The Economy (Taylor’s Version) - The Economic Impact of Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour
Advisor: Mr. Brian Rappelfeld
Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour has become a topic of conversation and analysis across the world, sparking debate among superfans and academics. From March to August 2023, Swift traveled to 20 cities across the United States, bringing a dedicated trail of “swifties” behind her and selling out stadiums multiple nights in a row. The tour has become a cultural and economic phenomenon, demonstrating the transformative power of music in building a community that fosters economic growth. Using interview-based qualitative analysis, existing data from organizations such as the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and the U.S. Travel Association, proprietary research through survey-based empirical data collection, and the music analytics site Chartmetric, this research will examine the economic impact of Swift’s record-breaking tour through three focus points: booms Swift spurred in local economies across the U.S. (specifically, Glendale, AZ and Philadelphia), transformations and continuities within the concert/ticketing industry, and the success of Swift’s opening acts. Ultimately, the qualitative and quantitative analysis, summarized in a briefing book, will illuminate how the entertainment industry can stimulate economic growth on local and national scales. What can the highest-grossing tour of all time teach local businesses, industry professionals, and musicians about the power of live events, combined with targeted strategies, in fostering economic growth?
Project Blog
Week 0: Introduction
Welcome to my Senior Project blog! My name is Samantha Goldfarb, and I have been at BASIS Independent Brooklyn since 3rd grade. For my Senior Project, I am researching the economic impact of Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour. Specifically, I am examining how Swift’s tour has spurred booms in local economies, transformed the concert industry, and supported the success of her opening acts. As a “Swiftie” since 2012, I have always been fascinated by Taylor Swift and her success in the music industry. Having attended four Eras Tour shows myself, I understood why the tour is so lauded and began to wonder how I could quantify this level of monetary success with a deeper economic focus. During my participation in a behavioral economics course at Cambridge University this past summer, we discussed some of the economic theories at play with the Eras Tour, cementing my hypothesis that this phenomenon of a tour was worthy of further analysis. My research aims to examine how the entertainment industry acts as a tool for economic growth. In order to do so, I will be working with my on-site advisor, Mr. Rappelfeld, and I will incorporate insights from economists such as Paul Krugman and Alan Krueger, coverage of the Congressional Hearing into Live Nation, studies by the Federal Reserve of Philadelphia, and streaming data from Chartmetric. I will also initiate a series of interview-based qualitative analyses and conduct my own survey-based empirical research to support my claims with accurate, representative data. Combining my passions for economics and music, I will learn how to analyze economic data and present my findings in a briefing book, summarizing my analysis of the economic impact of this record-breaking tour. For more information on my Senior Project, you can view details here.
Week 1: Underlying Economics of the Music Industry
Welcome back to my Senior Project blog! For this first week, I explored the underlying economics of the music industry to gain a deeper understanding of how the music business typically operates. By acquiring this knowledge, I have developed a stronger basis for the literature review, proprietary research, and interview-based analysis I will be conducting in the coming weeks.
I have primarily been focused on Alan Kruger’s Rockonomics and a Vanderbilt University online course titled: “Understanding the Music Business: What is Music Worth?” Among many topics I was introduced to, one idea I came across through the Vanderbilt course that especially interested me was that physical music sales have seen a sharp decrease, with many turning to streaming services like Spotify and Apple Music in today’s digital era. However, in contrast to what many recording artists and industry professionals are observing, Taylor Swift still receives a substantial number of sales in physical formats. Swift’s 2022 album Midnights sold 575,000 copies on vinyl alone in just one week of its release, and 1989 (Taylor’s Version), released in October of last year, sold a total of 1.261 million physical copies of CDs, vinyls, and cassettes in its first week. But this is no coincidence. The reason for this success lies in Swift’s strategic business tactics and her team’s understanding of economics and its intersection with the music industry. Swift differentiates each product from the next, making five different vinyl variants for Midnights, all coming in different colors, with different photos included, and bonus tracks on her Target exclusive editions. The sales for 1989 (Taylor’s Version) were especially large due to its availability in 15 different physical formats: five color vinyl variants, eight CD editions and two cassette editions. This allows Swift to combat the shift away from physical music, encouraging her large following of Swifties to buy a physical copy of her album (or five). This product differentiation, combined with an air of exclusivity, contributes to the level of monetary success Swift has achieved, which we have seen translated to an equal level of willingness to spend when these songs are performed live.
Alan Krueger also mentions Swift multiple times in Rockonomics, commenting on her use of Verified Fan techniques, slow ticketing, and dynamic pricing – strategies she implemented during her 2018 Reputation Stadium Tour. Today, with the Eras Tour, we can build on Alan Krueger’s analysis – something I hope to be able to do throughout my research process. By examining Swift’s strategies and making connections between my independent readings and Swift, I will gain a strong understanding of the factors contributing to Swift’s Eras Tour success which will support the quantitative data and interview-based analysis I am conducting in the following weeks.
I have also spent time this week coordinating my interview-based analysis, planning Zoom calls with professionals in the music industry, music professors, and a likely placement at a recording studio in Brooklyn. Additionally, based on a Zoom call I had earlier this week, I will also be reaching out to professionals in other fields to gain deeper insight into how people view the Eras Tour through various lenses. Whether engaging with professors or those who work in economics, marketing, or history, I will ask them for their own commentary on my research/hypothesis. This will both present more data points for my qualitative analysis and allow for more exposure to contrasting points of view.
In the coming weeks, I will continue to explore the underlying economics of the music business in relation to Swift. However, I will also shift to more quantitative Eras-Tour-specific research. Using the deeper understanding of the industry I have begun to cultivate throughout this past week, I will delve further into published data/reports and begin conducting my own proprietary quantitative research, aided by discussions with experts in various fields.
Week 2: Interviews with Industry Professionals
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my Senior Project Blog! This week, I focused my research on interview-based analysis. Building on the understanding of the music industry I began to develop during week 1, I used this knowledge and continued readings of Alan Kruger’s Rockonomics to engage with professionals in the field in meaningful, productive conversations.
To begin, I spoke with Alexandra Kotis who formerly worked as a Program Manager at the non-profit Downtown Brooklyn Partnership which aimed to accelerate local economic development for small businesses, entrepreneurs, start-ups, and cultural organizations by organizing local concerts and performances. The idea that live performances act as a vehicle for economic growth was central to her work, translating well to my examination of how the Eras Tour spurred booms in the local economies Swift visited across the U.S. Similar to how businesses in Downtown Brooklyn saw increases in revenue when there was a show in the area, as Ms. Kotis saw through her work, the same exists with Swift. She commented that the local businesses see an artist coming into their area as a mutually beneficial relationship, which proves to be true when examined alongside data from Fortune. The publication stated that during Swift’s three nights in Chicago, “an average of 44,383 hotel rooms were occupied” which was an all-time high, and “occupancy rates hit 96.8% on average.” The U.S. Travel Association explains that Swift’s impact goes far beyond what is traditionally seen. While a common multiplier used in the industry is that “$100 spent on live performances generates about $300 in other expenses,” Swifties significantly outpaced expected spending patterns, averaging “$1,300 of spending in local economies on travel, hotel stays, food, as well as merchandise and costumes.” Although spending around music/concerts is not revolutionary, both qualitative and quantitative analysis highlights that Swift’s tour has seen increases in fans’ willingness to spend locally.
