She Found a Way to Dominate Across Consumption Metrics
For several years in the 2010s, Taylor pulled her music from streaming services, fearing that the music’s free availability would cut into her physical sales. But in the 2020s, she found a way to have her cake and sell it too: 2022’snot only scored the third-largest-ever streaming week for an album with its 549.26 million on-demand U.S. official streams in its debut frame, but it also sold 1.14 million copies, including a record 575,000 on vinyl.
With different-colored LP variants and packaging containing fan-servicing easter eggs and bonus materials, Swifties will often buy multiple copies of the same Swift albums, both online through her web store and through major chain and independent record stores, where she’s encouraged in-person shopping by releasing a number of store exclusives.
Swift would go on to cross the $100 million mark in 2011 with her Speak Now Tour and generate an impressive $150 million with the help of longtime promoter and family friend Louis Messina from the Messina Touring Group, and go on to generate $250 million in sales for her 2014-2015 1989 World Tour. The success of each tour was proof of just how much fans valued Swift’s music, and the “Blank Space” singer wasn’t the only one noticing.
Today, securing advance registration for an opportunity to buy tickets, along with seat-by-seat pricing based on market demand, have become staples of most high-demand tours. The war on bots, scalpers and random technical issues — see the recent snafu in France — clearly isn’t over, but Taylor’s on the frontlines. –It’s worth noting that Taylor was never just a country artist.