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ARTPOP App Icon

ARTPOP app icon

The ARTPOP app was an application for mobile on Android and iOS compatible devices with ARTPOP. Gaga hired Relative Wave and her newly created company TechHaus for the project. The back end development is handled by Cloud City Development. These teams worked together for 12 months to create the app.

On launch date, Gaga explained that some of the app features were not included in order to test the server capacity and that they would be released in the next "few weeks". Soon after the release of the app in 2013, Gaga left Atom Factory and decided to move on from projects that were involving her previous management which included, the ARTPOP app. The app was decommissioned on September 30th, 2015.

Background

On September 5, 2012, Lady Gaga revealed through Little Monsters her plan to release an application for computers and mobile devices such as Android and iOS (iPhone/iPad). The application would include the album art along with interactive chats, films for every song, extra music, content, Gaga inspired games, fashion updates, and magazines.
Post on Little Monsters from that day:

ARTPOP is not just an ALBUM its a PROJECT
Im excited to tell you all that ARTPOP is going to be a multimedia experience that comes in different forms. The most major way to fully immerse yourself in ARTPOP is through the APP. ARTPOP will be released as an IPAD, iPhone, mobile and computer compatible application (WORLD) that is completely interactive with chats, films for every song, extra music, content, gaga inspired games, fashion updates, magazines, and more still in the works! I will also be able to upload new things to the APP all the time, the same way i upload to twitter and LM.com. You inspired me to create something that communicated with images, because YOU do, YOU communicate with me and each other with .gifs and pictures, and artwork, graphics ALL DAY 24/7/ YOU'RE an ARTPOP generation. Im hoping you will all continue to grow together and stay connected through your creativity. much love.

love, gaga

p.s (start asking for IPADS FOR XMAS!!) its gonna be so fun. but dont worry. it will also be released in the regular physical and digitals which will be unique and different to the app.


On September 6, 2012, Lady Gaga responded to the comments left by fans following her announcement and stated that she believes that "applications" are the future of music as the way to sell albums. She clarified that ARTPOP is a project and the app is one of the many upcoming projects related to it.
Post on Little Monsters from that day:

HEYLO! Good morning angels! been reading your comments/questions about ARTPOP APP and wanted to answer your questions!
1. ARTPOP APP will be available to work on computers (for example your laptops,) in addition to iPads, tablets, smartphone, Android, (compatible with as many formats that this technology can function on at this time) if you have a laptop this will fully suffice you to utilize it, so do not fret! I already anticipated you would say that :) Nobody will be missing out on anything special! Nothing is different except I've giving you more stuff to play with and have fun.

2. It will not be more expensive than album. I find digital music to be overpriced (as it is not the same value as a physical copy) and this is a way to give you more.

2. Bjork (who had always been on the cutting edge) was the first artist to release her music in this way, to my knowledge. There are also other international underground musicians and business that use the APP as well to sell various products. The use of an APP as a way to sell albums, in my opinion is the future of music. I am in no way taking credit for the invention of the APP, or claiming to be the first artist to distribute music this way. An APP is "CANVAS" a medium. Like an MP3 is a medium for digital music, except I can attach a variety of sub-mediums within the APP to create a visual/interactive world for you. This world is built organically by the HAUS OF GAGA, and will be a completely unique and different experience from other music-sale based APPs because its inspired by us and the new sound of my music. However I am hoping that *god willing* the success of ARTPOPs music will propel the use of artist driven APPs further into the music industry stratosphere. Im excited to be apart of it. Ultimately the APP is unimportant if the music isn't great though right?

3. My vision for ARTPOP in general is also NOT EXCLUSIVE to the APP. That is just one element. THE ARTPOP PROJECT extends beyond the APP and there will be more surprises in the future NOT related to the APP, perhaps I did not make that clear. SORRY!!

[...]


On October 17, 2012, Lady Gaga posted on Little Monsters and cross-posted it on Twitter ("selfie #littlemonsters http://littlemonsters.com/post/507ecac462d66da908002a2e") and Instagram with the following caption: "ARTPOP app meeting in an hour. Leave your ideas below so Haus can take notes." It is unknown if this was the first or a follow up meeting.

