It

isn't just Lady Gaga's sophomore studio album on the line when she drops her highly anticipated "Born This Way" on May 23.

The rebirth of the music industry could also rest on its success.

“Born This Way” is the leading edge of the so-called 360-deal -- a fledgling music industry business model that cuts record companies in on all of pop stars’ spoils, well beyond mere music sales.

So far, for Universal Music Group’s Interscope Records, Gaga’s 360 deal has been an extraordinarily enriching bet, given her mega musical success, sell-out worldwide touring, merchandising bonanza and sizzling appeal to such marketers as Polaroid, Estee Lauder’s MAC, Sprint’s Virgin Mobile USA and fragrance giant Coty.

Also read From Printers to Perfume: The Selling of Lady Gaga

In fact the multitalented Gaga has generated almost $200 million in revenue for Interscope as a result of the 360 pact, according to executives familiar with the numbers.

By any measure, that is a staggering number for a record company in a music industry struggling for survival. And only about half of that is from music sales.

What's next? Google trotted out her latest alliance in a splashy television ad on Saturday night touting the tech giant's Chrome browser.

An executive with knowledge of the deal says that Gaga is also negotiating to be the face of Google's highly-anticipated Chrome laptop, due out June 15.

The arrangement could fetch her as much as $10 million, with Interscope entitled to a share of that. Gaga, her representatives and the search giant have met several times now on the potential deal, the executive tells TheWrap.

Roughly half of Interscope's $200 million is from music sales. Gaga’s debut in October 2008, “The Fame,” has sold more than 12 million worldwide, almost half in the U.S. At 5.8 million copies, her second major release -- the extended-play release “The Fame Monster,” in November 2009 -- topped 2010’s United World Chart of best-sellers compiled by Media Traffic, a German website.

She's had eight number-one hits, and the Monster Ball Tour, which kicked off in late 2009, is minting a fortune in ticket sales -- $227.4 million by the beginning of May, with an audience of 2.5 million, Billboard estimates.

By Forbes estimates, meanwhile, Gaga earned $92 million of personal income in the 12 months since May 1, 2010.

Watch Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg Have a 'Three-Way' on SNL

In 2007, when Interscope signed her, 360 deals were becoming standard for new artists as the shrinking music industry scrambled for new revenues to replace billions of dollars in declining CD sales and losses from online piracy.

HAPPYPERSON said:

It

isn't just Lady Gaga's sophomore studio album on the line when she drops her highly anticipated "Born This Way" on May 23.

The rebirth of the music industry could also rest on its success.

“Born This Way” is the leading edge of the so-called 360-deal -- a fledgling music industry business model that cuts record companies in on all of pop stars’ spoils, well beyond mere music sales.

So far, for Universal Music Group’s Interscope Records, Gaga’s 360 deal has been an extraordinarily enriching bet, given her mega musical success, sell-out worldwide touring, merchandising bonanza and sizzling appeal to such marketers as Polaroid, Estee Lauder’s MAC, Sprint’s Virgin Mobile USA and fragrance giant Coty.

Also read From Printers to Perfume: The Selling of Lady Gaga

In fact the multitalented Gaga has generated almost $200 million in revenue for Interscope as a result of the 360 pact, according to executives familiar with the numbers.

By any measure, that is a staggering number for a record company in a music industry struggling for survival. And only about half of that is from music sales.

What's next? Google trotted out her latest alliance in a splashy television ad on Saturday night touting the tech giant's Chrome browser.

An executive with knowledge of the deal says that Gaga is also negotiating to be the face of Google's highly-anticipated Chrome laptop, due out June 15.

The arrangement could fetch her as much as $10 million, with Interscope entitled to a share of that. Gaga, her representatives and the search giant have met several times now on the potential deal, the executive tells TheWrap.

Roughly half of Interscope's $200 million is from music sales. Gaga’s debut in October 2008, “The Fame,” has sold more than 12 million worldwide, almost half in the U.S. At 5.8 million copies, her second major release -- the extended-play release “The Fame Monster,” in November 2009 -- topped 2010’s United World Chart of best-sellers compiled by Media Traffic, a German website.

She's had eight number-one hits, and the Monster Ball Tour, which kicked off in late 2009, is minting a fortune in ticket sales -- $227.4 million by the beginning of May, with an audience of 2.5 million, Billboard estimates.

By Forbes estimates, meanwhile, Gaga earned $92 million of personal income in the 12 months since May 1, 2010.

Watch Lady Gaga, Justin Timberlake, Andy Samberg Have a 'Three-Way' on SNL

In 2007, when Interscope signed her, 360 deals were becoming standard for new artists as the shrinking music industry scrambled for new revenues to replace billions of dollars in declining CD sales and losses from online piracy.

