IBTimes - Shakira's Love Rocks a Flop

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

www.ibtimes.com/shakiras-love-rocks-already-flop-signaling-trouble-celebrity-driven-mobile-games-2169229

Interesting read on the failure of Shakira & Rovio's new app Love Rocks to catch on as a money maker and what it could mean for artists looking for mobile platform partnerships moving forward.

[Deleted]

I didn't even know Love Rocks existed, but I don't see how they think a large number of people would be interested in a basic match-3 game just b/c of the celebrity name attached to it. I could pull up Shakira's artist page on Spotify and play a Facebook game for free.

Kim Kardashian's Hollywood game works so well because it's a role-playing game that relies on a high level of player engagement. Any celeb trying to get in on this needs to go that route in some form to get people to care. But there's also the risk that they'd just get unfavorably compared to the Kardashian game if they don't differentiate theirs enough.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Part of Love Rocks was after you reach a certain level in the game, you can download the She Wolf and Shakira. albums for free with a code (at least on Android). It would be an innovative way to get people to play for NEW music, but whats the value in giving away your back catalog, particularly when the most likely people to be playing the game are people who are already fans of your work?

[Chelsea Press 2]

Perhaps her game was just not exciting enough to keep people engaged in playing it longer, and spending money on the add ons and special items.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Shakira also sold her name and likeness to be in the new Angry Birds 2 game. Do people still play Angry Birds? Even my mom gave up on that like 2 years ago.

[Chelsea Press 2]

Nov 9, 2015 16:53:34 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Shakira also sold her name and likeness to be in the new Angry Birds 2 game. Do people still play Angry Birds? Even my mom gave up on that like 2 years ago.

There are probably some out there who do. I used to play it in Chrome and I still have it on my current laptop, but I just don't have the time. I play a quick game of Candy Crush or Cookie Jam if I have a spare minute or two, but that's it.

There is actually an Angry Birds movie coming soon.

[MiniMusic]

I actually downloaded the app because I'm a huge Shaki fan and I'm literally OBSESSED. I mean it's nothing different than other games in the same matching, "Bejeweled Blitz" type of games but I really enjoy playing it and always do when I have nothing to do lol.

[Linnethia Monique]

The free album promo ended the 28th of October. Flop and Uninstall immediately before she puts some virus on your phone that makes Siri/Google Now unintelligible.

[MiniMusic]

Nov 9, 2015 23:35:38 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

The free album promo ended the 28th of October. Flop and Uninstall immediately before she puts some virus on your phone that makes Siri/Google Now unintelligible.

[Linnethia Monique]

Nov 9, 2015 23:39:28 GMT -5 MiniMusic said:

Nov 9, 2015 23:35:38 GMT -5 Linnethia Monique said:

The free album promo ended the 28th of October. Flop and Uninstall immediately before she puts some virus on your phone that makes Siri/Google Now unintelligible.

How clairvoyant of her to try and sale "She Wolf" with this game and the best song foretold the future of it:
So decide, it's a suicide waiting, all this time
It's a suicide, waiting, donde estas?
It's a suicide, waiting, so decide
It's a suicide, waiting

[Glove Slap]

The whole point of a celebrity-based app is to build off of what that celebrity's personal brand is. What the hell does Shakira have to do with jewel matching?

Kim got it right and if Katy Perry is smart, her app will include stuff about outfit/wig tryouts, random shit about California, boob jokes, shoot from the boob games, choose the cleavage, match the cliche to the lyric, cheeto currency, etc. with unreleased album tracks from her next LP as unlockables prior to their release anywhere else.

[Wolfy]

I downloaded it, played with it a bit and forgot I had it. It was nothing special, just another jewel game with Shakira on it.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Nov 10, 2015 0:47:07 GMT -5 Glove Slap said:

The whole point of a celebrity-based app is to build off of what that celebrity's personal brand is. What the hell does Shakira have to do with jewel matching?

I mean, even if it was one of those guitar hero-esque tap games it would have made more sense than a 3-match game (of which there are literally dozens on sale). They weren't going to be able to break into a market that candy crush has basically cornered, so it just kind of reeks of being a money grab by everybody involved. If you'are not going to be innovative, why be in tech to begin with?

[Wolfy]

Nov 10, 2015 13:19:39 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

so it just kind of reeks of being a money grab by everybody involved.

Are you surprised? I'm not. Shakira is even selling nail polish:

[Chelsea Press 2]

Nov 10, 2015 18:11:33 GMT -5 Wolfy said:

Nov 10, 2015 13:19:39 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

so it just kind of reeks of being a money grab by everybody involved.

