So everyone remembers Rebecca Black, who launched what many considered the WORST pop song ever back on March 14th. Heck, I even added my two cents about it at karasheadphones. Millions of hits later, consumers were left wondering whether the painfully catchy song, "Friday" and the music video accompanying it actually proved that Ark Music Factory, and possibly young Rebecca Black were marketing geniuses. As of today, Billboard reports that Black's 'Friday' has been taken down from Youtube and "it is no longer available due to a copyright claim by Rebecca Black." Indeed Ark Music Factory and Black's Lawyers are currently in a dispute over who owns the rights to the wildly popular (though debatably horrible) song.
To add to the publicity surrounding Black, she made a special cameo appearance in Katy Perry's "Last Friday Night" (@kathybethterry), released on Youtube this past Tuesday. The 80's themed 8 minute plus video is already at over 16million hits and is only adding fuel to the fame of another relatively talent-less teen sensation.
Why do we care? Well, it seems like for better or for worse, exploitation of the negative can sometimes work to an artist's benefit. Katy Perry, a debatably reputable artist, and the producers behind her most recent work are marketing geniuses in promoting synergy of the negative and the campy within pop culture. In addition to Black's cameo, Glee's Darren Criss and Kevin McHale, Hanson, 80's stars Corey Feldman and Deborah Gibson, and even Kenny G with a crazy Saxophone solo are featured.
By putting Perry at the center and drawing on Gleeks, Generation Y'ers and their nostalgia for the '80s, and even Smooth Jazz fans it is almost impossible for the video not to hit. Of course, when money is no object it's easy to get big name celebrities involved in a project like this. But if the same principle of synergy is applied to other, lesser budget projects of arguably higher musical integrity perhaps greater marketing success can be achieved.
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