NYU Professor Carlos Chirinos-Espin hypothesizes this increase is largely caused by the parasocial relationship that exists between Swift and many dedicated fans. Dr. Chirinos is currently conducting a survey to understand the motivations and attitudes of fans who bought and sold tickets (or tried to do so) to the U.S. leg of Swift’s tour. In our conversation this week, he stated that he hypothesizes his survey will determine fans’ willingness to spend can be traced back to revenge spending post-COVID-19, the U.S.’s experience economy, and the psychological aspect of Swift’s close bond with her fans. For example, in an effort to combat scalpers and resale platforms, many members of the Swifite community banned together to resell tickets to each other at face value. Maybe they had a friend who canceled or were able to add an extra ticket to their Ticketmaster cart at checkout, but, regardless, they were willing to accept a monetary loss by selling to other fans at face value when they could have charged an insanely high price on StubHub. This economically counterintuitive move, Dr. Chirinos hypothesizes, ties back to these individuals believing they are doing this for Taylor. They feel as though she will be happier looking out into a crowd that knows every single lyric to every song, even though she makes the same profit either way. This sense of community and parasocial relationship appears to be attributed a higher value by fans than any potential financial gain – a fascinating psychological component of how consumers are looking at ticketing, inching toward an answer to the second portion of my research question which focuses on shifts in today’s concert industry.
Finally, a conversation with Chris Dell'Olio, owner of Master Mind Artist Management, gave me insight into the industry itself as well as guidance for further research into past tours that received a similar level of critical acclaim. He emphasized Pearl Jam’s tour in the 90s which sparked a fight with Ticketmaster’s monopoly on the concert industry – an interesting opportunity for comparison with the Eras Tour’s Ticketmaster debacle that points to stagnation in the concert industry. Mr. Dell'Olio and I also discussed the opening act portion of my research question, commenting that Swift cultivates a unique close relationship with her opening acts. Given the parasocial relationship that Dr. Chirinos described, Swifties give Swift’s opening acts a level of support that is uncommon for many openers who frequently play to practically empty venues. Alan Kruger explains in Rockonomics that most musicians earn the majority of their income from live performances as opposed to sales of recorded music. As my research progresses, it will be interesting to examine if this exposure from live performances at a world phenomenon of a tour is actually positively impacting the streams of these artists’ recorded music.
In the coming weeks, I am eager to delve further into each of these subtopics, beginning next week with a deeper examination of the booms Swift brought to local U.S. economies.
Week 3: Initial Stages of Quantitative Data Collection
Welcome back to my Senior Project Blog! Last week, I continued my literature review to scrape available quantitative data and conducted more interview-based analysis to specifically examine the booms Swift spurred in local U.S. economies.
Following my conversation with Alexandra Kotis, I continued to delve into the idea that bringing the Eras Tour to 20 cities across the country leads to both Swift and the cities profiting (as Ms. Kotis explained, it is a mutually beneficial relationship). With existing data from only the U.S. leg of the Eras Tour, Swift’s tour has become the highest-grossing tour of all time (surpassing Elton John’s multi-year $939 million farewell tour). But this “projected gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone” is only a fraction of the spending. According to The Washington Post, an average Swifite will spend a total of $1,279 attending the Eras Tour, with $396 going toward tickets, $106 toward food and drink, $159 toward merchandise, $384 toward travel and hotels, and $234 toward outfits – data I will further explore with my own proprietary survey-based research in the coming weeks. Multiple factors are coming into play here (substitution (or lack thereof), Swift effectively differentiating each show from the next with rotating surprise songs, parasocial relationships that Professor Chirinos described, etc.), but all together, this equates to spending in big numbers. A survey of 592 Swifites conducted by QuestionPro estimated that, based on fan responses and average concert attendance, Swifties spent about $93 million per show. While big cities such as LA, where Swift played six shows, far outnumbered the impact of two shows in Kansas City – $320 million vs. $48 million respectively – the boom has been impactful in each city Swift has visited, especially for cities that were struggling in the wake of the pandemic. As cited by the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia, “May was the strongest month for hotel revenue in Philadelphia since the onset of the pandemic, in large part due to an influx of guests for the Taylor Swift concerts in the city.” Swift’s impact is so vast that we even see world leaders asking Swift to come to their countries, with the Chilean President and the mayor of Budapest hoping Swift could bring economic growth to their regions.
The primary reason this “Swiftie spending” is so impactful is due to the multiplier effect. In a conversation with Duke Professor Ed Tiryakian, we discussed that not only are Swifties spending directly (as represented in the estimated $5 billion direct economic impact), but there is also a great deal of indirect spending. Venues, hotels, and local businesses had to hire more workers to accommodate Swift’s fans, and these workers then had a higher disposable income that they could spend locally, leading to a trickle-down flow of cash. Specifically in Philadelphia, for example, the average hourly rate offered via an online hourly employment site within a 5-mile radius of Swift’s show was $2 higher than usual. Along the same lines, during Swift’s Gillette Stadium shows, the half-mile radius around the Boston area saw a 1,000% increase in demand for hourly workers. When examining this at a more macro level, these increases are what lead to the U.S. Travel Association’s estimation that the true economic impact of the Eras Tour, including both direct and indirect spending, is actually over $10 billion.
Industry professionals can also observe many smaller phenomena within the Eras Tour. For example, a friendship bracelet trading craze led to $3 million in Etsy friendship bracelet sales between April and August. With friendship bracelet sellers observing a large increase in their profit, they then have a much higher disposable income that will be spent elsewhere, using the multiplier equation (see below) to create a monetary impact far beyond the tangible
$3 million spent on the bracelets alone. People like Kara White, who started making friendship bracelets and selling them on Etsy, got orders for 1,500 bracelets each day leading up to Swift’s LA shows, generating $15,000 she usually would not have spent. This creates a cycle of indirect spending that provides a beneficial boost to the economy – what economists and journalists mean when they say Swift has had an enormous economic impact.
A conversation with Joshua Nunziato, a Sustainability Philosopher and Business Ethicist from the University of Colorado Boulder, provided some further context for the ticketing portion of my research (which I will circle back to in a couple of weeks) as well as valuable insight into the current “experience economy” we live in. When asked for his thoughts on Swift’s impact on local economies across the U.S., he commented that booms spurred by experiential purchases as opposed to material items represent a hope for a more sustainable future – a country fueled by desirable experiences as opposed to desirable items. When looking at the final goal of my research – understanding how the music and concert industries act as a vehicle for economic growth – it is interesting to consider how this type of concert-based growth appears to be more environmentally sustainable. The music industry could be a useful tool to answer more global issues than simply slowed economic growth. Additionally, a conversation with Alexa Burnston in A&R Administration at Sony Music Masterworks returned to a similar psychological basis as Professor Chirinos. With so much change in the music industry due to AI and debates over what artists truly “own”, it is the element of connection and community that fans find at events like the Eras Tour that make it both emotionally and economically impactful. As Burnston stated, there are “some things that you can’t yet make artificial” – including the unique experiential product Swift creates at the Eras Tour.
I plan to continue this exploration into the booms Swift spurred in local economies over the next two weeks, finalizing and distributing my survey for data collection and beginning to calculate data specifically for Glendale and Philadelphia through data scraping and interviews with local businesses.
Week 4: Proprietary Data Collection and Examining Swift's Impact on Philadelphia and Glendale
Welcome back! As Swifties (including myself) prepared for the release of Swift’s album The Tortured Poets Department, I centered my research on the local economies portion of my question, with a specific focus on Philadelphia as well as Glendale, Arizona.