On October 29, 2012, Gaga commented that the app "IS COMING ALONG AMAZING" and that she fly back to Chicago often to see Taylor and to work on the app. She also added that the developers involved are "all like 22 [years old] and genius kids."

On July 12, 2013, it was announced the ARTPOP app would be available for pre-order on September 1st. Here is the description of the app, "Built by TechHAUS, the technological branch of HAUS OF GAGA, the app itself is a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community 00 “the auras.” Altering the human experience with social media, we being ARTculture into POP in a reverse Warholian expedition.

Exploring Gaga’s existence as a cultural interface, the user will share in the “adrenaline of fame” as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once on November 11, our “BIG BANG!” On this day HAUS OF GAGA venues with forte to bring the music industry into a new age where art drives pop, and the artist once again is in control of the “icon.”"

On July 31, 2013 Lady Gaga tweeted about the app: The ARTPOP app is Free, available in App Stores on your device. You can purchase the music through the ARTPOP app once it's downloaded.

Founder of Relative Wave, Max Weisel, wrote about the creation of the app on his official site.

ARTPOP is an app created for the release of Lady Gaga’s third studio album, ARTPOP. It combines music, fashion, and artistic pieces to make an app that allows fans to experience the album and also produce their own art.
Lady Gaga began working on this album and app in 2012. With an incredibly strong fan base, she wanted to create something that would allow her fans to create both music and art.
At the time, I had just started RelativeWave, a small app shop in San Francisco. When we started on this project, we set out to make two apps. The first of which became ArtHaus, a tool for creating and remixing digital sculptures. Something that was simple enough for anyone to use, but expressive enough to allow unique creations.
The second app was called Trakstar. It was a unique way to compose and remix music. We set the same goals for Trakstar as we did with ArtHaus. We wanted to make an editor that you could use to remix and compose music. Something that was simple enough for a child to play with, but expressive enough that truly interesting music could be created. Unfortunately, the second app was never released.

—Max Weisel

To the text message about the ARTPOP app on his official website, Max Weisel attached also three videos showing how to use the app (creating aura with Petga, listetning to the album in Player and creating GIFs in ArtHaus).

In the interview for MSN Canada on November 18, 2013 when interviewer asked Lady Gaga, what is the "TrackStar" and "GagaTV", she spoke about the application in general and also about the functionality of "TrackStar" and "GagaTV," that were to be implemented in reality after a few months from the launch of the ARTPOP App.

Well, the app in general, the ARTPOP App, this is a creative process app. This is an app where we're inviting you to come inside our minds, where we're in the middle of building and changing something over the next five years. So the app begins with an experience with Petga as she introduces you to the world of ARTPOP and you generate your aura which is a-- scans you and the light in the room. It also scans-- think[s] your interests as you choose them on the application and then you can give them your location if you like and then you get this aura, that's a light source that changes over time depending on how you interact with the app. And then there's ArtHaus which is a GIF-making program which is going to continue to get upgrades every couple of weeks as we start to see how the fans engage with it, how they're learning how to use it. And then TrackStar is something that will be out in a few month, that is a musical engineering system where you can actually use the stems from the album to make music. And GagaTV will be a more interactive way for me to share things with the fans directly through the app. For example, performances or debuting songs, all sorts of things. So the app is really a way for you to just engage in my creative process, as me in the Haus Of Gaga go on this up journey together.

Lady Gaga on MSN Canada

The app was decommissioned on September 30th, 2015. Even after deleting the ARTPOP App from App Store and Google Pay, it itself still loads, you can get your aura generated. However the GIF section and playing the album is super broken and not supported anymore. Also users can't see any online content however they can see the past ones they had made.

There was a lot planned for the app that never happened. It was initially released unfinished which was a bad start, and it had a countdown timer for the next sections of the app to be unlocked when they were completed, but when the ARTPOP era didn't go as planned they pulled funding from the app.