Are you surprised? I'm not. Shakira is even selling nail polish:

It seems like most celebrities are putting their names on more and more products and not taking into account the quality of whatever the products are. Most of those celebrity clothing lines are complete garbage (yes I am looking at you Thalia and Kanye West).

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

At least when it comes she Shakira, there's nothing she won't sell out for. Apps, sodas, yogurt, toothpaste, cell phones, baby toys, nail polish. If you can sell it, she'll sell her face for on it

[Wolfy]

Nov 10, 2015 23:27:51 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Apps, sodas, yogurt, toothpaste, cell phones, baby toys, nail polish..

...TV's, watches, cameras, perfumes, cars, shoes... and I know I'm forgetting a few, lol

Anyway, I don't really care. At least we usually get interesting commercials.

This one is probably my favorite:

[Wolfy]

One good thing to come out of this is that I think the free albums are going to count as actual album sales. In the Google Play albums chart, first She Wolf was the #1 album and now its Sale El Sol. If they are listed on the sales chart, its likely going to count. This is going to inflate the sales stats for both albums.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

If the code was exclusively for those albums billboard won't count them.

[brucelover]

Shakira's career has been tragically mismanaged ever since the She Wolf era. Her latest ventures are just baffling, all these ridiculously commercial, nonsensical, bordering on parody tie ins and promotional ventures despite no tour in 5 years, no Spanish album in 5 years...it's like she's completely forgotten about her core fanbase. No wonder no one's buying this.

[Wolfy]

Nov 17, 2015 3:09:15 GMT -5 brucelover said:

Shakira's career has been tragically mismanaged ever since the She Wolf era. Her latest ventures are just baffling, all these ridiculously commercial, nonsensical, bordering on parody tie ins and promotional ventures despite no tour in 5 years, no Spanish album in 5 years...it's like she's completely forgotten about her core fanbase. No wonder no one's buying this.

Its not her management, they had lots planned for her, it's Shakira. She wanted to get pregnant. During the Shakira. era, she used the tour to get out of doing another season of the voice then she used her pregnancy to get out of going on tour. Then she got what she wanted, which was to stay home and be a mom. The plan was for Shakira to released a Spanish album after SHAKIRA. then go on tour, but all that got put on hold when she got pregnant. Now its just a waiting game for when Shakira feels ready to release the album. Its been so long that they likely will want to record new material for the album. When will it be released? When Shakira feels like it :/ If I had to guess I'd say fall 2016. After that she'll tour. It won't be like a typical Shakira tour. People close to her say that she will not do a long tour while her kids are young. I'm guessing she's just going to do stadiums in Latin America, then a couple shows in the US (NY, LA, Houston, Miami) & Europe (Barcelona, London, Lisboa).

The pregnancy got everyone by surprise, well, except Shakira. The tour was going to be sponsored by Tmobile and Dannon. They were able to stop the Tmobile tour promo, but Dannon had already printed info on their yogurts about a tour contest. Worst of all, this is the 2nd time Shakira does this. In 2012 an entire era was canceled because she got pregnant. It was supposed to be a dance album with "Dare" as the lead single. The only songs from that album that made it onto SHAKIRA. were "Dare" "Loca Por Ti" "Chasing Shadows" and "That Way."

The only reason we even got music was because of her Live Nation 360 deal. That deal forces her to release music and go on tour. She then got pregnant twice at the right moments to delay her contractual obligations. That's why this app happened. Live Nation is trying to get as much money out of her while Shakira refuses to leave Spain.

During the early SHAKIRA. era promo it was clear Shakira did not want to promote the album. While CRTFY was out, Shakira was in Spain instead of doing promo. She turned down performing the song with Rhianna at the Grammy's so she could be in Spain with Pique and Milan. While the Grammy's were on she was at home watching a soccer game, yes, we know because she sent out a tweet about soccer while the Grammy's were happening. She didn't leave Spain till she absolutely had to, and that was when she had to start filming the voice. Fans that went to the voice tapings said that she looked like she didn't want to be there. During breaks she would be on her phone most of the time. A little after that she did the iHeartRadio SHAKIRA. release party. She showed up at the release party without knowing the lyrics of her own songs. It was obvious she didn't rehearse much before the show. A few weeks later she performed "Empire" at the Voice. Everyone trashed her for lipsynching parts of the song on a show that's about live singing. Later on she performed Empire completely live at the Billboard Awards. Why could she perform it live at the Billboard awards and not on the Voice? Sounds like she, again, didn't want to rehearse the song. It took her getting embarrassed on the voice to get her to rehearse "Empire" enough to fully sing it live. All that being said, I don't blame her. Shakira always wanted to be a Mom. She knew that at her age she had to do it now, yet she couldn't because she was contractually obligated to release music and tour due to her Live Nation 360 deal. Shakira was in the US to promote the SHAKIRA. era, but her heart was back in Spain with Milan & Pique. Shakira will be back when her kids are older and she's ready to properly release an album and tour.

