Lady Gaga at the Met Gala in New York in May 2019 Andrew Kelly / Reuters
Consequences of distancing, I suppose: you go to your own devices.
Suddenly, you have time to investigate those piles of records, books, movies that you have accumulated, without fully enjoying it.
Thus, I have recovered
Blockbusters
, a tome by Anita Elberse, a Harvard professor specializing in the economics of entertainment.
Adele, the tongue-in-cheek and controlling star
Lady Gaga, the profitability of a global brand
I remember what attracted me to the book.
Although Elberse prioritizes Hollywood products, he also investigates the strategies of Lady Gaga, Radiohead, Jay-Z or the galactic Real Madrid!
And I also remember the reasons for abandoning his reading: an academic dryness and, I confess, discomfort with his central thesis.
That the cultural industries - she prefers to speak of "content providers" - must dedicate themselves to the high stakes, expensive products and / or spectacular launches.
It is true that the covid arrived and ordered a stop, but the discussion will soon resume, even if it is in a different context.
Cover of the book 'Superventas'.
Blockbuster
is a word from World War II, applied to aviation bombs capable of demolishing a building.
In subsequent years, the term migrated to
show business
, specifically to films with explosive content, supposedly capable of blowing up theaters.
What we would call “blockbusters”, although I see that there is a Spanish translation and that the publisher, Gestión 2000, chose another word: its full title is
Bestsellers: why the future of the entertainment industry involves taking risks and trying create best-selling products
.
The
blockbuster
mentality
has triumphed among us: even on the news, budgets, star salaries and box office results are reported, as if those figures were equivalent to recommendations.
Which they are, argues Anita Elberse: the consumer, especially if it is occasional, looks for the herd route.
Elberse discusses the
long tail
, Chris Anderson's theory that placed the future of the cultural industry in the abundance of minority products, now visible and available thanks to the internet.
A very comforting fantasy among, I imagine, those of us who read this section, that Elberse torpedoes without mercy.
Still, his best-seller defense doesn't bother to accommodate the triggers, the big-time pitches that crashed.
And there is no shortage of examples.
In 1978, the movie
Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band
sank the Bee Gees' career.
Two years later,
Michael Cimino's
Heaven's Gate
ended United Artists as an independent studio.
Not forgetting its main case study: the complex campaign to publish
Born This Way
, Lady Gaga's second album, finally overshadowed by
21
, Adele's second installment, specifically promoted with techniques derived from the
long tail.
Skillfully, the author warns that she is not going to discuss the aesthetic value of
blockbusters
, which seems to condemn us, in the cinematic, to a purgatory of sequels, Tom Cruise and Marvel heroes.
His fig leaf is that mega-revenues from best sellers finally allow content producers to invest in new creators, by way of R&D.
Delicious, although that is not commensurate with reality.