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Stefani Joanne Angelina Germanotta, better known by her stage name of Lady Gaga, has taken aim at ‘hackers’ who recently leaked her latest single before its scheduled release date.
The song, Applause, was her first release since 2011 and was originally scheduled to be released on 19 August 2013.
That date was brought forward a week, however, following the leaking of several snippets online.
When Germanotta first heard of the leak she took to Twitter where she said:
Wanna grab some shovels and f??k up some hackers?
Next came the dramatic declaration that:
A POP MUSIC EMERGENCY IS UNDERWAY 911.
Germanotta then shared a revealing picture of herself to ‘accompany this emergency’.
I’m not really sure how such an image is relevant but, judging by the retweets it has picked up, I’m sure her ‘Little Monsters’ are now feeling much better about the so-called pop music emergency now.
Either that or they had to have a cold bath – either way, their parents will be pleased.
‘Little Monsters’, for those of you too old to know, is a phrase that Germanotta herself coined to describe her fans based on the way that they scream and crawl around at her gigs.
The singer has almost 40 million of these impressionable fans following her every word on Twitter, a social network where the pack mentality is very much alive, as evidenced by the number of retweets of the above comments.
Speaking to French radio station NRJ about the leaks and whether she still wanted to attack the hackers who leaked her latest track, Germanotta confirmed:
Yes, I did mean that Tweet. I just think, especially for the music industry right now, it's important that we all stick together, that we support one another and each other's records.
Hackers leaking songs before they're released is detrimental to our marketing plan, so I thought it would be a funny way to tell everyone that we're OK over here in the Haus of Gaga. We got our team together very quickly to be ready for the release.
Considering how much commentary appeared on the web following the news that the song had been leaked, I do wonder just how much damage was actually done to the Lady Gaga marketing plan.
If anything, I would hazard a guess that the single is now far more embedded in the public consciousness because of the leak.
Is this proof that not all ‘data breaches’ are bad for business?
For what it’s worth, Applause, taken from Germanotta’s third album, ARTPOP, has met with mixed reviews so far.
Billboard magazine said it is “built around pulsating synthesizers and morphs into a thrilling dance cut when it circles back to its chorus.”
But Spin.com, under the headline “The Sound of One Pop Star Clapping for Herself,” said the track “offers few reasons to clap” and “is a bit behind the times.”
I suspect, however, that the single will perform well in the charts regardless of its musical merits.
Ms Germanotta can thank those who leaked the song for that (despite the fact that uploading a music track hardly warrants the term ‘hackers’ for those who were responsible), as well as her legions of monsters who all bought into the publicity surrounding this event.
If I had a cynical mind (and I do) then I would have thought that the team at Haus of Gaga would in fact be very pleased with how things panned out, despite their claims to the contrary.
Hackers my foot. My money is on a publicist or a studio engineer leaking the track.
I'm going to venture a guess that there were no "hackers" at all and this entire thing was a marketing ploy. I don't see the appeal of Gaga but either way, I sincerely doubt her version of events.
If the song is available online, no-one is going to pay for it, so there must be lost revenue somewhere along the line.
It could well be an inside job.
What I can't understand is why this ghastly woman has 40 million "followers".
Ah yes, but the article didn't say the song was uploaded — it says "the leaking of several snippets online."
Snippets? No lost revenue then. And more to the point, what do you call a short excerpt of a video, song or film? Teaser, trailer, or just plain "advert". The whole thing smells of marketing.
"If the song is available online, no-one is going to pay for it"
Really? Please explain to me then how any store manages to sell even a single CD, and how are iTunes, and Amazon among others still selling MP3s? After an album is released it is less than a day before it is available online.
Gaga has 40 million followers because most of them don't even realize they follow her. Here's a little secret about Twitter. When you set up an account you can have them follow five people for you to get you started. I think Gaga and Bieber paid Twitter to make sure they're two of those five people.
this article made me miss graham cluley
When artists knowingly advertise future release dates, they should be expecting for something to get leaked; as unfortunate as it may seem, it is indeed a common occurrence. With 40 million followers, I think that a leak should be viewed as free marketing (for a positive spin, on something seemingly negative).
I love the massive irony and hypocrisy of her support for Bradley Manning in the face of her vitriol against others of the same ilk who leaked something comparatively trivial.
Rumors are already circulating, Lady Gaga’s team planned the leak. These days, famous single leaks have been proven to be by the RIAA, because their legal team has a long history of certain behavior. According to a well known bot broker, more than 60% of her followers are fake and millions of them use a proxy. It is very odd her fans are very highly security conscious. They are just sock puppet bots, but average people will believe when a trust is associated even they never met that person. That's why many on-line criminals go after celebrities and news sources accounts. They rather believe in the land of illusion.
This whole incident happened a little while back, I read the coverage over at TorrentFreak. My concern was not unlike yours, that this was clearly no hacker. It was a sample, only 20 seconds or so, that demonstrated different parts of the song.
This was PR 100%- who would bother leaking a sample when the release was so imminent, especially if the employee had access to the full version? And why would a hacker settle if he or she found a sample?
Gaga's response was perhaps the most irresponsible of them all. It was inflammatory and incited random violence. We don't need 'Little Monsters' bashing uncle Derek on the head with a shovel because he knows how to turn on a computer do we?
Most artists now make money from concert tickets/performance rather than from album sales.
Well as the saying goes:
"no such thing as bad publicity"
Also what 'real' (self respecting) hacker would be bothering to hack gaga?
I think the last laugh here is coming from the corporate giant record company and gaga herself who is obviously quite happy to prop them (and herself) up with her sub standard 'music'.
Forget the leaked song – what happened to Katie Perry's truck???
😉
1. A song sample? Are you kidding? Someone thinks that was the work of some criminal hacker and not a PR stunt? Wow…
2. It’s a dangerous think to say, “not all data breaches are bad.” That is like saying not all home invasions are bad. I mean, if you get home invaded and that causes you to move to a better neighborhood and maybe even lead your kid to a star position on a sports team, could I argue that is overall a good deal and you should thank me? Come on… Maybe next we’ll hear that there isn’t a single data breach that is now “bad” because it can be spun?
I have been lucky enough to have never heard a Lady Gaga song and I keep hoping that luck lasts.