Thursday, 19 December 2013

Beyoncé 101: How to use fame, influence and hardwork to sell your music

On December 13, 2013 Beyoncé Knowles Carter
released her fifth studio album, the self-titled
project 'Beyoncé' under her Parkwood
Entertainment label and Columbia Records.

The album did come as a surprise to her fans and
music critics all around the world because there was
no prior announcement, build up or hype. Bey just
dropped the record on iTunes, sending her
'supposed rivals' into shock!

Record label executives and AnRs would consider
the move as career suicide if any other artiste
attempted the stunt so why did it work for Queen
Bey? Why did her #NewRules – a simple adaptation
(but slight deviation) of Jay Z's brilliant album
marketing idea earlier in the year – work so
perfectly?

Bey dropped a 14-track album accompanied with 17
videos, her first visual album selling
exactly 828,773 copies in three days. The album
which debuted on iTunes could only be purchased
as a whole unit (no individual track buys).

When you compare that record to the other Pop acts
albums' first week sales this year (Katy Perry's
Prism sold 286,000 copies, Lady Gaga's much
anticipated ARTPOP moved 258,000 units and
twerk-crazed Miley Cyrus' Bangerz sold 270,000).

Putting into consideration the sort of heavy
promotion these other ladies put into their album
projects, Beyoncé's feat is nothing but amazing.

The power Beyoncé wields in those slick hands of
hers is fueled by fame, influence and hard work
making her the poster child for the 21st century's
feminist, you know, that whole #GirlPower stuff.

After temporarily suspending her music career for
over a year to give birth to her daughter Blue Ivy,
she bounced back this year with her electrifying
'The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour'. That's a
sign of strength right there…

Beyonce is the next thing to any female's dream of
being perfect. Ironically, she says the message
behind her latest album is finding the beauty in
imperfection.

Ardent Beyoncé fans on social media are
collectively known as the BeyHive (originally
known as the Beyontourage) and are very very
passionate about their role model (they have quite a
number of Nigerian stans too). You could tell with
the new album; is the music all that? NO. It's just
Beyoncé being honest and that's what counts.

Now some would argue that Rihanna pulls just as
many fans with RihannaNavy, Lady Gaga with her
Little Monsters, Katy Perry with her KatyCats, and
even Britney Spears with her Britney Army. But
tell us, which one of these other ladies is married to
arguably the greatest Hip-Hop artiste ever?

Via: NET

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