How Island Def Jam’s Shortsightedness Shaped Lady Gaga’s Superstardom: Bad Decisions in the Music Industry
Dani Putrino
Stefani Germanotta, the artist currently known as Lady Gaga, is one of the most successful pop artists of the 21st Century. She is most widely known for her unprecedented visual taste, as displayed through her fashion sense and stage presentation, and the infectious hooks that helped revive traditional pop music’s relevance in America’s charts. The good fortune of being born as a star in the making is not immediately evident in Germanotta’s case, but her prodigious hunger for the stage reveals a level of potential behind both her image and her voice that should have been obvious to any music industry professional (Grigoriadis). In this essay, the use of the name Germanotta refers to the individual behind the artist, and Lady Gaga refers to the persona in front of the art.
When Lady Gaga was signed to a Universal Music Group branch called Island Def Jam Records in 2006, it seemed like she had finally made it. Any New York musician knows that Island Def Jam Records has a notably solid reputation as a label that takes risks. Rick Rubin and Jay-Z had an urban music empire at this time, and despite well-publicized financial struggles, did not seem like they were about to start making cuts to their roster. When Germanotta auditioned for Island Def Jam, accompanying herself on piano, record executive L.A. Reid was ready to sign her on the spot. Two months later Reid decided on a whim to drop Lady Gaga from the label’s roster. His initial impression of her first demo was that it was not up to his expectations. Lady Gaga’s extraordinary career that followed in the next thirteen years has revealed this decision to have been a big mistake.
It is always clearer in hindsight what should have happened in any given situation. While no one can predict the future, it is not impossible to mitigate risk in decision making processes. By framing Lady Gaga in his head as the “next big thing” in popular music, Reid held her to an unreachable standard. He inadvertently set her up for failure by subconsciously deciding that her individuality was not purely a good thing. Risks are sometimes not worth taking; despite loving the go-go-boot-clad Germanotta on first hearing her perform for him, he decided to retract her position on the label after listening to her first official demo. So strong was his opinion that he also fired the Arists and Repertoire (A&R) representative who connected him to Lady Gaga in the first place (Sciaretto). It appears that Reid chose to go with his gut a la psychologist Gerd Gigerenzer when making this particular decision. He likely saw success with this approach often enough to believe it infallible, but in the case of Lady Gaga, he and his gut were incorrect.
Just a year later, Lady Gaga was signed to Streamline Records, an imprint of Interscope Records as a separate part of UMG. She is still on this label’s roster in 2019. The year between labels saw Germanotta recollect herself and hone her craft into what would become The Fame Monster, selling three million copies as of November 2018 (Myers). One could argue that Reid’s decision demonstrated good foresight on his end, as Lady Gaga is not usually associated with the genres that Island Def Jam most heavily represents. Being dropped from Island Def Jam was one of the most prominent defining moments in Germanotta’s life, and it is possible she would not have worked as hard if she had not experienced this disappointment. However, given that the label itself was missing information about her prior experience and had no way of knowing her future career, it is clear that some major biases were at play.
It appears that only one person was in charge of deciding Lady Gaga’s fate at Island Def Jam Records. Reid did not recall consulting even one other person, let alone a team, about his decision to drop her (Sciaretto). He could have fully avoided the effects of the overconfidence bias if he had employed a second opinion; the decision he made was notably short-sighted, and the mere existence of an extra few minutes of dialogue could have counteracted that. There is no correlation between confidence and performance, even when it comes to working as an A&R representative. People in positions of power might have more experience in dealing with difficult decisions, but they are not always automatically correct in the choices they make.
Then again, Reid might have wanted to avoid falling into the trap of a sunk cost fallacy. Individual acts who do not find immediate success for major labels are not often given second chances. This is a bias that does not often befall individuals in this small of a scale within the music industry; it is far more likely to happen on a broader scale label-wide. No one besides Reid himself knows specifically why Lady Gaga did not stay on his label, but it might have been because he subconsciously wanted to go down with his ship. Island Def Jam Records had been struggling behind the scenes for a few years leading up to 2007 (Universal Music Group). They kept signing new artists as well as supporting their established artists in the midst of their hardships.
With signed acts as diverse as Bon Jovi, Sum 41, Shania Twain, Rihanna, and DMX signed to this label already, why not give Lady Gaga a real shot? The endowment effect seems to come into play here. An unproven, petite, 20-something Catholic school graduate who plays piano in white pleather go-go boots probably did not seem like a guaranteed success. Reid might have been struck by the realization that it would be better to cling to what revenue his label already had than to risk branching out and going slightly into the red on one debut. Had they made the “right” decision and kept Lady Gaga on the label, however, she might not have found the same level of success.
It is easy as human beings to fall back into habits and comfortable patterns. Making decisions is never easy and rarely comfortable. L.A. Reid’s choice to cut Lady Gaga from Island Def Jam Records without spending time thinking about it, whether by himself or by consulting other industry professionals, was reckless. Even though in hindsight it is easy to see that Lady Gaga was able to sign to a much more fitting label and find even more success than she might have with Def Jam, there was no way to know that at the time. Stefani Germanotta would not have given up, but it is possible that anyone else in her place could have; imagine 2010s dance pop without “Poker Face” or “Judas” breaking ground for its return to the mainstream! Lady Gaga is a living success story who serves as a role model for anyone who loudly breaks molds. A lesson to learn from Lady Gaga’s experience with Island Def Jam Records is to take at least two other professional opinions into consideration before solidifying any major decisions. It is key to stay objective when deciding the course of someone else’s future.