Transcription
It's December 2019. Taylor Swift just accepted Billboard's Woman of the Decade Award.
"Whatever they decided I couldn't do is exactly what I did." Behind the applause, she's fighting war. War erupted in a big way yesterday. Singer Taylor Swift is slamming music executives. A war against one of the most powerful executives in music, Scooter Braun.
"My entire catalog was sold to Scooter Braun." He bought every song she wrote from age 15 to 25. The music that built her empire. And now it belongs to someone she says she can't trust. But this video is not about that drama because the real story is what happened next.
She has built a $2 billion enterprise. "You're not just a mega singer, you're a mega brand." Taylor Swift went to war as a victim of the music industry. And by fighting it, she became one of the richest superstars in pop history. She is the first musician to become a billionaire just solely through music. Which begs the question, did Taylor Swift expose the dark, exploitative music machine?
The music industry is uh, you know, or is she simply the greatest manipulator of the pop music machine the world has ever seen?
"Lately, I've been focusing more on doing whatever the hell I want." "I want to work really hard while society is still tolerating me being successful."
"Let me tell you a story. It's an honor to have you on, Rick." "I'm excited. I I've been watching your videos, so I feel like I know you already, which is great." This is Rick Barker, the very first manager of Taylor Swift. He knows Taylor better than most.
"I got offered a job to work for Big Machine Records, and Scott Morchetta flew me out to Nashville and said, 'Hey, listen. On your way back to the airport, I would love for you to listen to this CD and tell me what you think.'" So he handed me a CD of Taylor and I stuck it in the rental car and I listened and when I got back to the airport I said, "There's something about this girl."
So what made her different? What made Taylor Swift one of the biggest superstars we've ever had?
"What she did? There's one thing for a fan to know that they're being seen. She made them feel like they were being seen." "Oh, thank you. like when they would walk up in line and she would say, 'Oh my gosh, you're so beautiful. I love your eyes. Let's take a picture.' That's what the difference was is she made them feel noticed."
"Guys, thank you so much. It's so nice to meet you." Here's the thing about Taylor. She's not just talented. She's strategic. She started out as a country singer writing songs about high school crushes and ended up as the biggest pop star on the planet.
"Okay, this is my 13th Grammy." That's calculated, intentional, and executed with military precision. Because Taylor Swift understood something that most artists don't learn until it's too late. She wasn't just selling music. She was selling herself.
"There is an element to my fan base where we feel like we grew up together. I'll be going through something, write the album about it, and then it'll come out. And sometimes it'll just coincide with what they're going through."
Her entire brand is built on one simple idea. You're not just a fan, you're a friend. Sure, every artist tries this. Beyonce has the beehive. Lady Gaga has her little monsters. K-pop groups have turned fandom into science. But Taylor and her fans, well, it's something else entirely. She has always just put a strong emphasis in her career on rewarding those fans and surprising them and showing up and and being there for important moments just to show the connection and the love that she has for her fans.
"I saw the pictures of like your dragons outfits with Amanda last night." She leaves them Easter eggs in her music videos, invites fans to her house for listening parties. She remembers their names. She creates intimacy, loyalty, a connection so strong that every breakup becomes a mystery to solve, every feud a storyline, every controversy content. And it works. The story that she was telling was the emotion of what it was like being a teenager. And there were millions and millions and millions of teenagers that were feeling left out, not being in the in crowd, not being popular, not having a boyfriend. You know, all the different emotions that a teenage girl goes through. Taylor was going through those emotions.
"Also, we don't forget what happened in 2009." "Thank you so much for giving me a chance to win a VMA award. I" "I I'm really happy for you. I'm let you finish. But Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time." This 30 secondond moment turned into years of material.
President Obama calling Kanye West a jackass, but he did it with a 17-year-old girl because he could. Then in 2016, the Kanye saga returned when he released the song Famous, which had controversial lyric about Taylor Swift in it. The song contains a lyric calling Taylor Swift the border said she never approved it but then Kanye leaked the infamous phone call between them.
"has a very controversial line at the beginning of the song about you. I actually watched this entire clip and to her defense, she never proved the b- word. And yes, Kanye 100% used her fame to his advantage, but that conflict gave her more material. Taylor has turned her personal life into a franchise. Her fans don't just stream her music, they subscribe to her life."
"So, she is a brilliant salesperson, but it's also very real."
Yet, all of that success was building towards something much bigger. Okay, before we get to the juicy part, I want to take a moment and thank you all, you guys who watch our videos and and subscribe to this channel because we've almost reached 100K subscribers. And the fact that you guys are helping us along and pushing us forward is not something we take lightly. So, please know that. And for this 100K subscribers occasion, I got myself a gift. Well, in fact, my friends at GentleBands treated me with this beautiful ring. Gentle Bands make handmade rings for every occasion in your life. And since every Gentleband's ring is handmade in a familyrun workshop using only high quality, sustainably sourced materials, they last forever. And you'll even get the certificate with the name of the artisan who made your ring. And when they asked me which design I wanted, I went for the Rumba. I think it has edge and it looks really, really nice. I'll wear this as a reminder of what we've accomplished with this channel so far, but not least where we're heading. And yes, Gentlebends is now also offering to engrave your ring for free, so you can make it yours in every sense. This might be one of the coolest and most memorable gifts you can give yourself or maybe better to someone who's been through it with you. Now, check out Gentleman's in the link in the description and let's get back to Taylor Swift.
