Elberse and Donnelly: How do you look back at the Born This Way launch?

Carter: The launch was all about going as big as we could go globally, and getting the word out through a lot of non-traditional partners. We were treating it like a summer blockbuster movie, reinventing the way that albums are typically launched. For instance, the partnership with Zynga was great in that it led to hundreds of millions of impressions through FarmVille. The $0.99 Amazon promotion was very effective, too. The media value by itself went a long way. Media around the world covered the story about the affordable price and painted us as Robin Hoods. To be able to break the album like that was a fun experience for us and for our partners.

E&D: Why was it so important to pursue a blockbuster release?

C: Because today’s consumers are just inundated with information. Something new launches everyday. We live in this 24-hour, 7-days-a-week news cycle, and there’s so much information being given to us at any given time. The question is how do you grab a portion of that mind share? We need people to know that we have an album coming out on a certain date, which involves giving them multiple impressions—whether they are getting coffee in the morning, or getting in their car to go work, or watching television. The goal is to capture mind share in a noisy environment.

E&D: Is the plan to follow a similar strategy with ARTPOP?

C: Yes. It’s important to open big. No one wants to launch as number two. Being number one is better for the perception, and the ego, and all of those things. But that being said, when you look at number-one albums in the music industry, they tend to see a 70 to 80 percent drop from their first week to their second week—that’s where it gets a bit scary.

One of the things we learned from the last album cycle was to make this about more than just the first week of sales. In the media industry, everyone is looking to front load, pushing for a high opening gross for a movie and high album sales in week one. But what about the second week, and the third week? We are looking at how can we stretch this campaign. Instead of just layering it with partners at the top of the campaign, pushing for high first-week sales, we want to make sales last longer.

E&D: What would be an example of how you will try to stretch things out?

C: We look at key milestones during the album cycle. We know that opening up the album is one milestone, but Christmas is a second milestone, and the announcement of the tour is another, just as the actual start of the tour is one. We are looking at how we can take partners from one point to the next, throughout the next year and a half. Some partners won’t come on board for the launch but will join during the second or third single as we go on tour. That is what will be different this time around.

Take John Legend’s album. We always knew it was a really deep album, and we are seeing that sustainability from week to week. John performs a song on television, and sales grow a little; he goes on the radio, and sales grow a little more. It’s the little engine that could. I also manage Lindsey Stirling, who has 400 million YouTube views, and has sold more than 450,000 albums around the world so far. But her biggest sales week is around 3,800 albums. Being able to sustain sales is just as important as having a big first week.

E&D: Did Gaga’s hip injury influence the decision to stretch the release out more?

C: Yes, her hip injury had a huge effect on our approach. We can’t do as much as we would normally do. Gaga is super human when it comes to her work ethic, and she is probably in the best shape she has been in years, having gone through the rehabilitation process. But we want to keep her healthy and make sure she is not over worked, and can enjoy the process.

Each album cycle changes because the market changes. We’re looking at the other albums being released, the public’s sentiments around the artist… all of those factors shape our messaging and our marketing. And of course Lady Gaga’s feelings play a big role. She writes all of her own lyrics and music, so it always revolves around personal stories and experiences.

E&D: What is the role of social media in all of this?

C: It’s to maintain the conversation with the audience. A couple of weeks ago, a bunch of fans were sleeping outside the recording studio—they had been there for two weeks while she was finishing up the album. She was debating how to announce the album’s track listing, and so she had the idea to invite the fans into the studio, give them a chance to listen to all of the songs before anyone else hears them, and have them make a mural of all the songs on the walls outside the studio. The fans took pictures, which Gaga tweeted out. This wasn’t a press release, or something coming from the label or management—this was an Instagram and Twitter experience that she had with her fans, to share her music with the world. That’s how she has always approached social media.

E&D: There has been talk of a ‘digital experience’ being released with the album—what can you tell us about that?

C: We have built an app for Apple and Android phones that will give a richer experience around the music. We set out about a year ago to start building it with some incredible engineers and story-tellers. It will be a free app. Version one will be released with the album, and two or three more versions will come out over the next few months.

We think such apps are the future of our business. It is an expensive proposition—we want to give her fans an experience they have not witnessed before. But we are going to see a wave of much simpler apps come along that instill these rich album experiences. We’ll see apps as cheap as $50,000, which is a little less than what it costs to record one song, and as expensive as several millions of dollars.

E&D: Will we see any more crazy stunts like we did in previous years, with meat dresses and egg-shaped vessels?

C: A lot. Stay tuned! This is really Gaga being herself. When she shows up on television, it’s going to be a unique performance, unique story-telling, and unique outfits to go along with it.

E&D: Are there other artists you admire for pushing the envelope with their blockbuster strategies?

C: The industry now is more innovative and willing to experiment with their brands. We just saw Jay Z and Samsung have a great partnership. Jay was able to get music to his fans, and Samsung made a huge statement with the partnership—a statement I’m sure their competitors paid attention to. Big stars are always going to matter.

But there is also something beautiful about the artist-discovery process, and about working with younger stars. We are launching a brand called POPwater in Los Angeles, and our strategy has been to connect with the local artists and their fans. I don’t think it can get cooler than helping consumers discover new brands and discover new music. It’s easy to pay Jay Z and Lady Gaga a big check to have them work for your brand; it’s going to take brave brand managers and CMOs to take chances on new artists.

E&D: There’s this little book called Blockbusters that could take the world by storm—it may well be that by early November all people want to do is read. Do you see that as a threat to the ARTPOP release?

C: Listen, it’s a fantastic book, and it tells a story that hasn’t been told, so I see it as a huge threat. But maybe we can do some cross promotion, or bundling? I’d love to position ARTPOP as the soundtrack to the book!

Originally posted by Aatthew

So, he basically has confirmed that we will get the "first" app with the release of ARTPOP? Interesting.

If we are getting multiple versions, I wonder if this means that the first release will provide background information about the songs or something trivia like that while the second release/app/update might include songs and the third similarly.

Originally posted by JakeHouser

I loving reading into this kind of stuff. Come on, Interscope! Show us how it's done.

Originally posted by Jewfro

Well, they can promote all they want but her music and image will counteract. Does this dummy hear her music and approve it?

Originally posted by H-I-M

Originally posted by NewRihannaStan

I'm interested in the stunts