To begin, I finalized The Eras Tour Swiftie Survey which aims to collect quantitative data on the amount of money Eras Tour concertgoers spent attending shows on the U.S. leg of the tour. By collecting my own data, I can both add to the existing literature surrounding Swift and assess the data I have been relying on thus far, such as numbers The U.S. Travel Association has collected. I hypothesize that this survey will affirm the data I scraped last week from articles and other publications. However, it is possible that my data will not align with what other sites have released and/or present shortcomings with the large numbers that news outlets advertise. In a 1994 journal article, researchers from Texas A&M University presented a myriad of limitations that exist when measuring the economic impact of festivals and other similar events. Typically, individuals use the multiplier process for measuring the economic impact of events (see below). While this is an accurate depiction of the flow of money through parts of the economy, the analysis of factors such as sales vs. income multipliers, employment multipliers, local spectators vs. individuals traveling for a show, visitors who would have come to the city anyway, and displacement costs are often excluded from the larger claims of a billion-dollar musical event. Publications like The Washington Post benefit from presenting large, surprising numbers because it draws attention to their site. They likely do not mind if their calculations (or calculations they pulled from other sites) ignore crucial limitations. My proprietary research may highlight this shortcoming. As I distribute this survey throughout the city and via social media, I will allow it to collect data over the next few weeks, returning to it toward the end of my research for analysis.
Next, I examined how Philadelphia reacted to the Eras Tour in their city. As mentioned in my Week 3 post, the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia cited Swift’s tour as the primary reason for last May’s strong hotel revenue in their June 2023 Beige Book. To fully understand the significance of this, I first learned how the Federal Reserve Bank typically collects data and is prompted to make these claims. These district reports are published eight times a year, using statements from Bank and Branch directors and interviews/questionnaires with businesses,
community organizations, economists, market experts, and other reliable sources. Through qualitative analysis with a strategically diverse set of sources, aiming to obtain objective information about economic activity, the Philadelphia Fed is able to identify dynamics and trends in their district that may not be apparent simply from available quantitative data. Regional analysis can then be used for assessing the national economy as a whole. Thus, citing Swift as a primary reason for revenue growth is significant because it results from a consensus among local businesses and professionals in the field that music/concerts are viable reasons for economic growth. In the prior Beige Book (May 2023), the Philly Fed reported that post-pandemic growth and tourism were slowing. While this remained true for the most part when Swift visited, the Fed noted that areas of the economy important for attending the Eras Tour (e.g. hotels) grew. However, in the following Beige Book (August 2023), the Fed reported a decline overall in tourism. It seems as though concerts like Swift’s may provide strong short-term growth, but this economic boom caused by music cannot be sustained long term.
Despite the importance of short vs. long-term growth, local businesses know they can at least make some immediate profit by catering to the Swifties. That’s why Philadelphia’s Ripleighs Creamery made eight new ice cream flavors and shakes inspired by Taylor Swift songs available for Swift’s Philly weekend. When marketing, businesses typically follow three steps: segmentation, targeting, and positioning (STP). They divide their market into distinct types of customers, determine which customer group to focus marketing on, and create a product and marketing strategy that will appeal to them. Swift’s Eras Tour makes it easy for local businesses to do this – marketing to their target audience of Swifites and making significant profits doing so. This is why we see Susie Cakes in California selling $50,000 worth of Swift-theme cupcakes during her shows there, or Japonessa Sushi Cocina in Seattle selling $10,000 in “reputation”-themed sushi rolls and glitter cocktails. Inbound Brew Co. in Minneapolis even said that Swift’s visit, during which they hosted Eras Tour events and activities, was “bigger for [them] than when the Super Bowl came to town in 2018.” Businesses throughout Philadelphia did the same, strategically marketing to Swifties in town for Swift’s three shows at Lincoln Financial Field, with Visit Philadelphia even publishing an article on all of the Taylor Swift-related activities in the area.
For my Glendale-specific analysis, I focused on a comparison with the 2023 Super Bowl, which came to Glendale, Arizona about a month before Taylor Swift did. According to The Arizona Super Bowl Host Committee, Super Bowl LVII generated about $1.3 billion in total economic activity/gross output, translating to a $726.1 million contribution to Arizona’s GDP. Calculations by Duke Professor Ed Tiryakian (who teaches a Business of Sport class) determined that, using a conservative estimate of 4 million tickets sold at $250 per ticket and an average of $1,300 spent by each fan in local economies, the Eras Tour generated approximately $55 billion. In order to arrive at this number, Tiryakian used an MPC of 0.9 (assuming people will spend on the experience rather than save their income) which translates to a multiplier of 10. Using this multiplier and conservative price estimates (many paid significantly more than $250 for their tickets), he arrived at his $55 billion estimate. Comparing this to the $1.3 billion estimated above, Swift’s tour is equivalent to about 42 Super Bowls throughout the
U.S. However, Tiryakian claims it is more like 55 Super Bowls, considering that, on average, the Super Bowl generates closer to $1 billion. The U.S. Travel Association agrees that Swifties’ spending is “on par with the Super Bowl.” The key difference is that, with the Eras Tour, “it happened on 53 different nights in 20 different locations over the course of five months.” Recently, it has also been interesting to watch these two economic forces driving much of the entertainment industry collide with Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s relationship. Professor Tiryakian is interested in this idea because Swift brings new audiences to the NFL, especially a female audience ages 18-49 that the NFL used to struggle to reach.
The numbers above are significant, especially when a survey by QuestionPro found that the Eras Tour achieved a 68 NPS. An NPS, or net promoter score, is a market research metric that asks survey respondents to rate the likelihood they would recommend a company, product, or service to a friend, with the average NPS falling between 25 and 33. The Eras Tour’s score of 68 puts Swift’s tour alongside the top three most admired brands including Costco, USAA, and Southwest Airlines. The President of QuestionPro Research and Insights, Dan Fleetwood, stated that if Swift’s tour was a corporation her NPS would make her the fourth most admired brand, tied with Apple and the Ritz Carlton. Fleetwood ultimately ties this back to her emphasis on the fan experience. Her success points to a key component of music as a vehicle for economic growth. Swift is setting an example for other musicians. In order to achieve this level of monetary success, to the point where a good portion of consumers would spend a fortune to attend her shows and recommend others do the same, artists must build a sense of community around their music and live experiences. They must cultivate a parasocial relationship that makes fans, or even casual listeners, want to be in this space with Swift and share what feels like an intimate moment with her and 70,000 other people. A music event is rarely as popular as the Super Bowl, but Swift is teaching economists and professionals in the concert industry that it is possible.
As I examine these booms Swift brought to Philadelphia and Glendale, I am ultimately drawing conclusions regarding how this is not so Swift-specific. These are strategies, implemented by Swift’s team and local businesses, that make consumers want to travel to see the shows and participate in Super Bowl-level spending. I believe other musicians can and will replicate this in the future. I am looking forward to delving further into this idea in the coming weeks and beginning to explore Chartmetric and the opening act portion of my research question.
Week 5: An Introduction to Chartmetric and Philadelphia Analysis
Hello, everyone! Welcome back to my senior project blog. This week, while continuing to explore the local economies portion of my research, I began to also shift my focus to my analysis of Swift’s opening acts.
