by Michael Paoletta
Billboard
Issue: July 7
Named after Lauper's enduring and empowering No. 1 hit from 1986, the five-hour True Colors concert was presented by Logo, MTV's multiplatform LGBT-focused network, Sirius Satellite Radio and Orbitz.
From its national media sponsorship to its success, the True Colors tour put the spotlight on the maturing industry of gay-oriented entertainment. It's an industry, it turns out, that has reason to be proud.
Market data aggregator MarketResearch.com, in partnership with Witeck-Combs Communications, a marketing/communications firm specializing in the gay consumer market, estimates the buying power of gay men and lesbians to exceed $835 billion and projected the gay and lesbian population to exceed 16.3 million by 2011. This is a sizable jump from the expected $690 billion in 2007, and up from last year's $641 billion, 2005's $610 billion and 2004's $580 billion.
The emergence of centralized major media platforms has helped this growth along. Logo, launched by MTV Networks in 2005, is available in 27 million digital cable and satellite homes - up from only 13 million at launch, slightly more than a year ago. Sirius Satellite Radio's gay and lesbian channel OutQ reaches a potential audience of Sirius' 6.6 million subscribers every day.
Michael Wilke, executive director of nonprofit organization Commercial Closet Assn. - which educates corporate America and ad agencies to understand, respect and include LGBT references in advertising - is not surprised. "There is a growing comfort level and acceptance of the LGBT community in the general population, and in the corporate world, internally and externally for marketing," he says.
Logo founder/Wilderness Media and Entertainment president Matt Farber agrees. "The LGBT audience is very visible - and it's become increasingly visible over the past decade," he says. "This visibility is leading to more acceptance in the mainstream."
Farber, whose company specializes in gay and lesbian media and entertainment initiatives, and others credit today's increased visibility to political debates (gay marriage and the passage of inclusive hate crimes legislation), gay-positive TV shows like Will & Grace and The L Word, Ellen DeGeneres' coming out, films like Brokeback Mountain, the Bravo network and the digital age. Last year, Wilderness launched Music With a Twist, a joint-venture label deal with Columbia Records. Music With a Twist and its other branded properties - including a syndicated weekly radio show - spotlights LGBT artists. The label recently inked deals with the Gossip and Kirsten Price, who are featured on the recently released compilation Revolutions. The Gossip is one of several supporting acts on the True Colors tour.
Logo's emphasis on music, particularly its The Click List: Top 10 Videos and NewNowNext shows (both a mix of gay and gay-friendly acts), are helping to break acts like Mika, Dangerous Muse, the Cliks and Keo Nozari. Reality series Jacob & Joshua: Nemesis Rising introduced gay brothers/recording duo Nemesis to the masses.
To the True Colors tour, Logo brings its numerous platforms and brand marketing partners. "We connect with our audience on many levels - we offer numerous touch points in which to connect," Logo president/MTV Networks Music Group president of entertainment Brian Graden says. He is referring to the network's broadcast, digital (logoonline.com) and mobile platforms offering True Colors-branded applications, including artist spotlights, music videos, behind-the-scenes footage and live snippets from the concert.
Logo content is also available at iTunes, Amazon and BitTorrent, while mobile content is available on Verizon, Sprint, Helio and Amp'd cell phones. The network also has more than 100 national advertising partners, including Subaru, Unilever, Stolichnaya and Lexus; it launched with three charter advertisers.
In the first half of 2007, Logo experienced a 60 percent increase in TV ad sales over the same period last year.
Advertising in gay and lesbian publications continues to grow, too. In 2006, ad spending in gay and lesbian press reached $223 million, according to the 13th annual Gay Press Report, with data compiled by New York agency Prime Access and gay/lesbian media placement firm Rivendell Media. Compared with 2005, this is an increase of 5.2 percent. Meanwhile, ad spending for all consumer magazines grew by only 4.1 percent from the previous year.
Of course, the democratizing effects of the Internet have also helped gay media. Gay artists like Keo Nozari and Colton Ford have created their own viral marketing and promotion platforms, connecting with fans on a more personal level.
"In today's digital age, there are more opportunities than ever to get you and your music out there," says Ford, who also stars in the new series The Lair on gay cable channel Here. "Today's opportunities - MySpace, YouTube, mobile phones - are not driven by the same structures as yesterday's music industry."
