Rowena Lam's Blog

Lady Gaga, with her bold brand of pop, outrageous outfits and shocking performances, successfully “rocketed Lady Gaga from unknown New York lounge singer to the world’s biggest pop star this side of Britney Spears.” Her fame formula is indeed her strategy of differentiation in this intensely competitive music industry.

In comparison, do you possibly know the following musicians?

Sara Bareilles – an American singer-songwriter and pianist

Kate Voegele – an American singer-songwriter, musician, and actress

You might have or have not heard of them before. They are certainly not as well-known as Lady Gaga. Thanks to YouTube, this media revolutionary platform or medium has exposed me to these two amazing musicians. I consider them as more socially influential to me than Gaga. I believe music and art are in the eye of the beholder. Instead of attracting audience through using sex appeals in performances like Gaga, they tap into my heart with their powerful vocals and musical talents. I think they have developed their fan base (their market) through implementing a relatively niche differentiation strategy – focusing more on acoustic music as opposed to electronic or auto-tune. They are some of the musicians that have inspired me to love performing music and singing. The following are recordings of my live performances playing their music:

Cover of Sara Bareilles’s Bottle It Up –

(Vocal & Pianist: Me; Guitarist: Erving; Drummer & Vocal: Nicholas )

Cover of Kate Voegele’s Kindly Unspoken –

(Vocal & Pianist: Me; Drummer: Nicholas)

They become the social reference groups that even influence my “consumer decision process” in buying my guitar, and I have been self-learning guitar since then.