As mentioned in my first blog post, to examine my hypothesis that opening for Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour benefitted the artists’ careers, I will primarily be relying on a database called Chartmetric. Chartmetric's music data analytics are typically used by artists, their teams, and industry professionals to understand trends in music, how to improve marketing, Spotify monthly listeners, social media followers, and more. In order to accurately assess how exposure from the Eras Tour impacts the careers of Swift’s nine opening acts, I can use this site which scrapes data from many of the major music and social media platforms and examine how their followers and monthly listeners changed after opening for Swift’s shows. I will be able to use the site to quantitatively analyze if a short-term boost in popularity led to longer-term, sustained growth. This quantitative analysis will allow for qualitative comparison with other historically successful opening acts in order to draw conclusions about the careers of artists such as Phoebe Bridgers and MUNA. The site also allows users to track listeners by city, allowing for the boygenius Nashville study I described in my project proposal. This week, I familiarized myself with the site, learning to navigate it by using Taylor Swift, their #1 ranked artist, to explore the available data.
To the right is a visual representation of some of these analytics. In this chart, we can observe that Swift's monthly Spotify listeners increased from approximately 80 million on March 15, 2023, two days before the Eras Tour began, to 99 million when Swift wrapped up the U.S. leg of her tour in August. Considering that Spotify had already given her a popularity index of 100/100 when the tour had first started in March, still being able to generate a 24% increase in monthly listeners is significant – a byproduct of her business strategies I have discussed in previous blog posts that makes Swift herself, her music, and her live experiences so intriguing to listeners.
Additionally, a conversation with a local business in Philadelphia, Ripleigh's Creamery, proved extremely beneficial for my research process. The owner, Ripleigh, is a junior in high school, and I spoke with her mom, Laura, who helps her run the store and, most importantly, assists with marketing and PR. She stated that the Eras Tour weekend in Philadelphia was huge for their business. With a family of Swifties and 30 years of experience in the marketing industry, Laura knew that the weekend would be important and something they had to approach right. They decided to travel to Tampa, Florida to attend the Eras Tour in April – a month prior to Swift’s Philly shows. Laura commented that, beyond it being a fun and exciting experience, this trip was strategic. They were planning how they would approach a weekend of Swiftie-mania in Philly. They decided to create a line of Taylor-related ice cream flavors, and, based on observations at the Tampa show, encouraged fans to come to their store to trade friendship bracelets and even bought official merchandise for in-store giveaways. As a result of their strong marketing, Laura commented that people were standing in line for an hour outside their store to try their ice cream flavors. She said, “her fanbase is insane,” and one fan told them that they went to multiple of their retail locations to try as many flavors as possible. Laura stated that they made an extra $30,000 that weekend. When asked if this boom in business was sustained long-term, she commented that, as expected, it was a trend at the moment, so there was no way to sustain that level of excitement. However, due to the boom they experienced and the fact that Taylor Swift sent them flowers as a thank-you for welcoming her to Philly, they have significantly increased their name recognition. Ripleigh was invited onto news stations, made ice cream for the governor, and is now a local celebrity. Laura said that people still come into their store asking for the Taylor Swift ice cream. Our conversation made it clear that it was no coincidence that Swift’s visit brought them this much success. They were strategically capitalizing off of Swiftie Philly weekend, marketing to an audience they knew they could bring into their store.
An interview with Andrew Zwarych, a Research and Analytics Manager at Visit Philadelphia, also provided greater quantitative and qualitative analysis to discuss the Eras Tour’s effect on the local economy of Philadelphia. He stated that hotels hit an average 88% occupancy across her three days in the city, and the average daily rate (ADR) per night stay in a hotel averaged $403 – almost double compared to their $219 average for all of 2023. He commented that the city hadn’t seen those kinds of numbers since they hosted the Democratic National Convention in 2016 (pre-pandemic). He stated that the high occupancy was expected, as it typically is with large events, but it was unexpected that the ADR was so high. Other popular events like WrestleMania, which was recently hosted in Philly, experienced that same high occupancy rate without the same ADR. The ADR (he stated, “since working here, I have never seen an ADR that high”) is significant for the city because that money circulates. As described in previous blog posts, the multiplier effect comes into play when those hotels have to hire extra workers for the weekend or people pick up extra shifts due to the influx of tourists. In addition, the high occupancy is significant for the city because Visit Philadelphia knows that about 79% of people who visit will come back, and over 57% of them will return within 12 months, generating more hotel revenue, spending on local restaurants, etc. To put this into perspective with the Eras Tour, there were around 70,000 people at Lincoln Financial Field to see Taylor Swift each of her three nights, with approximately 210,000 fans total. From previous data collections, the organization knows that about 35% of the audience at Lincoln Financial Field is coming from out of town. That’s approximately 73,500 out-of-town visitors, and if 79% of them return with friends and family, that’s over 58,065 returning visitors, ready to repeat a stay in a hotel, shop at local businesses, and spend at local tourist attractions. It is data like this and anecdotal examples that allow professionals like Mr. Zwarych to affirm that live music is a strong tool for economic growth.
Ultimately, this week, I continued to explore my research from both quantitative and qualitative perspectives, gaining an introduction to Chartmetric – a site I will be spending a lot of time on in the coming weeks – and continuing my exciting interview-based analysis.
Week 6: Phoebe Bridgers, girl in red, and Other Indicators of the Swift Effect
Welcome back to week six of my senior project blog! This week, I focused my analysis on Swift’s opening acts, drawing conclusions from data available on the music analytics website Chartmetric, and continuing with my series of interviews.
To examine Swift’s opening acts, I began with a focus on Phoebe Bridgers – one of my personal favorite artists and an opener on Swift’s tour. Based on the chart below, it appears that Bridgers did see an increase in her monthly Spotify listeners around her Eras dates – a total of 559,076 new monthly listeners by the end of her Eras Tour-filled month of May 2023. This increase makes sense: if we divide that number by 9
(the number of shows Bridgers opened for) we get approximately 62,000. This would equate to about 88% of audience members at each show listening to Bridgers’ music leading up to the event, leaving significant room for a decent number of these new listeners who may have also found her organically/not connected to Swift. This is quite a high percentage of audience members engaging with Bridgers’ work – something we can likely attribute to, as Chris Dell'Olio said in our recent interview, the close relationship Swift builds with her opening acts, making them seem like friends to her and potential friends for the audience (more fodder for the parasocial relationships that appear to foster success for artists like Swift).
However, along with this initial increase comes a steep drop in Bridgers’ listeners following the Eras Tour hype. By the end of June 2023, Bridgers’ monthly listeners dropped back almost to where they initially began. Although fans may have been listening to Bridgers in preparation for their show or due to heightened excitement at the moment, she did not see a sustained increase. The growth typically attributed to Eras Tour exposure (circled in the image to the left) is not even very significant in the one-year view pictured to the left. It is more or less consistent with the longer-term rise in monthly listeners Bridgers has been experiencing since the release of her album Punisher in 2020. The Eras Tour was certainly not her steepest period of growth, so it is unlikely that exposure from the Eras Tour can be cited for much of Bridgers’ future success.
Another opening act – girl in red – exhibits a similar trend. While there were large increases in Facebook Talks (number of Facebook engagements with an artist page) and Facebook Likes during her June 2023 Eras shows, there is simultaneously a decline in her monthly Spotify listeners (see graphs). Despite her increased social media engagement among a slightly older audience on Facebook, this did not translate to other social media platforms such as Instagram or genuine engagement with her work. There was a significantly steeper increase in girl in red’s Spotify listeners around fall 2022 and fall 2023 than seen during her stops on the
Eras Tour. This can likely be attributed to the popularity of “we fell in love in october” – a song that is “trendy” to listen to during the fall season. When examining this data, it appears that social media trends aided girl in red’s career more than exposure from the highest-grossing tour in history – a surprising statistic that underscores the power of social media in today’s music industry.