Former Savage Garden member Darren Hayes, who came out of the closet and married his boyfriend last year, agrees. "A consumer revolution is taking place," Hayes says. "They are saying, 'This is the music we want.' Years ago, artists had to fit into certain molds created by the labels. But no longer. Napster really changed the landscape - in more ways than anyone could have predicted."
This environment permits fans to give favor as they choose. "Those in the audience are the drivers of artists' careers," Witeck-Combs CEO Bob Witeck says. "Gay artists, who were quick to recognize the viral power of the Internet, fully understand this."
And, it turns out, those most likely to be reached virally are more open to gay-friendly messages. "Research underscores that younger people are significant change agents on gay issues and sensibilities," Witeck adds. "They seem to have quickly become a post-label generation, and have not permitted their sexual orientation to define them.
"They are much more open to entertainment, ideas, relationships and sexual arrangements of various kinds without judgment," Witeck says. "Regardless of ideology or partisan label, younger people are leading on accepting same-sex marriage, adoption, employment rights, immigration, you name it."
Today's entertainers, including DeGeneres and Melissa Etheridge, have learned that incorporating their sexual identity into their careers is useful, because it has the potential to create a strong, passionate bond with specialized audiences, says Carmen Cacciatore, co-founder of Fly-Life, a lifestyle entertainment marketing agency in New York. Gay-identified acts like Rufus Wainwright, Erasure, Hayes, Scissor Sisters and the Gossip - and gay-adjacent artists like Amy Winehouse, Christina Aguilera, Robbie Williams, Enrique Iglesias and Madonna - succeed because they have talent. And talent trumps discomfort for today's young people, Witeck notes.
"Clearly, audiences recognize that artists transcend sexuality," Witeck says.
Prior to launching Logo, Graden says that people were worried about the network's content. "It's like when you come out (of the closet) and you fear the worst - but then nothing happens," Graden says. "That's been our story. There have been no protests or distribution problems."
True Colors was masterminded by Lauper, her longtime manager Lisa Barbaris and veteran agent Jonny Podell. It is the first national tour to openly target the LGBT community that has succeeded.
Of course, the mid-'90s Lilith Fair attracted a healthy lesbian contingent, purposefully or not, touring large amphitheaters. A Queer As Folk-branded DJ tour targeted gay discos and nightclubs.
And in 2004 and 2005, the Queercore Blitz trek - featuring bands like Triple Creme, Gang-Way and Sugarpuss - traveled the East and West Coasts.
The Pet Shop Boys-helmed Wotapalava, a gay lifestyle-themed music festival, was scheduled to hit 18 North American markets in the summer of 2001. But due to poor ticket sales, as well as headliner Sinead O'Connor pulling out of the show, the tour was "postponed" until the following year. It remains postponed.
The routing of True Colors was not overly ambitious, a prudent move based on the drawing power of the artists. The trek focused on midsize venues, with some large amphitheaters and smaller theaters.
"Eventually, everybody has got to stand up and take a stand," Lauper says. "I've always wanted to do a festival tour - and you can't do a True Colors tour without the community that the song has meant so much to."
This year's True Colors supports the Human Rights Campaign and the Matthew Shepard Act. "This tour celebrates our differences and empowers people," Lauper says. "Not everyone is a square peg that fits into a square hole."
Barbaris believes the tour's 2008 edition will be more inclusive. "It will be more about what's cool and what's not," she says. "We want to bring younger rock bands that support the LGBT community into our mix. Make it not so much a gay tour, but one that supports human rights."
Farber wrestles with similar issues when it comes to expanding his Wilderness empire. "Do you want to create an island or be part of the mainstream?" he asks. "You want both."
Even though something may be gay-centric, "we want the gay-adjacent folks in our lives to be welcome - so they don't feel like islands," Farber adds.
Since forming Wilderness in 2001, Farber has noticed more attention focused on the LGBT community. "So, while corporate America views our community as one big opportunity, it is also realizing and understanding that there is not a one-size-fits-all approach to reaching us."
Upon hearing this, Ford says, "We are as diverse as our next-door neighbors. We are also as visible as our next-door neighbors. The closet is a thing of the past. It is no longer an option."