Taylor Swift: Singer-songwriter, Director, and Businesswoman?

With twelve Grammy-wins and forty-six nominations under her name (Grammy 2023), Taylor Swift is one of the most renowned musicians in the world. Playing on top of her game, Swift creates and performs songs spanning multiple genres, including country, pop, and folk (Grammy 2023). Last year, the singer-songwriter made her directorial debut with the award-winning "All Too Well: The Short Film," adding another title to her resumé (Lenker 2022). But is she stopping there? With her upcoming Era's tour having an estimated revenue of $620 million (Cohan 2022), it makes people wonder: is it all her, or is she bringing on her A game with marketing, too? The answer suggests that Taylor Swift is no less a businesswoman than a musician. 

Putting aside Swift's ingenious deals with major streaming companies such as Apple Music and her innovative collaboration with UPS for her webstore (Harpaz 2017), let's take a closer look at how she retains fans' attention with her bombastic music and a few business tricks.

(1) Starting with the basics – Advertisement 

Behind every successful company is, of course, a great product, and something just as crucial–a good advertisement. Companies boost demand by making their products seem appealing and desirable to customers, planting advertisements in the details of our lives in every possible way. But when it comes to art, promotion takes a different form, especially regarding Taylor Swift. Easter eggs. Taylor Swift is famous for leaving clues for fans to decipher weeks and months before the release of a new album and has even suggested in an interview that she might have been leaving hints "three years in advance" (Grady 2022). By planting easter eggs in scrambled letters, a motif, easily missed signs, and symbols throughout her songs, music videos, interviews, and even outfits, Swift actively involves her fandom in releasing an album to a level few artists in the industry do. Swift's easter eggs urge fans to constantly search for more context about her upcoming works or albums. This continuously increasing level of curiosity suggests fans purchase albums to obtain an answer. 

(2) Exclusivity

Imagine purchasing cookies. Every piece of information for you to make the transaction is transparent. Customers know how the process goes, including where to go or how much to pay to secure the good. Yet, unlike how it works with buying cookies, Swift's business operates more like an exclusive club with invitation-only memberships. 

On Swift's official webpage (Swift 2023), the information made transparent to fans and customers are her concert dates and merchandise prices. However, one piece of crucial information left out, and perhaps one that only die-hard fans would hold, is an email sent to your address informing you of your eligibility to participate in exclusive activities once you've invested above a certain threshold. 

For example, amidst the chaos of Swift's The Eras Tour ticket sales, fans have noticed that the distribution of pre-sale codes, which grants a person early access to ticket sales before the general public, seems to prioritize those who had gone to the Lover Tour, followed by people who had purchased Swift's merchandise, like physical albums. 

However, this theory remains speculation based on the fandom experiences of Swift and her team, which only partially indicates what mechanism is used in this seemingly random process. Nevertheless, fans who have gained access to such opportunities are "thrilled," especially given the tumultuous Ticketmaster incident where fans have described the chances of purchasing a ticket as lower than getting into Harvard. One fan, who prefers to remain anonymous, claims that receiving the early-access code has made him feel "special" and that he is "confident that he will be able to secure a ticket this time" (Anonymous 2023).

Even though some fans suffered hardships securing tickets, which might discourage the further display of their interest, Swift's technique creates exclusivity. This means that there will still be fans, made loyal by this mechanism, who will return for that feeling of "being special." 

After all, a good merchant doesn't go far without knowing how to show gratitude and give back to their most loyal customers. 

(3) The lucky one.

The idea of being able to purchase something that's generally perceived to be invaluable and not up for sale is exhilarating.  

To many fans, perhaps the absolute satisfaction lies not in the moment when they open newly released vinyl records, but in the idea of potentially meeting one of the most influential people in the musical industry in person. And that experience, just like enrolling at Harvard, can hardly be defined by a monetary value. 

Echoing that very idea, Swift's team does not sell meet-greet tickets. Instead of charging fans hundreds of dollars, all fans meeting Swift are chosen on the night of the concert by her team, Taylor Nation, and her mom. In other words, while other mega-stars are charging mostly anywhere ranging from $400 to over $1,000 for fans to meet them in person (with Selena Gomez charging $499.99 for the ultimate VIP package on her 2016 tour, and Kiss charging $1500 during their last tour in Australia (Adams, 2016)), Taylor Swift is charging zero. While the demand for such an opportunity may be inelastic to some die-hard fans, the price still appears rather exorbitant, potentially driving many fans out of that market. 

Yet Swift's power move of charging zero and hand-picking lucky fans has created an equal chance for every fan with regular-priced tickets to meet her. Because of this process's mysteriousness and, perhaps, randomness, it gives hope to every fan attending concerts, allowing them to believe that they could be the lucky ones. And instead of having to purchase the outrageously priced VIP packages, they could meet Swift with just a $200 ticket. 

Perhaps no true fan could give a monetary value to the time they spend with their favorite singer. Thus, with the belief that they could be the chosen ones, in their minds, they're giving more value to the ticket than its actual price. And this drives them to make the purchase. 

With her never-before-seen business tactics and great tunes, Taylor Swift is putting her fan's ears and wallets under her spell. And she should indeed add that title of businesswoman in her resumé. 

References

Adams , Cameron. 2016. “From Selena Gomez to the Monkees: How ‘Stars’ Are Putting a Price on ...” News.com.au. June 15. https://www.news.com.au/entertainment/music/tours/from-selena-gomez-to-the-monkees-how-stars-are-putting-a-price-on-vip-experiences/news-story/0b61e07dae030941c0469c5cd6eeddcd. 

Cohan, Peter. 2022. “Taylor Swift Could Earn $620 Million on 'Eras' Tour While Ticketmaster Makes a Pittance.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. December 29. https://www.forbes.com/sites/petercohan/2022/12/20/taylor-swift-could-earn-620-million-on-eras-tour-while-ticketmaster-makes-a-pittance/?sh=4e24a1437fe1. 

Grady, Constance. 2022. “Let's Go down the Rabbit Hole of Taylor Swift Conspiracy Theories.” Vox. Vox. October 19. https://www.vox.com/culture/23411001/taylor-swift-conspiracy-theories-midnights-karma-is-real-gaylor. 

GRAMMY. 2023. “Taylor Swift.” Recording Academy. Accessed April 8. https://www.grammy.com/artists/taylor-swift/15450. 

Harpaz, Joe. 2017. “The Business Lessons We Can Learn from Taylor Swift.” Forbes. Forbes Magazine. September 13. https://www.forbes.com/sites/joeharpaz/2017/09/13/business-lessons-from-taylor-swift/?sh=76b68d246573. 

Lenker , Maureen Lee. 2022. “Taylor Swift's Short Film 'All Too Well' Is Not on the Oscar Shortlist.” EW.com. Entertainment Weekly . December 21. https://ew.com/awards/oscars/taylor-swift-all-too-well-snubbed-oscar-shortlist-best-live-action-short-film/. 

Swift , Taylor. 2023. “Taylor Swift.com.” Taylorswift.com. Accessed April 8. https://www.taylorswift.com/.