Taylor Swift has nearly a billion-dollar net worth, yet her goal remains to make as much money as possible.
To be clear, I am just as much a “Swiftie” as the next person. Swift’s Red album is, in my opinion, most certainly one of her most influential. Despite this, I remain concerned that Taylor Swift has become a corporate machine.
Taylor Swift, who currently sits at a net worth of $740 million, has seen her income skyrocket since 2022 when her net worth was said to be $570 million. This comes as a result of her Eras Tour, for which tickets are in high demand. While scalpers and re-sellers have taken price gouging to a whole new level, the set prices of Toronto tickets put in place by Taylor Swift’s team ranged from $150 to $600. This is an incredibly hefty price tag for one night of fun.
While Taylor herself seems to be doing some good with her earnings, her ticket prices still sit above the majority of other touring artists. For the average consumer, spending $150 on one ticket simply isn’t in the budget – and that’s just for nosebleed seats.
It looks like Taylor Swift and her team are more interested in bringing in a dollar than they are concerned with making her concert accessible for fans.
Furthermore, Taylor Swift is the queen of multi-coloured vinyl records. With the release of her album Midnights in 2022, Swift announced four exclusive-coloured vinyls. While all of them included the same content, fans were encouraged to buy all four in order to make the Midnights clock, a design that can be created only when all four vinyls are placed together. She went on to introduce another two colours later on, blood moon and love potion purple. This was the same story for the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) vinyl and her upcoming release 1989 (Taylor’s Version).
Swift then goes on to release exclusive vinyl after the initial release that includes new songs that she won’t put onto any streaming services. This is not an unusual corporate tactic in music, but it still forces fans who have already purchased one vinyl to buy a second in order to listen to one song.
On her merch shop, a simple tote bag or the Speak Now (Taylor’s Version) charm bracelet will cost a whopping $50 before taxes or shipping. Her “The Story of Us” cropped hoodie will put the consumer out at least $100.
Just recently, Taylor Swift’s “top listeners” on Spotify were notified of a special edition fan’s first poster and given a special code to purchase the limited quantity item. The poster was then posted on Taylor Swift’s merch website for anyone to purchase at the exact same price. There was no discount offered to her top listeners who were persuaded into buying the poster because it was only being offered in a “limited quantity.” The poster is still for sale on her website today.
Swift’s most recent offence is the prices of the tickets to the Eras Tour movie.
In order to make the Eras tour more accessible to fans who could not attend, Swift has recorded the tour and is releasing it in movie theatres. While this is not unusual in the music industry, the price for one ticket is $19.89. While this is supposed to be an easter egg alluding to the release of her new re-record, the price of the ticket for her show still sits way above the price of a normal movie ticket. To give an example of this, a general ticket to a general, 2D showing of Greta Gerwig’s Barbie is $11.99.
This kind of corporate greed becomes especially difficult when so much of Swift’s fandom revolves around the uncomfortable para-social relationship that her fans share with her. It’s nice to believe that she is a good person who is looking out for her fan base – but when it comes to the corporate end of the stick, Swift has proven that the business side comes first.