This is the same sentiment I received when speaking to Ripleigh’s Creamery – a local business in Philadelphia. While there was a lot of Taylor Swift excitement in Philly while she was in town and Ripleigh’s made an extra $30,000 that Swift-filled weekend, they did not experience a sustained increase in business, besides greater name recognition. At the end of the day, artists are businesses too, and they experience a similar trend. Live events are strong contributors to short-term growth, but a long-term increase in business requires holding onto more than increased name recognition.
In contrast, a conversation with Marc Faletti at Latchkey Records in Philadelphia revealed a different sentiment, stating that after the Philly Eras Tour, they completely switched their business strategy. As a relatively new business in May 2023, their shop was mainly focused on 80s and 90s music. However, after they did three times their usual business the Friday Swift was in town and they hosted an all-ages Taylor Swift party, they realized that they could take a more creative approach to their business. There was a whole new audience they could be marketing to – fans of current pop, indie, and alternative music who often can’t find what they are looking for in local record shops geared toward an older audience. The success of their Taylor Swift concert pregame party and their $1,500 Friday (when they typically did $500 Fridays) led them to completely flip their business strategy. Now, they organize regular events and listening parties, geared toward specific demographics, increasing their revenue significantly. For example, with the release of Swift’s The Tortured Poets Department, they had all four vinyl variants available in-store and hosted a release party, leading to a $4,000 Friday. Thus, while extra revenue Latchkey accrued was due to a short Swift-filled Philly weekend, their takeaways from Swift’s tour and interactions with her fans led to long-term changes in their economic strategies that have prompted significant growth. As Mr. Faletti would state, Swift coming into town completely changed their business for the better.
Ultimately, this week, I gained greater insight into the opening acts portion of my research, observing similarities between the artists and the local businesses who gained exposure from the Eras Tour. Next week, I am looking forward to more interviews, especially those focused on transformations and continuities within the music/ticketing industry, as well as a deeper dive into Swift’s opening acts.
Week 7: Examining Boygenius, Focusing on the Long Term, and Looking Ahead with Swift's Strategies
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project blog! Throughout week 7, I explored the opening act portion of my research question through the focal point of the band boygenius and continued with further interview-based analysis.
When examining Chartmetric's data for boygenius -- the indie supergroup composed of solo artists Phoebe Bridgers, Julien Baker, and Lucy Dacus -- it appeared that the Eras Tour did not heavily impact their monthly Spotify listeners. Phoebe Bridgers was the second opening act for Eras shows during May of 2023 across Nashville, Philadelphia, Boston, and New Jersey. During her Nashville sets, on May 5th and May 6th, Bridgers brought out Baker and Dacus as a surprise for the crowd, performing songs from their recently released album the record. This surprise caused a lot of excitement among the boygenius fan base, Nashville being Baker’s hometown and this being their first time playing a stadium.
However, the intrigue appeared to span beyond their immediate fan base – who jokingly often call themselves “girl idiots” as a play on the band’s name. As indicated by the graph from Google Trends to the right, there was a decent spike in Google searches for boygenius in the Nashville area, with interest increasing from zero to over 50 around May 6th (see the first spike in the graph). However, there is a much larger increase in their Google interest around their headline show in Nashville in late June as part of the Re:Set concert series – a spike almost twice their Eras appearance. Additionally, in Chartmetric’s graph seen below, the large increase in listeners is much earlier than their Eras show, attributed to the release of their
first LP the record on March 31st, 2023. They gained 1.67 million monthly listeners within the first month of the record’s release – approximately a 58% increase. This was likely aided by artists like Swift giving them the golden stamp of approval, writing in an Instagram story that the album was “genuinely a masterpiece.” Yet, we can also attribute this growth purely to the quality of their work, leading to a sharp increase in their listeners which they did not experience whatsoever during their short Eras exposure (see the relatively flat, even decreasing, line at the end of the graph on the left).
But why does making an appearance on the highest-grossing tour in history not have a larger impact? I decided to investigate this question with the help of NYU Music Business Professor Robert Weitzner. With 30 years of experience in the industry and a specific interest in entrepreneurship as well as music’s intersection with technology, he attributes much of the Eras Tour’s success, in today’s digital and streaming age, to the communal experience of live music – “the gathering of the tribe.” He believes that the vibrant Swiftie community, fueled by our current experience economy, is what makes the Eras Tour so desirable to attend and so monetarily successful. But above all, what he deems as crucial to the leverage Swift has gained and highly connected to the opening act portion of my research question, is Swift’s focus on the long term. Swift is not an ephemeral artist. Her 18 years in the industry, supported by her prolificness and consistency of quality music, are focused on building a sustainable, enduring career. Although we may not be seeing Swift’s opening acts experience a large, sustained boost in listeners/engagement around their Eras Tour shows, one thing they do have is increased name recognition and the Taylor Swift stamp of approval. Artists like Phoebe Bridgers can leverage their Eras exposure to take their personal brand further. For example, Ed Sheeran opened for Taylor Swift’s 2013 RED Tour, and now, after a sustained focus on his artistry and business, he competes with Swift for records such as the highest-grossing tour of all time. Swift’s Eras Tour opening acts may see a boost in their career, but Mr. Weitzner claims that leveraging this opportunity must be done strategically and with an entrepreneurial mindset.
We will have to wait and see if this prophecy is fulfilled, but some signs already align with Mr. Weitzner’s claims. GAYLE, for example, has fallen off the pop culture radar following her Eras shows. Her momentarily viral songs on TikTok alone are not enough to support a career in the competitive music industry. As Mr. Weitzner stated, an artist is “not going to live a life based on a moment.” Yet, Phoebe Bridgers, who understood that her exposure from Eras was valuable and something she could take advantage of, has remained relevant, going on tour with boygenius throughout the Summer/Fall of 2023 and winning four Grammys earlier this year. Among professionals in the industry, it is known that going on tour as an opener is often a sunk cost, but they are willing to accept a slot with the long-term mindset of growing their audience. It is an investment in the future of an artist's career. Although it appears, based solely on data, that these opening acts are not seeing any substantial shift in their careers, it is crucial that we (those analyzing the industry) can also maintain this long-term growth mindset. It will be fascinating to keep an eye on these artists in the coming years.
A conversation with Christian from Avenue Steaks & Pizza (a local business in Philadelphia) expressed a similar
sentiment of looking ahead, with a business-oriented, long-term growth mindset. Considering their location within walking distance of Lincoln Financial Field (the stadium Swift was performing at), they knew that they had to be prepared for a big weekend, but Christian stated that they could not believe the amount of business they were doing. According to rough estimates, Avenue Steaks & Pizza saw about a 300% increase in their sales that weekend. However, most importantly, they maintained a focus on sustaining this growth. As a relatively new business, only having opened in 2021, Christian stated they weren’t as established as many other businesses or tourist spots in Philly. However, after feeding Swifties throughout the weekend and delivering about 80 pizzas to Swift and her team (and being reposted on many of Swift’s fan accounts), they were also given Swift’s stamp of approval. Like her opening acts, Christian and his team had the chance to grow their business as a result of their Eras Tour exposure. With a mind toward enduring revenue increases, they have since catered for artists like Alicia Keys, Zach Bryan, and Ed Sheeran, and their presence on DoorDash and UberEats is felt as they deliver pizzas to hotels across the city when an artist is in town. They have begun keeping a close eye on concert schedules, and the local businesses in the area are “all waiting and hoping that the next big thing is coming to [their] city.”