"you know, writing my own songs was a way to create what I wanted to create and and music about my life. And that way, it kind of became just a diary put to music every time I put out a new record."
In 2019, Scooter Braun bought Big Machine Records for $300 million. And with it, he acquired the mass recordings of Taylor Swift's first six albums. Taylor was furious because this wasn't just business to her. Scooter Braun had managed Kanye West during the exact era when Kanye and Taylor were locked in one of the most famous celebrity feuds of the century.
"You don't make a deal at that level unless you believe in her. I believed that she was going to become exactly who she's remained to be. I don't have any nefarious reasons. You don't. That was a major risk for me at the time to buy that company."
In her mind, her enemy now owned her life's work. She framed it as David versus Goliath. A young female artist versus a powerful male executive. And the thing is that she did have a point.
"Hey, this is Scott Warsetta, president and CEO of the Big Machine label group, and you're watching Billboard." Scott Petta, the founder of Big Machine, was the man who signed Taylor when she was only 15. He built his entire label on the back of her success.
"There are moments almost every day where I kind of look around and go, 'Wow, this this really worked, didn't it?' Taylor comes to Scott Borchetta and says, 'I'd like to own my masters. You make another album for me and then I'll give you the rights back to one of your old albums.'"
Then when Taylor left Big Machine to side with Universal, Britta sold her old masters to someone she believed was trying to silence her.
"Our biggest power move is my new partner, Scooter Braun." Taylor signed her big machine contract at 15. And like most young artists, she had no leverage. The label owned her masters.
"Taylor came to a record company as a complete unknown. Most artists come to a record company as a complete unknown. So, the person that's going to take the risk is the label. The label is the bank. So, the person that funds the operation owns the masters. That's just the way that the music business works."
There's no doubt that Big Machine Records needed Taylor Swift, but we have to remember that Taylor Swift also needed Big Machine Records. By the time Scooter had bought those masters, they were worth hundreds of millions. Telles was the one who had created it. But Scooter now owned them. Scott Borchetta physically owned those masters. They belonged to him. Even though it's her voice and you know the songs that she wrote, she owned the publishing. No one stole her songs from her. It was just those physical master recordings he owned. When Scott decided to sell Big Machine Records, it came with her catalog.
"What did Taylor Swift do? Well, she did something brilliant."
"My first six albums were actually sold away from me. I just figured if I if I made them the first time, I can make them again."
"I love it. I love it. She was probably thinking something like how can I get back at scooter but at the same time please my fans and also make a ton of money."
"because my contract says that starting November 2020 so next year I can record albums 1 through 5 all over again. So" She decided to create new versions of the old albums to re-record and release them again but this time she would own them completely. Fans can then choose to support her by streaming and buying the new Taylor's versions instead of the originals.
"I think that artists deserve to own their work." It was groundbreaking and she was smart about it.
"When something says in parentheses Taylor's version next to it, that means I own it, which is exciting." Buy these new versions and you're standing with the artists against the evil music machine. There was kind of a conversation started amongst fans themselves when this happened about whether it was truly ethical to be listening to her old work at all at this point.
"And through this move, she exposed how broken the system really is." "You probably don't know this, but most of your favorite artists do not own their work. The music industry is uh, you know," and most importantly, it gave other artists a road map. When Taylor re-released Fearless, it debuted at number one. And that proves something huge. Artists don't have to accept these contracts forever. With enough star power and fan loyalty, you can fight back and actually win. Taylor Swift became a hero for artists rights. But that's not exactly the whole story. Taylor Swift convinced millions of people to buy the same music twice. Just pause on that for one second. These are songs her fans already owned, already streamed, already cried to. Then she re-records them. Essentially the exact same song and sells them to the same people again at full price.
"She just sold three and a half million CDs and probably 3 million of those people don't even own a CD player anymore, but they bought a CD or they bought vinyl because they feel connected to her." People weren't just buying them. It felt like they were part of something bigger. They were fighting injustice. And it gets even better. Each re-recorded album came with so-called vault tracks, supposedly unreleased songs from that era.
"But these were songs that didn't make it on the album because I wanted to save them for the next album. And then it turned out the next album was like a whole different thing and so they get left behind." These aren't lost masterpieces. There are songs that weren't good enough for the original albums. Now, by calling them from the vault, she created artificial scarcity and premium pricing for B-side material.
