Lady Gaga: Mistress of Convergence

The article is written by Sean Richardson in 2011.

The article is about convergence which is the unification of different media channels. The article uses Lady Gaga as a case study to 'master the concept.'

To explore the concept of convergence the article highlights mainly:

• Lady Gaga
• Political and Pop convergence with reference to Gaga
• Haus of Gaga

The article describes convergence as 

'the technology driven unification of different media channels'

'convergence is used as way to promote a single message or brand' by this the article means that convergence has allowed starts to create enormous success. 

In terms of Lady Gaga she has done this through her social media following as a way to create her success: ' 10 million Facebook friends- - 'mastery of social media has been a feature of her career'. Lady Gaga calls her fans 'Little Monsters' as a way of creating the bond between her and them.

Lady Gaga has involved herself in politics as a way of convergence. 

'she campaigned very successfully on the issue of homosexuals in the US military'. 

In the article it says how Lady Gaga said 'now those who put their life on the line will no longer have to lie about who they are to serve their country'

Lady Gaga not only uses convergence as promotion but also as way of highlighting something important. 'Don't ask Don't tell issue was important for Gaga'.

Richardson suggests Lady Gaga is a perfect example of a star who uses convergence as a way of being successful 'enormous global power'.

Richardson illustrates how Lady Gaga uses her fanbase as way to influence politics. 'Gaga has effectively used her Little Monster fanbase as successful lobbying tool in politics'. and 'using fans to create interest and appeal.'

Richardson suggests that by Lady Gaga using convergence it has proved success. 'After the show aired (MTV VMAs) web searches soared on everything.'

Lady Gaga created Haus of Gaga to describe her 'behind the scenes creative team'.

Mistress of the medium?

'Lady Gaga has clearly mastered the new social network phenomenon that drives global consumerism'

Fans are used as a way of marketing 'Nature of her image and branding involving the fans in producing texts themselves is a masterstoke of marketing.'