This Tmobile commercial was to promote the tour that never happened.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

Artists don't just decide not to record music and their contracts magically go away. If she really is refusing to record, they'll release stuff she already submitted that was rejected, particularly since she's now started recording material that she has no claim over as writer.

But anyway, back to the actual topic of mobile apps, Demi Lovato is featured in the new Episodes app, that seems to basically be a "choose your own ending" type thing where you're presented with choices and have to pick a course of action.

[Wolfy]

Nov 17, 2015 9:04:00 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

Artists don't just decide not to record music and their contracts magically go away. If she really is refusing to record, they'll release stuff she already submitted that was rejected, particularly since she's now started recording material that she has no claim over as writer.

But anyway, back to the actual topic of mobile apps, Demi Lovato is featured in the new Episodes app, that seems to basically be a "choose your own ending" type thing where you're presented with choices and have to pick a course of action.

She refuses to leave Spain, not to record new music. She says she's still recording music. She's pretty much willing to do anything that she can do while not having to leave Spain. Recording music isn't the problem, it's getting her to promote and tour. I'm sure they will try to get her to tour soon. Try being the keyword here. Some cynical fans think she'll get pregnant again before the tour starts, she really wants a girl.

Shakira will have new music out soon, but it will be from the Disney movie she's in "Zootopia." They try to keep her busy with projects that don't require her to do much outside of Spain. Recently, she recorded and released "mi verdad" while pregnant. But, she never left Spain for the single. She recorded the song in Spain and Mana filmed the video in Spain. Empire and the target commercial were also filmed in Spain.

The reason they put up with Shakira is that she's still making money for Live Nation by selling her music to advertise products. The Shakira. era made money due to high streaming and by signing deals with various companies that used her music to sell products. The bottom line is making money, but Live Nation is still expecting a big tour and era from her. They will wait, but they expect a big tour in the near future. By getting pregnant she delayed her contractual obligations (touring, promo, new album) but she still has to fulfill everything later on. She will, when Shakira is dedicated she's a workhorse.

[YourFaveIsAFlop]

That's not how pop music works. You can't just wait and expect the audience to be there. The label knows that. She's more known now as a TV personality than a singer anyway.

[Wolfy]

Nov 17, 2015 13:46:42 GMT -5 YourFaveIsAFlop said:

That's not how pop music works. You can't just wait and expect the audience to be there. The label knows that. She's more known now as a TV personality than a singer anyway.

The label knows that it's easier for them if she releases new music asap, but what can they do? Put a chastity belt on her? Lol

They will try something, if I had to guess I'd say they will try to get her name out there with the Disney movie. Then release her Spanish album shortly after that. For her last era they used the voice and Rihanna to get her name out there again. There's always long breaks between her albums. People always think she won't be able to return successfully due to how long she's gone between eras, but she always does. They usually find ways to get her name out there again, the voice, World Cup, the Disney movie, a collaboration; they will try something. That said, maybe this time it will be harder. She's older now and hasn't had a full era since SW/SES.

The Disney movie sounds like it might be great for her. The animators are saying her character is going to have big dance scenes in the movie. The movie will be out March 4, with the lead single being "Try Everything" by Shakira. That song was written and produced by Sia & Stargate.

Right now they are working on a kid friendly image for Shakira. First she released kids toys with fisher price, now the game app and later on the Disney movie. Everything makes sense if you put the parts together. During the SHAKIRA. era they were using a fit healthy image for Shakira, that's what lead to the Activia/Crest deal and all those features in health magazines. It was a good way to market her. She looks good for her age, then people wonder how. They were capitalizing on the fact that after watching CRTFY people were thinking "she looks so young for her age, how does she do it? How can I look as good as her in my 30s?"

Im sure you remember the Shakira abs we constantly saw during the Grammys:



After that those abs were used to sell Activia. Nothing is ever random. Her image and the products she sells are calculated.



It's easy for live nation to get companies to associate themselves with Shakira since throughout her career shes sold just about everything. Her and JLo are product whores.

[Wolfy]

The app now has a Tmobile commercial: