Gaga惊人的数字唱片销量──几乎全部来自于iTunes下载──只说明了事实的一部分。实际上,Gaga的大部分听众都免费、而且合法地获得了她的音乐。调查公司BigChampagne表示,人们收听的是YouTube和其他网络服务商提供的免费流──数量以上亿计。Gaga在MySpace上的音乐播放量达到了3.215亿次。而与之形成对比的是,尽管歌手苏珊大妈在2009年的专辑销量排行榜上位居第二,但她在MySpace上仅得到了13.3万次播放。Gaga和这位在英国选秀节目中脱颍而出的苏格兰大妈有一个不同点(她们之间还存在着许多不同点):苏珊大妈的歌曲,包括那首《奇异恩典》在内,都属于传统范畴──而购买她专辑的大部分人也比较传统。她的专辑有大约97%都以CD形式销售。
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  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.
  
她有360度的视野
She's got a 360-degree view
  
音乐行业需要更多的Gaga。美国唱片业协会最近的一份报告显示,过去十年的巨变迫使大唱片公司将员工裁减了60%。仅仅在最近的一周之内,环球音乐集团的雇员就被裁减了数十人。(Gaga自己的公关就选择了“买断工龄”;这一职位也不会得到填补。)唱片公司不得不改变和旗下艺人之间的关系,倚靠新的生意伙伴,其中包括那些他们过去经常与之口角不断的人才代理们。
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.
  
由于没有资金和人员来支持他们曾经过于庞大的艺人队伍,唱片公司大幅缩小了雇员数量,并对那些预期能够为热门歌曲流行推波助澜的活动加大了投入。他们还希望从艺人们在唱片公司销售音乐的传统业务之外获得的收入中分得一杯羹。这带来了行话中所谓的“360度合约”,也就是说一家唱片公司先期投入更多的资金(比如说,在营销中)来换取商品销售、巡演收入和其他的一些收入,而这些收入在过去一直都归艺人自己所有。
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.
  
她有可能成为麦当娜第二
She could be the next Madonna
  
在歌曲《糟糕的罗曼史》中,Gaga唱道,“我想要你的丑陋,我想要你的疾病。”她亲热地将自己的歌迷称为“怪物”。在台上,Gaga的假伤口血流不止。这些黑色戏剧化的表现手段并没有妨碍她通过借鉴麦当娜的成功秘笈,包括跳跃的舞曲节奏、多变的形像和假意痴迷名人的态度而成为主流之声的宠儿。
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.
  
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