Release

App Store

Screenshots
Description
Lady Gaga brings you a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community - "the auras". Altering the human experience, we bring ARTculture into POP in a reverse Warholian expedition. Exploring Gaga's existence as a cultural interface, the user will share in the "adrenaline of fame" as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once.
Developed by Relative Wave
  • Additional information on AppStore


Version: 1.0.1

Category
Music
Released
November 11, 2013
Size app
381 MB
Language
English
Seller/Developer
Relative Wave LLC
What's new?
Initial release
Service Provider
© 2013 Petga LLC
Compatibility
Requires iOS 6.1 or later. Compatible with iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch. This app is optimized for iPhone 5.
Version: 1.0.4

Category
Music
Released
December 21, 2013
Size app
388 MB
Language
English
Seller/Developer
Relative Wave LLC
What's new?
Initial release
Service Provider
© 2013 Petga LLC
Compatibility
Added new 3D models, materials, scenes, and filters to ArtHaus.
Improved various parts of the UI.
Fixed various other bugs.

Google Play

Screenshots
Description
The app is a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology with a new interactive worldwide community - "the auras". This phase 1 version includes an interactive video experience with the interface of the application, Petga, along with a 3D modeling tool that allows users to create multi-media GIFs to communicate through visuals. Listen to the album, chat with fans on LittleMonsters.com, and enter into the world of ARTPOP!
  • Additional information on Google Play


Version: 1.0.1

Category
Music & Audio
Released
November 11, 2013
Size app
359 MB
Developer
Petga
Requires Android
2.3 and up
Version: 1.0.1

Category
Music & Audio
Released
November 12, 2013
Size app
359 MB
Developer
Petga
Requires Android
4.0 and up
Version: 1.2

Category
Music & Audio
Released
November 19, 2013
Size app
447 MB
Developer
Petga
Requires Android
4.0 and up
Version: 1.3

Category
Music & Audio
Released
November 22, 2013
Size app
359 MB
Developer
Petga
Requires Android
4.0 and up
Version: 1.4

Category
Music & Audio
Released
December 19, 2013
Size app
366 MB
Developer
Petga
Requires Android
4.0 and up
What's new?
Added new 3D models, materials, scenes, and filters to ArtHaus.
Added a "Flag as Inappropriate" button.
You can now opt to reset your aura.
Improved various parts of the UI.
Fixed uploading very large GIFs.
Fixed various other bugs.

Features and content

ARTPOP App - Features and content

The app is "a musical and visual engineering system that combines music, art, fashion, and technology." The ARTPOP app is centralized around the idea of “the auras,” which is an interactive worldwide community of users within the app. Cleverly named after “Aura,” the first track on the ARTPOP, each person’s “aura” is a personal profile that they will develop while using the app. Creating an "aura" was supposed to be a personalised kind of representation of the app's user, and was supposed to help connect the user with other people with similar "auras." Think of it as an overall presence of your activity in the app, accessed by tapping on the glowing orb at the bottom of the main menu, which will reveal your activity scattered across the screen. In the app all the text was written in GothamHTF-Book and GothamHTF-Light fonts.

The phase 1 version includes an interactive video experience with the interface of the application, Petga, along with a 3D modeling tool that allows users to create multi-media GIFs to communicate through visuals. Listen to the album, chat with fans on LittleMonsters.com and enter into the world of ARTPOP.

Petga

Related articles: Ruth Hogben and The Mill
Petga_(ARTPOP_App)

Petga (ARTPOP App)

Petga is the name of the virtual assistant that users experience upon launching the app for the first time. She will guide them through the creation process of an "aura" which is required to have in order to access the other features. Each user has their own individual aura, which will change over time as they take part in various activities in the application.

In July of 2013, Gaga revealed the first information on Petga describing it as "exploring Gaga's existence as a cultural interface, the user will share in the 'adrenaline of fame' as they build and share their own projects, chat with one another, and watch in real-time on a virtual globe as ARTPOP explodes onto the physical and virtual universe at once."

Aura creation

After Petga introduces herself, the user has to type in their name, accept to share their device's location and take a picture of yourself with your camera, it then "scans your aura",  and asks you to choose characteristics that you identify with most from a list (Artistic, Entrepreneurial, Poetic, Social, Techy, Visionary, Athletic, Psychic, Musical and Philosophical).

