Madonna And Mariah Carey Use Dating Apps To Promote Music: Desperate Or Smart?
Although it has been going on for months, several publications have recently reported on how Madonna and Mariah Carey are using dating apps to promote their new music. Arkansas Online discussed the marketing strategy on Monday.
“In a quest to find a date, a spouse or a hookup, dating app users might discover something else when using dating apps: new music. From Madonna to Mariah Carey, an increasing number of acts are looking to platforms such as Tinder and Match to promote their music and reach their fans on the go.”
Arkansas Online noted that Madonna used the gay dating app Grindr, while Mariah Carey used Match.com. Fox News talked about a promotion Madonna had on Grindr in February
“Simkhai said Madonna’s team contacted Grindr about collaborating. They launched a contest around Valentine’s Day where users would change their profile photos to mimic the album cover of ‘Rebel Heart’ — where Madonna’s face is wrapped with wires.”
Fox News also noted that five winners earned a chance to live chat with Madonna, who released her album in March. Madonna was widely praised for launching the debut of her video “Living for Love” on Snapchat a few weeks earlier. However, the feminist website Jezebel age-shamed Madonna by insisting she was too old to do this.
“Madonna is making headlines for a third time today, and as usual, it’s not because the former material girl is doing anything good, but because the desperate singer chose a slow news day to release her latest video.”
Jezebel assumed that nobody on Snapchat heard of Madonna because she was older than their demographic. However, sites that usually aren’t keen on older women acting sexy, such as the Daily Mail, praised the “history-making” move. Since Madonna debuted her video on Snapchat, many others have followed.
Mariah Carey garnered even more attention than Madonna when she joined Match.com to debut her video for “Infinity.” CNN talked about Ms. Carey’s profile, which indicated she was looking for a man within a 50-mile radius of New York City. Mariah Carey also said she likes to cook and watch movies and videos. Like Madonna, some people said Mariah was desperate, but she was mostly praised for her savvy move.
Both Mariah Carey and Madonna’s appearances on dating networks didn’t do much to help their sales, but it could be argued that their ultimate goal was to sell concert tickets, since albums don’t make much money in the first place. Do you think Carey and Madonna were business savvy with their promotional techniques? Let us know in the comments section.
[Photos by Ethan Miller and Jamie McCarthy/Getty Images]
