Wednesday, August 11, 2010

Ga Ga Numbers

With all the talk about DIY (do it yourself) for bands and artists, the only way that you can get really, really big numbers is with the infrastructure of a record label at your back. The LA Times printed the following numbers in an overview of Lady Ga Ga's impact on current music.
  • 3.64 million: The number of copies Lady Gaga's "The Fame" has sold in the U.S. since its release in August 2008, according to Nielsen SoundScan. (As of Aug. 1, 2010.)
  • 1.3 million: The number of copies "The Fame" has sold in 2010 alone, making the 2-year-old album this year's fourth-bestselling album thus far. All sales numbers are courtesy of Nielsen SoundScan. (As of Aug. 1, 2010.)
  • $24 million: Billboard's estimate of the gross for Lady Gaga’s 47 European and Pacific Rim tour dates.
  • $440: The most expensive ticket package when Lady Gaga returns to Staples Center on March 28, 2011.
  • $40: Cost of a Lady Gaga 2010 tour shirt.
  • 179: Total number of shows Gaga will have played when the tour wraps next year (it began in 2009).
  • 13: Number of Moonmen she could potentially walk away with at this year's Video Music Awards; she received the most nominations ever in a single year.
Now the only way any of this happens is with a major record label, at least at this point in time. And that's the one thing that they're very good at, capitalizing on a trend. The problem is, an artist like Ga Ga only comes around once a decade at most.

Will the major labels be capable of doing the same thing the next time around?

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