Finally, Mr. Weitzner also commented on how Swift’s Eras Tour is impacting how professionals like himself are pinpointing success in the industry. These days, experiences are something people are willing to pay a premium for. But not all artists are at Taylor Swift’s level. Few artists can build a dedicated following that will travel the country to see a concert multiple times, with the cost being almost irrelevant when the experience is so valuable. Mr. Weitzner cited the Rolling Stones and U2 as two groups who, he believes, have demonstrated a similar phenomenon in the past. However, in 2024, Swift has something those bands did not: “social interconnectedness and the ability to virally ramp very quickly the hype around a tour.” Her strategies can teach musicians and industry professionals a few things about touring in 2024. Primarily, these lessons center around building authentic, genuine connections with fans – a deep-rooted loyalty that she monetizes in a way that does not feel exploitative. Mr. Weitzner claims that artists would benefit from looking at how she’s “very good at making people feel good about parting with their money” – especially considering that Alan Kreuger reinforces in his book Rockonomics that most musicians earn the majority of their income from live performances. As mentioned previously, the industry can also learn from her focus on the long-term and consistency of building her personal brand. Swift has been working hard throughout her entire career, taking advantage of “the moment”/trends when beneficial, but always keeping an eye on building a sustainable business and maintaining a clear artistic vision. Taylor Swift is Taylor Swift, and there is no one exactly like her. As Mr. Weitzner explains, aspiring musicians should examine her consistency and even her consistency of change – her ability to transform and cross genres while maintaining her personal identity and dedicated fan base. Of the (around) 10 million artists on Spotify, Mr. Weitzner reinforced that it is extremely challenging to be part of the 1,250 that generate over $1 million and even more so the “100 or 50 at the very top who have multiple billion-streamed songs.” As he stated, “she’s a sui generis, one of one,” but nonetheless, there is a lot this industry can learn from her, taking her strategies and morphing them to apply to the next big artist.
Ultimately, last week, as Swift began the European leg of the Eras Tour, I enjoyed delving into my study of boygenius and engaging in stimulating conversations with professionals who assisted my understanding of what “Swift’s impact” truly means.
Weeks 8-9: Concluding Opening Act Research and Final Stages of Interviews
Hello, and welcome back to my Senior Project Blog! I decided to combine my Week 8 and Week 9 posts, and throughout these two weeks, I have continued to delve into all aspects of my research question, conducting interviews to understand the quantitative data I have collected.
To begin, I finalized my analysis of Swift’s opening acts. I did a deep dive into Gracie Abrams, daughter of director J.J. Abrams who rose to fame with her hit songs “21” and “i miss you, i’m sorry.” As seen in the graphs to the right, there is significant fluctuation in her stats, likely because her 30 Eras shows were spread out from April to August 2023. Yet, Abrams remains consistent with Swift’s other openers, seeing an overall decline in engagement and listeners despite a few short-term spikes.
However, it is interesting to note that as her Eras shows began in early April 2023, although she was experiencing a decline in stats such as her Spotify Monthly Listeners, Abrams was also experiencing an increasing Spotify Fan Conversion Rate (followers becoming monthly listeners). This echoes the sentiments of NYU Professor Robert Weitzner who I spoke with during Week 7. He had stated that the goal of opening for a show like the Eras Tour is growing an artist’s audience/fan base. Based on the graph to the left, it seems as though Abrams is succeeding with this. Despite some data that would imply opening acts are not seeing any substantial shift in their careers, graphs like these indicate that they may be doing exactly what professionals like Weitzner deem to be most important – taking advantage of the opportunity to build their audience. To prove this point further, when Abrams released her new song “Risk” on May 1st of this year, she saw a huge spike in her engagement and listeners (see
graphs to the right). There is almost a vertical line in engagement rank and a very steep increase in monthly listeners. Based on data examined in previous weeks, it is unlikely that this steep increase will be sustained, but it is clear that there are more eyes on Abrams. She has a larger audience engaged with her work and listening to the new music she puts out. Abrams has built a new audience, interested in what she will do next – exactly what Mr. Weitzner stated was the most impactful part of opening for the Eras Tour.
After Ed Sheeran opened for Swift’s Red Tour from March to September 2013, his subsequent 2014 album x saw massive success, earning him his first No. 1 on the Billboard 200 and selling about 210,000 copies within his first week. Following that, his 2017 album ÷ sold (including streaming) 451,000 album units and made $5 million on Spotify in its first week. To put this success into perspective with the Eras Tour, the Red Tour received significantly less media attention, grossing a total of only $150 million compared to the Eras Tour which has already grossed over $1 billion (and she still has a lot of European and North American dates to go!) The Eras Tour has a lot more attention, and thus, Swift’s opening acts have the potential to follow a path similar to Ed Sheeran, if not even greater, as long as they approach the opportunity with the right strategy and a long-term growth mindset.
Additionally, these past two weeks, I continued to understand Swift’s industry impact. Many view Swift as an anomaly in the music business. As Amit Nerurkar, Hip Hop Ambassador for the Artist & Labels Team at Bandcamp, stated in our recent conversation, “Benchmarking your success against [Taylor’s] is just going to always make you fail. The touring industry is not as successful as Taylor Swift’s tour.” He stated that his team manages artists in the same way Swift’s team does for her. However, the difference is the fans – Swifties are the dream fan base from
an artist management perspective. Swift can make a brief post that she is going on tour, and over 3.5 million people will register for presale tickets. It is this dedication that other artists can learn from. Swift embodies the impact that building a strong, dedicated fan base has on an artist's career – a point echoed by Lingrui Zhou, an Assistant Professor of Marketing at The University of Hong Kong who has experience in fan behavior research. Much of her understanding of Swift’s supportive fan base and the willingness to spend on the Eras Tour revealed a similar sentiment as NYU Professor Carlos Chirinos-Espin who I spoke with early in my project. Parasocial relationships and expanding community nodes coming together have been vital to Swift’s success and teach other artists that a vocal, vibrant, and engaged fandom culture is truly what brings an artist into the industry.
The impact of this is circular. Swift is not only teaching other artists what works in the business, but she is creating multiple levels of economic impact (that can also be replicated by future artists). Mr. Nerurkar introduced a new way of understanding this impact. When Swift had her first European show in Paris a few weeks ago, she added songs from her recent album The Tortured Poets Department to the setlist, and many of those new songs immediately started trending on X (formerly Twitter). Swift’s dedicated fanbase is not only helping her own success, but these social platforms are also benefiting from people wanting to share and comment on Swift’s tour. There is a huge knock-on effect of Swift’s interconnected, vibrant fandom using social media as a mode for Swift-based discussion. As my off-site advisor Ms. Peterson stated, if we were working at X or Instagram as Swift’s European leg began, we would all be celebrating because of the engagement it brought. If other artists attempt to follow in Swift’s footsteps, these knock-on effects can continue to cause industries to thrive.
Finally, I also continued to examine what I typically deem the economic impact of the Eras Tour – its impact on local economies. To do so, I spoke with a contact at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York who stated she was surprised to see how much Taylor Swift was being discussed from an economics perspective. She echoed many of the sentiments I read about in the 1994 journal article in Week 4, where researchers from Texas A&M University presented the limitations of trying to quantify the economic impact of festivals and other music events. Although she personally observed her friends traveling and spending huge amounts of money to attend the Eras Tour, through the lens of an economist, she was slightly skeptical that some of the data I have scrapped in previous weeks was not exaggerated by media outlets. Although a “projected gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone” may receive a lot of views for TIME Magazine, she and some of her colleagues believe that limited commentary on the “Swift effect” from a few professionals gained traction and got blown out of proportion. Yet, it is nonetheless true that Swift brings significant tourism to the cities she visits, and cities like Cincinnati and Kansas City really do feel an impact when an event the size of the Super Bowl, or larger, comes into town.