The app then asks what artistic expressions interest you the most (Painting, Graphic Design, Sculpture, Theatre, Film, Fashion Design, Photography, Drawing, Music and Dance), which themes from ARTPOP you're most interested in, and which lyrics "represent you in the ARTPOP universe" (Aphrodisi from "Venus", kinda dirty from "Sexxx Dreams", stupid attractive from "Jewels N' Drugs", cosmic lover, enigma from "Aura", that G.U.Y. from "G.U.Y.", addicted2Love from "MANiCURE", Dolce vita from "Donatella", for life from "Gypsy", and squealer from "Swine").

In the app, the aura exists in six colors: cyan, fuchsia, green, purple, white, and yellow.

You're then presented with your aura: a glowing orb of light that will travel and grow with you, the more you use the app.

ArtHaus

ARTPOP_App_-_ArtHaus

ARTPOP App - ArtHaus

The ArtHaus is a 3D modeling tool. The tool also includes the ArtHaus Exhibition which has a tab for the most popular GIF, most recent, and those seen by Gaga. Any GIF user see in the app can be tapped on to get a closer view, given "Props" and remixed using the same creation tools, which is a handy way to figure out how the better ones were made.

To create a GIF, users of the app could click on the little plus sign at the top of the screen next to the their's name to create their own GIF. Here, users were able to choose a background, an object to occupy said background (a gazing ball, head, animal, etc.) and jigger the animation of that object. There was a variety of different patterns users could use as well, including images from their own camera. Once users have done their GIF, they could share it across user's social networks.

The video that was published on Max Weisel's official website shows how users can use ArtHaus.

Chat

Via the app, users can chat with fans on LittleMonsters.com.

ARTPOP

ARTPOP_App_-_Music_Player

ARTPOP App - Music Player

Inside the app, users can listen to the album directly with the application. To unlock this feature, users are required to validate their ARTPOP purchase (CD, digital or they can buy the album inside the app).

The player is a virtual vinyl turntable with a movable needle to rewind or fast-forward the song. It continues playing while you explore other sections of the app, and also runs in the background if you switch to other apps. Your play history of the album will become part of your aura, but other than this, it is just a music player.

Trakstar & Gaga TV

On the day of the release for the app, "Trackstar" and "GagaTV" were both locked with a countdown leading to April 1, 2014. Due to Gaga leaving Atom Factory in 2013, progress for the app stopped. On April 1, 2014, when the countdown turned to zero, nothing happened, "TrackStar" and "GagaTV" didn't unlock. A new countdown of 200 days was added but nothing happened when it reached zero. On August 24, 2014, Gaga replied to a tweet regarding the countdown that "[she] have moved on from anything having to do with previous management. New music, new manager, new promotion. Life is amazing.". Prior to her tweet, Max Weisel of Relative Wave explained to fans on Twitter that the situation was out of his control and that he couldn't do anything.

Trackstar
TrakStarIcon

'Trakstar' Icon

This feature was also supposed to be unlocked on April 1, 2014. A few weeks before the release of the App, Gaga revealed that users will be able to use the stems (audio files) from every song on ARTPOP and play with them to create various remixes of the songs, like in GarageBand (a line of digital audio workstations). The "Trakstar" feature was rumored to have a behind the scenes into the album ARTPOP, and artRAVE: The ARTPOP Ball. In its review of the ARTPOP app, the Indonesian creative design agency Dotugo made the assumption that the "Trackstar" had something to do with DJing, that much was indicated when the user checked his/her profile, which had the feature "Live DJ Sessions in Trakstar."

GagaTV
GagaTVIcon

'GagaTV' Icon

On July 25, 2012, Gaga revealed her plans to release a film for each track on ARTPOP. She further revealed that she has yet to decide whether there will be one or more films for each track. The following day, Gaga released the first episode of "Monstervision", the name is a mix between "Monsters" (fans) and "Gagavision" (her online series). She even announced a contest to select a fan to direct one of the films for the album. "GagaTV" was supposed to be a place for Lady Gaga to hold regular livestreams and chat with fans and give them live updates (this was before livestreaming was common on apps like Instagram so this function was really ahead of its time).

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