Adele vs. Gaga branding!

In the commercialised business of music, brand association and collaboration is every were. Brands and pop stars are working together with absolutely incredible sums of money passing from brand names to artists for a piece of their fans attention. The current ruler bar none in this arena is Lady Gaga with brands paying rediculous amounts to get her to endorse their brand to her little monsters. Currently Lady Gaga has over 10 million twitter followers and over 35 million facebookers, that’s a lot of people!

Artists are doing deals on perfume, cars, technology, sportswear, drinks, toys, the list is endless. Pop stars earnings through endorsement deals can far surpass their earnings from music sales, they would be silly not to take advantage of this right?

Well not Adele she refuses to “sell out” as she calls it. Adele is currently riding high in the UK an US charts with her new album “21″. Adele states in her recent interview in Q magazine, she will not associate herself with a brand and will not allow her music to be used in commercials, as she puts it, “she doesn’t want to be tainted.” is Adele right and everyone else a bunch of cheap money grabbers with no music morals?

I guess it’s easy to stand on principles like these when you have just paid a tax bill of £4million as it has just been widely reported, but does she have a point? The product placement in TV shows and music videos have become so blatant, artists who really do not use products they promote are just taking the money and influencing their fans consumer choices without conscience.

Every artist must have their own principles and if you stand by them as long as they do not hurt anyone I commend you, but in this climate it is so difficult for artists to make a living , if certain opportunities are presented to you that do not clash with your principles and do not cause your fans harm, could I judge you as a “sell out”, I’m not so sure.

If you want to get technical Adele is attached to a brand, be it a music brand, she has had the fortune of having a company invest a lot of money in the promotion and recording of her album. With the way the scaremongers are predicting artists may only have brands in future to rely on, with the demise of recording companies. I actually commend Adele it’s nice to have an artist live or die by their music, she is talented and produces credible songs, but how do I feel about Gaga?

Years ago a certain artist named Moby was being castigated for having pretty much all of his songs on adverts and making reams of money, I have no particular ill feeling against any artist taking advantage of opportunities, but when I am watching a music video and logos are flashing in front of me left right and center, making me feel like I am being “sold” I have a problem. I think Gaga has reached that cliff edge and is about to fall off. Because she is so over the top in her appearance and her concepts are so strong, I believe people are distracted from the amount of product placement in her videos. I hope she doesn’t turn into a musical shop front, but who am I to tell her what to do.

I would say it’s about your core principles and belief, what do you represent, if you respect your fans then I believe conscience will kick in, but beware when consumers get too much of something they generally after a period of time get tired and reject.

Source: http://trevorfisher.com/gaga-vs-adele-the-branding-argument