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.