You didn’t have to be a Swiftie to take note of the musical juggernaut that was Taylor Swift’s Eras tour. The cultural moment reached financial and literal earthquake status.
In There’s Nothing Like This: The Strategic Genius of Taylor Swift, Harvard Business Review Senior Editor Kevin Evers argues that Swift’s long and impressive pop career isn’t purely songwriting and spectacle. It’s also top-tier business acumen. He spoke with b. about why the superstar would give any CMO a run for their money.
b.: What sparked your interest in studying Taylor Swift?
Evers: The sheer size of her popularity. The Eras tour grossed over $2 billion last year alone … close to 2 percent of the total music market. Those are just staggering numbers. I didn’t approach her any differently than I would … Steve Jobs or Jeff Bezos.
b.: You write that Taylor has just the right amount of novelty — like how, when developing a new product, you want a little novelty but not too much. What’s the right balance?
Evers: For Taylor Swift, that’s her sweet spot. She’s a very traditional songwriter. She writes great traditional melodies, and she works in traditional structures. But she has a way of surprising her audience, whether it’s through great unexpected lyrics or great sonic moments …
In terms of other entrepreneurs, it’s something that people really need to really think about. A lot of us want to double down on novelty; we want something that really surprises people, that really catches their attention. If you look at the research, it’s the familiarity that pulls us in.
b.: You compare her brand with American Girl dolls for succeeding while offering different iterations of itself.
Evers: The biggest thing for me is how she’s always understood that it’s more than the music. It’s about forming deep connections with the fans. And not only that, but validating their experiences, validating their emotions.
Taylor Swift is uber-popular right now, but she’s faced a lot of backlash, too. She was a teen artist writing music for her peers … and that’s not always been taken seriously in pop culture. What makes her a really interesting brand is she has managed to grow up with her fans.
b.: Over the course of her career, Taylor has had to adapt with the changing music industry. What lessons can entrepreneurs take away?
Evers: Streaming is a case in point: Taylor didn’t always have a great relationship with streaming. In 2014, she had very public spats with Spotify and Apple. She pulled her entire catalog from Spotify, but she didn’t need Spotify at the time. She could sell physical albums like it was the 1980s. …
That all changed around 2019. Streaming had grown exponentially, and she needed streaming. She shifted her strategy to release more music at a faster clip, which worked to a great degree. What businesses need to watch out for is premium position captivity … She had a premium position in the industry, but that tends to catch up with you eventually. … There’s going to be a time when you need to adjust and adapt.
This interview has been edited for length. Read the full Q&A at business.com.
