Taylor Swift: When the title “music industry” wasn’t an illusion

In the 17th year of her career, Taylor Swift is still the most successful music artist in the world today.

Taylor Swift is probably not a strange name to global music lovers. The American singer and songwriter was famous for her image as a “country music princess” before switching to pop and alternative music. Nearly 2 decades since her debut, her career has continued to flourish and up to now the name Taylor Swift has shown no signs of slowing down.

Many fans and music lovers decided to give the title “The Music Industry” to Taylor Swift. This title started from a Bloomberg magazine article in 2014 after the huge success of the 1989 album and became more popular when the late legendary American television journalist Barbara Walters used it in a video interview. That title has gradually followed Taylor Swift until today and she has proven that she is completely worthy of this title.

Taylor Swift is a global star today

Rare female artists can compete with male artists

In the music industry, male artists often have more advantages than female artists. Their music is more easily accepted by the public, male artists also receive less prejudice than their female colleagues. The proof is that the current records are mostly held by them. But everything is gradually changing when Taylor Swift is rising strongly in all aspects.

In the list of the 10 highest-grossing tours, all of them come from male bands, bands or male artists. “Queen of Pop” Madonna is the female artist with the highest-grossing tour with the Sticky & Sweet Tour in 2008 – 2009. With The Eras Tour, Taylor Swift is expected to earn approximately 2 million. billion USD with more than 150 shows. Obviously, this will be the highest-grossing tour of all time and also the first tour in history to surpass the 1 billion mark.

The Eras Tour is expected to achieve huge revenue

Since its announcement, The Eras Tour has created a “ticket fever” unprecedented in history. On the first day of early ticket sales in the US, more than 14 million visits caused Ticketmaster’s website to crash and system errors. The US Congress had to open a hearing on the lack of competition in the ticket sales industry after the above incident. In other stages, The Eras Tour received millions of registrations to buy tickets, specifically: 31 million registrations in Toronto, 22 million registrations in Singapore,… The huge demand caused resale ticket prices to decrease. increased tenfold.

The US Federal Reserve assessed that Taylor Swift’s tour brought incredible benefits to the US economy, opening a new door to help this country’s economy avoid a severe recession. Many leaders from Canada, Thailand, and Chile have expressed their wish for the female singer to bring the tour to their countries. Many music experts believe that Taylor’s current appeal can be compared to the legendary group The Beatles 60 years ago.

Not only did it achieve great revenue, the quality of The Eras Tour was also praised by audiences and fans. With 45 songs over 3 hours and careful investment in image and sound, Taylor Swift ensures that viewers will have an unforgettable experience and “worth their money”.

The tour’s influence is undeniable

Regarding album sales, only 9 albums by female singers out of 22 albums sold more than 1 million copies in the first week in the US. Among them, Taylor alone has 5 albums and is the only artist to do this. Or in the list of the 10 most listened to artists in history, which previously only had male artists, the singer Love Story is gradually regaining its position among women when it is predicted to reach number 1 at the beginning of the year. after.

Commercial success is not enough for Taylor Swift. The musical legacy of the singer born in 1989 is considered the most outstanding and valuable works today. She is the only female artist to win the Album of the Year award 3 times at the Grammys, only 3 other male artists have been able to achieve this achievement before. Taylor also dominated many other award ceremonies such as the VMAs, AMAs or BBMAs.

Taylor Swift won the 2023 VMAs with 9 awards

Not only music, Taylor Swift also ventured into cinema with the musical film The Eras Tour Concert Film . The film quickly broke the record for pre-order ticket sales of a series of Marvel blockbusters in North America. The Eras Tour is expected to earn 100 million USD in its opening weekend, breaking the record in the concert film genre held by Justin Bieber in 2011.

Starting a career is not as easy as many people think

To achieve her current success, many people will probably think Taylor is a rich lady with a luxurious life. There are also many rumors that her family bought a record label contract for their daughter and then spent money promoting her music products. However, the truth is not entirely like that.

Taylor’s mother used to be a marketing director at an advertising company. After getting married, she only worked as a housewife and took care of the children. Meanwhile, her father is a stock broker for Merrill Lynch – an investment and asset management company of a US bank. The singer spent most of her childhood living on a Christmas tree farm in Pennsylvania before convincing her family to sell the farm and move to Nashville, Tennessee to focus on her music career.

Taylor Swift with her parents

Taylor has never revealed specifics about her family’s circumstances, but when looking at pictures and videos of her as a child, it can be seen that she grew up in a family that could be said to be well-off, not rich. as rumored. Taylor once told a story when he was young, “My dad often takes care of the pine tree farm in his free time. I can only help remove mantis eggs before selling with my small hands.”

In an interview with CBS in 2019, the You Belong With Me singer shared that moving to Nashville was a difficult decision and that it completely turned the singer’s family life upside down. She appreciated her parents’ support for her and felt happy to be able to “repay” them.

Taylor’s parents have been with her since the beginning of her career

Taylor Swift showed an interest in music from an early age. She sought to make her dream come true by sending karaoke demos to record labels, “My mother waited in the car with my younger brother while I knocked on every record label’s office door.” . I would say, ‘Hello, I’m Taylor. I’m 11 years old. I want a record deal – please call me’. But as a result, no one called me.”

