"BORN THIS WAY" EXPECTED TO SELL BETWEEN 500-700K COPIES IN DEBUT

Lady Gaga

Many of us are wondering how exactly it is that Lady Gaga can get away with charging $0.99 for her new Disc Born this Way digitally on Amazon.com - a move which caused disruptions to the online retailer's servers on release day, Monday.

Gaga's Manager Troy Carter tells the Associated Press, "I am more concerned about Piracy and people stealing the music. If you can get somebody to experience the music at that sort of price for one day only, I think it gets a lot of attention for the album".  Despite sounding somewhat defeatist, this is a realistic picture of what Music Buyers are thinking these days and if you can't change how they think, why not adapt?  Gaga's Team has adapted and are being rewarded for their responsiveness.

Gaga is a prime example of how an Artist can thrive in this Digital Age of Music through more than just about selling albums - we have to look at Artists overall and the various channels they can exchange their influence for monetary gain.  This can mean Fan Merchandise, Concert Ticket Sales and Business Deals with Companies, which help draw attention to the fact that the Artist has a new Album out.

Carter predicts that Born this Way will sell between 500-700k copies by the end of the sales week, which seems somewhat deflated compared to a decade ago when artists like N Sync could push 2.4 million copies of their CD in its first week of release. 

Aside from an aggressive Print and Television Campaign for Born this Way, deals have been struck with Starbucks to sell the Disc at retail outlets in addition to partnerships with Google Chrome, Best Buy and Zynga - creator of Farmville to corner Music Buyers where they might not traditionally look for Music in an innovative manner.  Trust me, retailers are enthused to be a part of it! Upon visiting Starbucks on Monday afternoon, my Barista and I burst into song (The Edge of Glory) as Gaga was blast over the store's stereo system.  "It's so nice finally playing Music that I actually like at work", she tells me.

(Photo credit: Universal Music)