In the past few years, Taylor Swift’s music empire has reached unprecedented heights. From chart-topping singles to sold-out stadiums, her fame encompasses the globe. Whether you’re a die-hard Swiftie or someone who thinks she’s way overrated, we can all agree that her stardom has only continued to grow, and so has her revenue.
Though many would point first toward her song-writing abilities and musical talent, the true reason behind her wild success can be found in her business decisions. Over the last year especially, Swift has repeatedly made millions in profit.
Let’s look first at her massively successful Eras Tour. When tickets for the tour first went on sale, the increase in traffic shut down Ticketmaster, leaving thousands of fans devastated. Not to worry though, as Swift released more United States tour dates between Oct. 18 and Nov. 3 of 2024 for fans who missed the first round. Her fan base is so large she can keep coming back for more, and she uses this power for quite a bit of gain.
She personally takes home $10 million-$13 million every night she performs. According to The Washington Post, the tour is projected to garner $4.1 billion in revenue.
Part of the insane popularity of this tour is most likely owed to the fact that it covers all of her albums. Each album is unique and many of them represent different genres, which pulls in a wide variety of fans who like different types of music. Much to the delight of these fans, she has recently taken the opportunity to release a concert movie based off of her tour.
“Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour” premiered in theaters Oct. 13. It invites viewers to sing along with some of their favorite songs in up-close seats as footage from Swift’s tour plays on the screen. Releasing this movie is another fantastic money-making move on her part.
One adult ticket costs about $20, and the film has already had massive success. In fact, it had an opening weekend that earned between $95 million and $97 million in North American box offices, which is the biggest debut for a concert movie yet.
Beginning before her tour and concert movie premiered, Swift has been steadily re-releasing her previous albums as a way to take control of her music. In doing so, she owns the masters for the new recordings, rather than a recording label she contracted to. Her latest release was “1989 (Taylor’s Version),” on Oct. 27.
Recreating her albums not only allows fans to reminisce with her old music, but it is a great financial choice as well. According to CNN Business, when an artist is under a label, they reap a percentage of the revenue from their recordings with no actual control over them. Now that Swift owns her masters, she is free to do whatever she wishes with her songs, and gain all the benefits herself.
The tour, movie and recreated albums act together to generate millions in profit. They advertise for one another, building themselves up into her growing empire. All of her recent decisions have only proven that Taylor Swift isn’t just a talented songwriter, she’s a genius businesswoman.