From then on, Taylor determined to learn the guitar and focus on composing to help herself stand out. When she sent the recordings with the songs she wrote, she received the attention of the big guys in the industry. At the age of 13, she signed her debut recording contract with RCA Records but decided to leave after 1 year because she did not see her future here. Later, thanks to her songwriting ability, the 14-year-old girl signed a contract with the famous music composition company Sony/ATV Publishing and became the youngest person to do so. However, she has not yet been able to debut as a singer.

Without giving up, Taylor decided to sing at local coffee shops. At the Bluebird Cafe, she met Scott Borchetta – who had just left Universal Music Group to establish his own record label. He saw Taylor Swift’s charisma and talent, then convinced her to sign a contract with his “unnamed” record label at that time. In 2005, the female singer officially signed a recording contract with Big Machine Records. Because it is a new record label and financial issues are not yet guaranteed, Taylor Swift’s father invested 120,000 USD (equivalent to 3% of shares) so that his daughter could have capital to produce music.

Taylor performed at the Bluebird cafe before her debut

Taylor shared about the difficulties in preparing for her debut: “Initially, the record label only had 10 employees. So when my first single was released, my mother and I came to help put out the CDs.” in an envelope to send to the radio station. We sat on the floor to work because there was nothing there.” After debuting in 2006 with the song Tim McGraw , things were not easy for her. No radio station was willing to play the song, and record sales were not good.

In order for her song to reach listeners, she went from radio station to radio station asking them to play her song. She also goes to local bars and small theaters to perform for free. Meanwhile, Taylor’s parents and friends also helped set up the website, send requests and promote the song everywhere. The effort paid off after more than 3 months, the song entered the prestigious Billboard Hot 100 chart for the first time. This is Taylor’s first significant achievement in her music career, and is the foundation for a brilliantly successful career.

Today’s most successful stars once performed for free on the street

A hard-working artist who knows how to take advantage of his strengths

Not only relying on talent or luck, Taylor also has her own way to help her stand out among today’s artists. From the beginning, she determined her career direction: sing and release songs she composed. At the age of 14, she refused to re-sign with a major record label because they wanted her to debut with a song written by someone else. The Shake It Off singer is also aware that singing is not her strong point and once admitted that she would not have become a singer if she were not a musician. With her natural songwriting talent, each of Taylor’s songs are stories told with uplifting notes, deeply touching the hearts of listeners.

Songwriting ability is what makes Taylor stand out

Taylor Swift’s success is also sweet after more than 17 years of hard work. While female artists of her time such as Rihanna, Lady Gaga or Katy Perry all turned to business or acting, no longer focusing on music production, Taylor is still dedicated to her passion. Over the past two decades, the female singer has released 10 studio albums, 3 re-recorded albums, and 1 Christmas EP. She also organized 6 global tours with more than 700 shows.

In addition, perhaps inheriting her mother’s marketing ability, Taylor is very good at marketing music to her audience and fans. The female singer clearly understands what the audience expects from her, she knows how to take advantage of available resources to promote her products. The name Taylor Swift has never ceased to be “hot” either as an artist or a celebrity. She has built a large and loyal fan community – they are often called Swifties. Swifties always support and accompany Taylor throughout her career and she always shows her appreciation for the hearts of her fans.

She builds a special relationship with her fans

To achieve current glory, a deep love for music is indispensable. Taylor’s mother once shared that although her daughter loves the recognition and support of fans, she has never considered “becoming famous” or “becoming rich” as a motivation to make music. “For her, the happiest thing is when she writes a good song.”

Taylor Swift constantly renews herself, in line with trends in the industry. Once known as the “country music princess”, the female singer is not afraid to transform herself into pop music in the 8th year of her career, then once again tries her hand at healing love songs through alternative rock music. /indie folk when the pandemic hit. Despite the gossip, Taylor is still firmly on her path. The 1989 singer always tries to improve his voice, product quality, songwriting ability as well as innovate his image in the eyes of the public. With sincere and close music, it is not surprising that the audience always favors the female singer.

A girl who is constantly changing, constantly developing

Thanks to her talent and “warrior” bravery, she has turned the most difficult moments of her life into opportunities for breakthrough. From the “mic snatching” incident at the 2009 VMAs, the sexual assault lawsuit to the drama with Kim Kanye and his wife – the incident seemed to have ended Taylor’s career, but she can still revive and prove inner strength through music.

Or recently, when she lost the master copyright of the first 6 albums, Taylor made the bold decision to re-record the old albums. This is a risky decision, but with the current success of the re-recorded albums, the American star has shown his influence. Re-released albums have breathed new life into old albums and helped them get closer to today’s young generation. The case also leaves a valuable lesson for all artists about copyright issues in music.

Taylor is in the process of re-recording 6 old albums

The success that Taylor Swift achieved is the convergence of many factors, of which Taylor Swift herself is the most important and decisive factor. Although many artists of her time gradually “fell out of the spotlight”, she still survived the harsh rejection of the entertainment industry . It’s no exaggeration to say that Taylor Swift is one of the most successful artists in history and her career still has a long way to go. The title “music industry” is probably the most accurate description of this talented female artist.