Case study

How Commerce-UI Built an Immersive, Video-First Web Experience for Lady Gaga

TL;DR: Commerce-UI used Mux to build Lady Gaga an immersive, video-centric website where video functions as a fundamental UI element, not just content. The site is built on Shopify's Hydrogen framework for e-commerce and Sanity CMS for content management.

The technical implementation allows for 4K video quality with fast loading times, seamless content updates, and flexible video integration. After launch, they saw a 128% increase in add-to-cart rate and 55% increase in average order value.

When Michal Klim's phone rang that day, he wasn't expecting to hear about a project for one of the world's biggest pop stars: Mother Monster, Stefani Germanotta, — the Lady Gaga.

"It was a surprise for us," he said with a smile.

As the CTO of Commerce-UI, a specialist agency that creates visually rich, high-performance e-commerce experiences, Michal was no stranger to ambitious projects. But Lady Gaga's website would push creative and technical boundaries in new ways.

In the ever-evolving landscape of digital experiences, few artists demand more from their online presence than Lady Gaga.

When the global superstar decided to revamp her website, her team knew they needed a modern, headless tech stack to support her artistic vision and e-commerce demands. Gaga’s website would weave in several artistic elements, including a heavy emphasis on video, and the site needed to deliver flawless performance.

Commerce-UI, the Shopify development team behind ladygaga.com, faced the challenge of creating a site where video would play a central role in the experience — not just as content, but as part of the interface itself.

Video as the digital heartbeat

“We do very visually rich projects with extended storytelling. And there cannot be storytelling nowadays without video,” Michal says.

"Videos are becoming so obvious for everyone that we're starting to use them even for smaller interactions," explains Michal. "In the past, we were talking about three or four videos per site. Now, you could have 20 videos on each of the product cards."

For Lady Gaga's website, video isn't just supplementary content — it's the heartbeat of the user experience.

From dramatic splash pages to dynamic backgrounds to interactive elements that bring the site to life, video creates the immersive environment that connects fans with the artist's vision.

"We can't talk about music today without music videos. They are essential," Michal notes. "Video is almost a part of the UI, and it has to behave as such. It has to load fast and feel very natural."

The technical challenge behind the magic

Creating a digital platform for one of music's biggest names required solving several complex technical challenges:

Exceptional quality and performance: "It has to be good quality — if we want to serve 4K, we should serve 4K. And it has to be fast," explains Michal. "Those may seem obvious, but that's the reason why not every site has a ton of video."

Seamless editorial control: The site needed to empower Lady Gaga's team to make rapid changes without technical assistance, especially during album launches or major events.

Flexible video integration – "As video is a crucial part of branding strategy, showing the newest music videos in the highest quality was crucial," Michal emphasized. "Lady Gaga's team can add any size and format and not worry about compression and other technical aspects that could slow down the website."

Building a cohesive tech stack

To create this cutting-edge digital experience, Commerce-UI assembled a powerful tech stack that balanced performance, creativity, and ease of use:

• Shopify's Hydrogen framework: A high-performance headless commerce solution providing the e-commerce foundation
• Sanity CMS: An intuitive content management system that enables Lady Gaga's team to easily update content across the site
• Mux: Powering all video experiences throughout the platform

“Shopify serves only as an e-commerce platform, handling product and collections data," Michal explains. "Then all editorial content, including the homepage and other pages, is handled by Sanity and Mux."

Why Mux was the perfect fit

Commerce-UI chose Mux to power the video experience on ladygaga.com for several critical reasons.

"Mux happens to tick all of the boxes," Michal says. "For one, it's definitely very reliable, very feature-rich. It allows us to serve the best quality video in the most performant way."

The technical implementation prioritized both the end-user experience and the content management workflow. Lady Gaga’s team is able to upload the best quality video and Mux handles the rest. Plus, Mux integrates seamlessly with Sanity. This allows Gaga’s team to preview the whole video library right from Sanity without going out of context.

Perhaps most importantly, Michal adds:

"It just works. And saying 'it just works' is a lot to say about video, because it's not always the case."

A living digital experience

Since its launch, the site has already undergone several transformations — from promoting the new album "MAYHEM" to featuring the newest single "Abracadabra" with its accompanying music video. This dynamic approach demonstrates how essential video is to the site's identity.

The results speak for themselves.

According to Commerce-UI, Lady Gaga's team saw a 128% increase in add-to-cart rate and a 55% increase in average order value after the new website launched.

Building for the future

As video continues to play an increasingly important role in digital experiences, Lady Gaga's website stands as a testament to what's possible when ambitious creative vision meets the right technical implementation.

"The site is very dynamic," Michal shares. "We've changed the homepage almost four times in less than a month. So it really lives, and that's the plan for the site. And there are more versions coming. On each of them, there was a big part of it that was video. There will definitely be more videos on the site, and they will continue to play quite important roles."

Beyond providing a stunning visual showcase, the site serves a deeper purpose.

"It's a digital home for Stefani [Lady Gaga]," Michal explains. "The main purpose is to show all of her work for the first time in its entirety and to create something special for the fans. There are lots of Easter eggs on the site — small, sometimes unreasonable things with no clear ROI, but fans love them."

For brands and creators looking to make an impact in their digital presence, Lady Gaga's website offers a glimpse into the future — where video isn't separate content you consume, but a fundamental part of the experience itself.