These past two weeks, I conducted more interviews as I wrapped up some of my research, concluding my opening act analysis and preparing the final interviews I will be conducting for industry and local economy impact. I’m excited to start compiling my data into my final deliverable in the following weeks.
Week 10: Wrapping Up My Research and Planning My Final Deliverable
Welcome back to Week 10 of my Senior Project blog! This week, I entered the final stages of my research as I finalized plans for my deliverable and collected final data, answering questions that arose in the process.
To begin, a discussion with NYU music business faculty and international music and entertainment attorney, Charles Sanders, continued to guide my analysis of Swift’s industry impact. While much of Swift’s current status is
unique, having a level of influence most artists do not possess, there is a line that can be drawn between Swift and other change-makers in the music industry. As Mr. Sanders stated, there has always been someone in a leadership position who brings people into music and the process of music discovery. In the late 1970s, for example, there was a downturn in music, and Michael Jackson’s success was a springboard for the entire industry, coupled with the introduction of the CD. Sanders views Swift as a key driver as well, bringing new demographics (today’s teens and young adults) into music and streaming services (rather than CDs). I found this comparison interesting, especially given a recent New York Times article titled “How Big Is Taylor Swift?” which compares Swift’s success to many of the greats. The article compared Swift’s album sales to Michael Jackson’s (see graph), and, using some estimates of Swift’s R.I.A.A. certifications once updated with more recent stats, the authors did not put Swift’s success too far off from Jackson’s. His most successful 1982 album Thriller, while selling far above anything Swift has released, appears to be where Swift’s 1989 could end up. Especially with the recent release of 1989 (Taylor’s Version), once given a similar 40-year growth period, the stats for the two albums (both released when the artists were 24) might end up being comparable. When considering the difference between the era of physical music Jackson lived in and today’s streaming age, this feat is incredibly impressive for Swift.
However, what is more interesting specifically for my research topic is, as Mr. Sanders noted, even in an age of streaming (where 1500 streams are equivalent to just 1 album sale and artists make about $0.003 - $0.005 per stream) and universally accessible music, Swift is still able to uniquely harness popularity and “mount tours that draw hundreds of thousands of people at very high prices.” As Sanders said, “she brings people out to the concert experience,” even when almost anyone can hear her songs at any time on any streaming platform. Mr. Sanders believes that Swift’s true impact lies within her skills as a performer and songwriter, as an inspiration for those who will come after her in the industry as well as her work building new lifelong music fans (who, even outside of Swift, continue to take interest in and fund the industry by streaming other artists, going to other shows, etc.)
A conversation with a senior strategist at a major label reinforced the importance of Swift’s fan connection which many of my past interviews have similarly highlighted. It is not only about the music anymore. Success lies within the experience and a fan’s relationship with an artist and with other fans. Connection has been crucial to the success of Swift’s Eras Tour and is increasingly important for all artists. Especially with the rise of social media, so much of the industry is invested in connection and authenticity – something that Amit Nerurkar also stated in Week 8. Moreover, it is this connection that urges fans to travel for shows and spend large sums of money on tickets. The Eras Tour’s economic impact would not exist without her deep-rooted fan community.
Additionally, as I began consolidating my findings into my final deliverable, I revisited some of the quantitative data that I collected in the beginning weeks of my project for the local economies portion of my research question. As I reviewed the data, I could not help but reevaluate its accuracy given the conversation with a contact at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York last week who stated that some numbers may be exaggerated for media purposes. Yet, it is nonetheless true that all large entertainment events do have an impact. As Amit Nerurkar mentioned, cities like Austin, Texas were deeply hurt by the pandemic due to the shutting down of their usual Austin City Limits music festival (ACL) and South by Southwest which stimulate the local economy annually. According to KXAN-TV, a local television station in Austin affiliated with NBC, “the 2022 ACL Music Festival brought in nearly $448 million for the Austin economy” and “more than $3 billion has been generated since ACL began tracking the festival’s economic impact in 2006.” Due to how recent the Eras Tour is, it is difficult to test the validity of available data. However, significant research has been conducted for other festivals and live events such as ACL over extended periods that prove entertainment events are indeed profitable for cities.
Yet even with short-term boosts in local economies, Swift’s impact truly lies ahead. She is teaching artists, music industry professionals, economists, and lawmakers that music and live experiences are good for the economy – a valid strategy to generate revenue. In an interview with CNBC, Live Nation CEO Michael Rapin stated that the company believes they are witnessing “a cultural behavioral change with consumers.” Events like the Eras Tour are becoming central to an increasingly experiential economy. Nonetheless, others are more skeptical. USC Music Industry Professor Kevin Lyman stated that he expects there to be “a great adjustment coming forward,” stating that the current spending on live experiences is not sustainable without pent-up COVID-19 demand.
It is impossible to anticipate what will come next. In an industry so volatile, where one-hit-wonders come and go and songs “blow up” on TikTok each month, no one can foresee what the future of touring looks like. However, as Alan Krueger explains in Rockonomics, touring is currently how artists make their money, and Swift sets a gold standard for the success that all touring artists aim for.
Week 11: Final Stages of Research
Hello, and welcome to week 11 of my Senior Project! I primarily focused on concluding the final stages of my research and consolidating my findings into my deliverable.
Thursday, June 6th, I had the opportunity to observe the behind-the-scenes of a concert put on by Master Mind Artist Management. Chris Dell'Olio, who I interviewed in early April, offered to let me shadow his team, watch
soundcheck, and help backstage throughout the event. Observing first-hand the behind-the-scenes of putting on a show allowed me to understand truly how much goes into a live performance. Even for a small event space like Joe’s Pub, where the capacity is 180 people, there was still a great deal of planning and many individuals who were required to make the show possible from the backstage crew to those making drinks/food and even my job helping sell merchandise. An Eras Tour show is over 400 times the size of this event, magnifying the energy, time, and money needed to make it possible – something I appreciate even deeper after this experience.
The group performing, Joe McGinty & The Loser’s Lounge, was a tribute band that started about 30 years ago. Since their founding in 1993, the band has attracted a small yet dedicated audience that follows them to most of their live shows every other month, performing songs from the 60s, 70s, and 80s. As a member of the Master Mind team stated, the band deeply relies on this core audience. They know they can sell about 100 tickets every time they put on a show. They may be performing to the same 100 fans, but 100 tickets sold is 100 tickets sold. The same idea applies to Swift. Swift and her team know that, no matter what, Swift has a large fan base who will buy tickets to her shows. Over her 18-year career, Swift has cultivated fan relationships that generate an understanding that Swift will sell tickets to her live performances. She has a core audience she will always attract. However, one reason the Eras Tour has been such a massive success is that Swift is not only bringing in these hardcore Swifties. She is attracting a much larger audience to her shows. Even individuals who are not die-hard fans are eager to experience the Eras Tour phenomenon. Despite the difference in scale between these two shows, The Loser’s Lounge and Taylor Swift, we can observe the same principle that underscores success in the music industry: it is crucial to cultivate and maintain a strong fan base.
Additionally, as I crafted my final presentation, I researched Swift’s impact on the ticketing industry further. Taylor Swift’s Ticketmaster debacle has possibly become one of the most well-known parts of her tour. November 18th,
2022 – a day that lives in infamy for many Swifties – fostered discourse between fans, Live Nation, and even government officials regarding how concert tickets are bought and sold. Pearl Jam’s tour in the 90s also sparked a similar fight with Ticketmaster’s monopoly on the concert industry, but since the 90s, Live Nation and Ticketmaster have merged, making the issues Pearl Jam brought to the public’s attention worse.
