24, 2012 at 9:00AM
I'm not a Madonna fan, but I do admire how she's managed her career to this point. Few artists can manage this kind of longevity.
But circumstances surrounding the release of her MDNA album are far from the norm for her. Even with the massive lead-up to its release (including the Super Bowl performance and a sweetheart deal to play "Give Me All Your Luvin' with an American radio chain), things aren't working out the way they have in the past.
Yes, the album debuted at #1, but that's because in a process known as "bundling," fans who bought tickets to her upcoming world tour also received a coupon for the album. Sales of the new album have since experience at catastrophic collapse.
Then there were rumours that ticket sales for this tour weren't doing as well as expected. That prompted the normally press-shy Arthur Foegel, the chainman of Live Nation Global Touring, to state that “This tour is completely on track to end up in the top 10 tours of all time, especially considering we haven’t put South America or Australia on sale."
Now we hear that 180,000 people of the 600,000 who bought tickets to the tour have yet to redeem their coupon for a copy of MDNA. Why? Perhaps because everyone just wants to see her do "Like a Virgin" one more time.
All this begs to be analyzed in great depth. When does a long-time heritage artist reach that tipping point where fans no longer care about their new material? How old is too old to play the pop star game? (Madonna is 53). When did the old methods of the MTV era stop working? What's the state of mainstream music and mainstream music fans in 2012?
Expect Madonna be much more visible and accessible to the media in the weeks ahead. Meanwhile, watch for the sniping about Madonna's irrelevance to continue.
Reader Comments (11)
ALAN PROBABLY WANTS A JOB AT FORBES MAGAZINE!! LOLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLL!! QUEEN BITCH IS QUEEN BITCH FOR A REASON!! TALK TO ME ABOUT GAGA AND NICKI AND KATY IN TWO YEARS!!!! :-)
Wasn't the Super Bowl gig your biggest clue about her irrelevance?
Alan, do you think this is a post-MTV phenomenon? Or does it go back further? Has anyone actually cared what the Stones released since "Some Girls" in 1978? Would anybody care what the Beatles would've done in their 50s had they been together/alive (does anyone even notice when McCartney releases an album these days)? Even Sinatra, wasn't almost everything he's known for recorded by his early 50s?
Honestly, Madonna's situation I believe, is the first in a long line of issues that artists will be finding as they evolve themselves in the old consciousness of the music industry - adapt. Much like the coachella introduction of the holograms, it's just another resolution the industry believes will continue the current music economy as is - keep the old, screw the new. Why allow room for new artists when the industry can magically produce the dead ones? This allows for a mass interaction that ignores those who wish to change how the industry works, or even the music itself into something more 21st century. Madonna's blunder in this case proves the fact that the consumers - rather, fans - aren't buying into it. Music enthusiasts have been waiting and praying for a new system, and sound that defines the 21st century. However, we've been let down time and time again. But our actions are making an impact on sales, artists, and the industry. Where did the 180,00 go? Maybe they just downloaded the album off Demonoid, or continue listening to the playlists via grooveshark. Why pay for an album, that they know will be reconstituted mainstream bland from outside artists that no one will ever know?
Bob Lefsetz said something interesting in a recent post from Coachella : he intuited that the youngsters were far less interested in the PERFORMANCE, and more interested in PARTICIPATING. This came from observing four full tents of people dancing together, versus the one tent where people were watching a band.
think about it: dance music evolved out of clubs and raves and touring DJs can now make more money than any but a few established - and aging - rock dinosaurs. And they're doing it while charging FAR less than those dinosaurs. And when you go to a dance event, the sightlines are as good as you want them to be, not just what was available from the scalpers.
So I would argue that U2 has come to this point as well. Granted; Atomic Bomb was really good still, but I would be shocked if anything else comes out that really "matters" or that people get excited about.
Bud I have to agree with you. When the fans want to be treated less like consumers and more like an integral part, we see a devolution of the mass market to that of a market back when Woodstock was about the "feeling" and not just about selling tickets. The reason why musicians such as the Grateful Dead were hailed as great marketers, were because they included the people who listened to them as part of their world. In the common mainstream marketplace, business would love to think that fans are just the consumers. They buy, and buy, and buy. Lady Gaga attempted to create something more with her "Monsters" and her videos, but it sadly ceased because she turned them into consumers. Music listeners want something, not necessary revolutionary, but interacting. The glitz and glamour are fine, but what is the emotional content, why not allow the ability to interact with that? With Madonna and other artists they churn out music that is given to them without caring much more about what the bottom line is. Whereas the people who listen to the songs put out, sometimes see it as a religion. That's why she was so powerful in the beginning. However that same idealistic view gets tossed out for larger artists.
I think the problem is that they are no longer "hungry" and when they were trend setters at one point, something happened and they were left behind. Madonna has always been ahead of the game but maybe she is getting bad advice. And her age is constantly being harped on which is discrimination in the worst form as we all get old at some point. If we didn't know how old she was then it wouldn't be a focus all the time. The main thing is her music still enjoyable?
It's great that she is working with different producers to stay relevant but the latest collaboration seems to be an attempt to compete with the poseurs that ripped her off. She should have either reinvented her early songs or worked with some "hungry" producers instead of established jaded ones.
I saw Timbaland doing his bit on stage for 4 Minutes and he was so dialling it in and looked like he wanted to go take a crap.
Not a Madonna hater here at all but quite honestly the album is really awful. She is chasing a youth audience that she will never attract and distancing her core.
Feels like the end of the reign, a reign that will be a case study in long term "pop culture" relevance but everything ends.
My 2cents? Madonna (& the record companies) has absolutely NO idea where to position herself in the market anymore. Lots of the stuff she was doing to shock & titillate "back in the day" is old hat these days. In truth, she's become a victim of her own celebrity. I'm like Alan - not a fan of her music, but an admirer of the way she's marketed herself over the years. But from what I've heard of the new album - boring Sidney, very boring. It looks & sounds like she's just going through the motions, ie "well it USED to work when I did this!". Too bad. I only hope she knows when to stop so as to not become, well, pathetic.
"I only hope she knows when to stop so as to not become, well, pathetic."
Too late.