"And now to major news for Swifties and really all fans of superstar Taylor Swift. Her new re-recorded album Red has finally dropped." When she re-released Red. She did it in multiple editions. It was a standard edition, deluxe edition, vinyl exclusive, Target exclusive, and of course signed versions. Same music, different packaging, and different prices. A lot of fans wanted the complete collection, so they bought the same album multiple times.
"The fans are the people. They were just saying to me over and over again, 'We want to listen to your versions. If you redo it, that's what we'll listen to.'" She took genuine critique of the music industry and turned it into the most profitable recycling program in history. She isn't dismantling the system, she's perfecting it.
"One magazine headline said it best. Taylor Swift is the music industry. And the scale of this whole operation is just so much bigger than I think anyone truly realizes."
"Good morning, America. It's Taylor. I wanted to tell you something that I've been so excited about for a really long time, have been planning for ages, and I finally get to tell you. I'm going back on tour." Her Eer's tour became the highest grossing tour in history. Tickets range from 50 bucks to over 4,000. That's more money than a lot of people's monthly rent. But fans paid it because attending isn't just a concert.
Taylor Swift's most dedicated dieards, and many have been camping out since the night before. A bird's eye view shows just how long those lines got with people equipped with umbrellas and water. "I'm excited for the surprise songs. That's my favorite time of the show." It's a cultural event, a religious experience, a friendship reunion. I guess in a strange way, it's similar to what the Grateful Dead had, just way more capitalist. Thousands of fans lined up to score some exclusive merchandise and score they did.
T-shirts that cost probably five bucks to manufacture are being sold for 70 bucks and hoodies for 90. And of course, everything is limited edition or deluxe or mega special. And all of this is creating artificial urgency. But the really genius move, the one that really shows the machine at work came after the tour itself.
"Some great news for Taylor Swift fans. If you were not lucky enough to get to one of her concerts, the 12-time Grammy winner wants you to be able to enjoy the show on the big screen." She and her team turned the concerts into a movie. Taylor Swift, the Aeros Tour.
Cinear says Swifties are so hyped for the movie about her concert tour. Pre-sales for tickets were 10 times higher than they've seen for any other event-based film. And what did the fans do? The ones who had just spent thousands of dollars on plane tickets, hotels, concert tickets, merchandise, well, they went to the movie. The two hour and 45 minute film that's already shattered domestic box office records for the genre, breaking in nearly $93 million in its opening weekend.
"I'm going to go to this movie at least 13 times." And of course, it worked. The film broke box office records for a concert movie. And this wasn't just a victory lap for Taylor and her team. This was a masterclass in monetization. The same show, the same songs, once again repackaged and resold as an experience.
"She is a machine, but she's more of a factory. She can turn stuff out like as fast as she wants, as quick as she wants. She can get all the best producers she wants. She can get in the room with anybody she wants. She sees things before everyone else."
But here's a contradiction that really gets me. Taylor positions herself as fighting corporate greed while at the same time she's running one of the most aggressive capitalist operations in entertainment. She'll complain about unfair industry practice while announcing her 15th vinyl variants of the same album. She'll talk about supporting artists while pricing concert tickets so high that most working-class fans can't afford them.
"Her fans are rooting for her to be a billionaire and rooted for her to be a billionaire. When does that ever happen?"
So, where does this lead us? Here's where I'm conflicted. Taylor Swift really did expose problems with the music industry.
"This is just what happens to a woman in music if she achieves success or power beyond people's comfort level." With the master situation, she had a lot of good points. Record labels do exploit young artists. The system is to some extent broken. But I don't believe Taylor's solution was to fix the system. Rather, it was to become so powerful that the system works for her instead of against her. She didn't break the machine. She became the machine's most successful product. And then she even convinced a lot of people that that was the same thing as fighting it.
The difference between a star and a superstar. The superstar knows the business. Taylor has been trying to tell us that she is a victim of the cynical music industry. In that case, she's the wealthiest, most successful, most praised victim in all of humanity. Taylor's success story has become the new template. Don't just create new music, create better marketing for your best work. Don't build a fan base, build millions of friendships. Don't just focus on selling your art, sell your whole self. But I can't shake the feeling that maybe she lost something along the way. Taylor Swift broke her silence on politics over the weekend, publicly backing two Democrats in Tennessee.
"Taylor Swift is taking her first political stand, backing Democrat Phil Breesden." When the biggest star in music is arguably more famous for her business skills and failed relationships than for her artistic innovation, what does that really say about what we value? I believe Taylor Swift is showing us exactly what the music industry has become. A big machine that is incredibly good at exploiting fans for maximum profit. The only difference is that now the artists are running that machine instead of being crushed by it. So, did Taylor Swift expose the music industry or did she just become the perfect example of it? And I do want to say to you Swifts, before you butcher me, I truly truly do admire Taylor Swift. One of my core principles is that you can't argue with success. And no one has had more success than Taylor, maybe ever. Remember to treat yourself. Check out Gentle Bands by using the link in the description. You'll get a discount. Be curious.