Controversy over Live Nation’s monopolistic control is not a new issue. A desire to achieve more ethical ticket pricing for consumers and bring back the competition that defines a capitalist society has been a longstanding problem. As Senator Amy Klobuchar stated in the January 2023 Senate Judiciary hearing, “To have a strong capitalist system, you have to have competition. You can’t have too much consolidation.” Following this Senate Judiciary Committee Hearing and, more recently, the Department of Justice suing Live Nation-Ticketmaster, it will be fascinating to observe how future investigations play out, especially as the issue has garnered significant public support.
In conversation with Justin Kalifowitz, Founder & Chairman of Downtown Music Holdings, he stated that he would not classify Swift’s Eras Tour as a concert. It is an experience, which is what ultimately generates the level of economic impact calculated in previous weeks. Mr. Kalifowitz explained that it was not until recently that music has been seen and respected as a driver of growth. Nowadays, live events are on professionals’ radars as a driver of tourism. For example, in 2018, the city of Huntsville, Alabama worked with an organization called tvg (the venue group) hospitality to create a live venue that serves as a “cultural beacon” in their city, understanding the merit of live events to boost their tourism sector/the hospitality business. Given the success of live events like the Eras Tour, respect for the economic value of music is growing. There exists a potential for more venues, similar to the one in Huntsville, popping up across the country, sponsored by a city, in order to increase footwork and local spending.
Most of my work this week centered around consolidating my findings into my final presentation and deliverable. While it was a shorter week regarding new research, I did a lot of reflection on my work from the previous ten weeks to understand what my findings suggest for the future of the music industry.
Week 12: Concluding My Research and Reflections
Welcome to my final Senior Project Blog post!
Reflecting on the past three months working on my Senior Project, I am extremely grateful for this opportunity to delve into a topic that combines my academic passion for economics with my love and appreciation for music. The ability to insert myself into a larger dialogue as I understood what the Eras Tour represents for the music industry and analyze the future of using live music as a vehicle for economic growth on both micro and macro levels has been fascinating.
As a “Swiftie” since 2012, I have always been interested in Taylor Swift and her success in the music industry. She has been breaking records for years, outdoing herself regarding album sales and streams with every new release. However, I felt that the Eras Tour marked a shift. She dominated media and conversations worldwide in a way she never had before. Having attended four Eras Tour shows, I could understand why the tour was so widely praised. Yet her impact extended far beyond her music, visuals, and costume changes.
The basis of my project revealed how valuable live music is as a vehicle for economic growth. As a music lover and religious concertgoer, I have always found great joy in hearing my favorite songs performed live, so it was exciting to examine the value this interest holds through the lens of economics. To do so, I quantified the monetary success of the Eras Tour and examined what fan spending meant for the future of the concert industry and local economies that have since highlighted new ways to boost tourism in their cities. The knock-on effects of Swift’s tour that were not initially planned are becoming central to how artists, music business professionals, and those in other industries such as marketing approach music. What were once deemed frivolous pop songs have become major contributors to the economy. The Eras Tour is, for many, so much more than just a concert. Fans like myself are not just attending the shows. We are traveling for them, spending money locally/in local restaurants, migrating to the local In & Out or Shake Shack after the show to continue bonding with other fans, making friendship bracelets, decorating our arms in 13s and song lyrics, creating elaborate costumes, and ultimately becoming a part of a vibrant community that cultivates what many view as this cultural and economic phenomenon.
I also thoroughly enjoyed learning about how the music industry (especially the live and ticketing sectors) operates behind the scenes. Indeed, Swift’s impact truly lies ahead. While we can not foresee whether any of Swift’s hits will reach “classic” status or if she will remain in line with other “greats” in the industry, Swift’s tour has nonetheless taught many musicians and other industry professionals about finding success in an increasingly digital and streaming-based industry. From cultivating and strengthening fan connections to taking advantage of the U.S.’s current experience economy, Swift sets a gold standard for touring artists. She is even kick-starting changes to concert ticketing that will affect the sector for years to come, and her opening acts are given a platform to test the idea that longevity and authenticity, combined with talent and luck, makes a star.
Beyond my specific research question, I learned what it means to conduct my own research and the challenges that come along the way – something that will be impactful as I enter college and conduct economic research in the future. The music industry is known to have high barriers to entry, and I experienced a lot of difficulty with follow-through and placement opportunities. However, with self-motivated persistence (and mastering the art of a cold email) I was able to learn how to break down some of those barriers to get answers my questions and assert myself into an Eras Tour dialogue.
On June 13th, I presented my findings, which if you didn’t have the chance to attend, you can read through the slides here. I also loved presenting some of my findings to the lower school last Wednesday, June 12th, teaching younger BASIS students that a fun, exciting topic such as Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour could be examined through an academic lens.
Finally, I wanted to take this time to say a special thank you to all of the people who helped make this project possible: Mr. Rappelfeld, my faculty advisor who provided advice and guidance throughout this research period, and Ms. Lara Peterson, my external advisor whose experience in the music business presented greater insight into the true effects of Swift’s tour. Additionally, a series of 20 interviews with industry professionals, extensive discussions about the underlying economics of the music business (and how Swift’s tour fits in), and conversations with individuals affected by Swift’s tour (e.g., local businesses) was central to my research. I am deeply grateful to all the individuals who kindly offered their time and expertise (see list below).
1. Lara Peterson - CMO at 7digital
2. Ed Tiryakian - Professor at Duke University
3. Alexandra Kotis - Formerly worked at Downtown Brooklyn Partnership, aiming to support economic development through local concerts
4. Carlos Chirinos-Espin - Assistant Professor at NYU, Director of NYU Music and Social Change Lab; Currently conducting research on Swift's Eras Tour
5. Chris Dell'Olio - Owner of Master Mind Artist Management
6. Tony Maimone - Founder of Studio G Brooklyn and Grammy-nominated producer and musician
7. Alexa Rose Burnston - A&R Administration at Sony Music Masterworks
8. Joshua Nunziato - Assistant Teaching Professor at the University of Colorado Boulder Leeds School of Business; Conducting research on Swift's Eras Tour alongside Professor Chirinos
9. Ripleigh's Creamery - Local ice cream shop in Philadelphia
10. Andrew Zwarych - Research & Analytics Manager at Visit Philadelphia
11. Christian - CEO of Avenue Steaks & Pizza (a local Philly restaurant)
12. Tasnim Battles - Officer and Program Lead Recovery and Resolution Planning at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York
13. Marc Faletti - Owner of Latchkey (a local record store in Philadelphia)
14. Larry Miller - Director of NYU Music Business Program
15. Amit Nerurkar - Artist & Labels Team, Hip Hop Ambassador at Bandcamp
16. Robert Weitzner - NYU Music Business Adjunct Faculty
17. Lingrui Zhou - Assistant Professor of Marketing at The University of Hong Kong
18. Senior strategist at a major label (anonymous)
19. Charles Sanders - International music and entertainment attorney; NYU Music Business Adjunct Faculty
20. Justin Kalifowitz - Founder & Chairman of Downtown Music Holdings
Thank you again to everyone who helped make this project so fascinating and rewarding. I am looking forward to continuing to pursue my passion for economics at Duke University in the fall (hopefully attending concerts in Durham as well!)