The thing is that the "industry" is surviving the artist are the ones that are dieing, so this album isnt going to save a damn thing, that simple, you need the whole thing to crash totally, but people dont realize that the industry isnt hurting its doing things other than music to make up for the loss, they dont care at this point, music is not relevant to the music industry as a selling point.

Now all th industry needs are artists that can sell over 10 million CDs every time they drop, a fanbase that wants all of that other stuff and someone who can headline their own tour. Otherwise it's just a way for record executives to bleed the stone a little bit more!

HonestMan13 said:

Now all th industry needs are artists that can sell over 10 million CDs every time they drop, a fanbase that wants all of that other stuff and someone who can headline their own tour. Otherwise it's just a way for record executives to bleed the stone a little bit more!

they forget though that all those are worldwide and if you take a look at the american numbers its nothing that will save an industry, i mean really now, the world is in WAY better shape than the usa by far

They give some artists too much pressure in the media especially considering commercial success.

This article is silly.

If Gaga is what's saving the music industry, then it's beyond saving. Just turn the radio off and read a book.

^I learn more bout muscial artist on NPR than anything being played on music stations.

This article is rather silly...

Grant it she is selling very well in this industry but sells for albums are still not great at all i mean look at Rihanna she may have 10 number 1's but her album sells are not that great. Rather R only went platinum despite having 3 top 10 hits. & Loud is only platinum despite having 3 number 1's on them!

And Britney's new cd didn't good either & she's well Britney Spears and it had number 1's on it....

i'm sick of the media kisisng her ass and praising her for that steamy garbage she calls music

Timmy84 said:

They give some artists too much pressure in the media especially considering commercial success.

Yep! And when or if it under performs, the next article will be "Why Born This Way Bombed"... this is an ongoing thing of building artists up and then tearing them down. Same thing happened with Katy Perry's last CD.

chamber said:

If Gaga is what's saving the music industry, then it's beyond saving. Just turn the radio off and read a book.

Pressure said:

i'm sick of the media kisisng her ass and praising her for that steamy garbage she calls music

Why do some people try to prove something is good by mentioning numbers?

by that logic, Hitler was a great polititian because of how many votes he won and the millions upon millions of followere he had

it's a joke

[Edited 5/23/11 15:22pm]

Gunsnhalen said:

This article is rather silly...

Grant it she is selling very well in this industry but sells for albums are still not great at all i mean look at Rihanna she may have 10 number 1's but her album sells are not that great. Rather R only went platinum despite having 3 top 10 hits. & Loud is only platinum despite having 3 number 1's on them!

And Britney's new cd didn't good either & she's well Britney Spears and it had number 1's on it....

That CD is terrible. Only 2 songs are close to okay and not even.

You should really source your articles. TheWrap.com is a great website that deserves due for it's write up.

It's interesting that Gaga was picked as Forbe's most influential person in Hollywood when in reality, it's the label, which unlike in the past, which is the most influential by having its hand in every single one of Gaga's cookie jar. That is a scary precedent.

The formula is lucrative but only if you move major units and do a megatour. Sign an artist who is going to sell 40,000 CDs and play small clubs and it's as much of a joke as the music industry ever was.

I remember a year or so ago there was an article about Mariah Carey and how was she making history as a music businesswoman by also having non-music products of her own and endorsements etc. I forget if she made all the money from those deals or if it was a 360 deal? Does anyone know?

Anyway, I would think in the future that Gaga will eventually try to get out of the 360 deal and limit the label's profits to her music sales...

First of all - why would anyone want to save the music industry ?

And those numbers just look horrible to me.

Sure $92 million of personal income might look great to some people but then you have Interscope making more than double that !!!! There is something seriously wrong with that.

It's not a good record. Born This Way is Express Yourself with new lyrics. Very disappointing coming from someone of her talent.

chrisslope9 said:

It's not a good record. Born This Way is Express Yourself with new lyrics. Very disappointing coming from someone of her talent.

[img:$uid]http://i56.tinypic.com/vik854.gif[/img:$uid]

chrisslope9 said:

It's not a good record. Born This Way is Express Yourself with new lyrics. Very disappointing coming from someone of her talent.

chrisslope9 said:

It's not a good record. Born This Way is Express Yourself with new lyrics. Very disappointing coming from someone of her talent.

All you got from this record was that BTW is a (supposed) EY rip-off? Wow. Just...wow.

Pressure said:

i'm sick of the media kisisng her ass and praising her for that steamy garbage she calls music

Wooo! YES!

maybe yes, maybe no

See http://prince.org/msg/8/359167