A LETTER FROM CHRIS SUAREZ
HEY TAYLOR, I’M JUST GONNA SHAKE IT OFF
This past week Taylor Swift broke half a billion in tickets sold while being just half way through her world tour. That doesn’t include merchandise sold at the shows. That doesn’t include merchandise that concert goers purchase before they get to the show. That doesn’t include her music sold leading up to the show - now pushing three separate previous albums into the top 10.
Early estimates predict Swift could take home about $1.5 billion by the time she ends her year-long tour. Some are aghast at the prices her tickets are demanding. The average ticket has sold for just over $250. They are reselling for two, three, four, and easily five times that. Many are upset at the prices. Social media is filled with upset fans labelling the artist as “greedy”. They claim that she “sold out”, and made her concerts “unreachable” to the average person. In the words of Swift, “haters gonna hate.”
The fact remains, regardless of how we might feel about those ticket prices, she could have grossed at least double on this tour than she actually will. She has created something of value. She has worked on building a product that a segment of the population wants. In fact, the demand is arguably much greater than even the current supply.
I will go out on the unpopular limb here and be honest. I never listened to Taylor Swift. I never understood the allure and popularity of her music, her writing, her influencer status. From afar I felt the music was average, the song writing was average, her voice was average. In fact, when a Taylor Swift song came on any streaming service, I was the first person to hit skip. I remember many runs where I’d tell Siri to skip all Taylor Swift songs.
But then I found myself in Seattle the weekend of her two sold out shows at Lumen Field. She sold over 140,000 tickets in two nights. The first night of her tour in Seattle, the city recorded the equivalent of a 2.3 magnitude earthquake from the sheer cheering and quaking of the crowds in the stadium. This woman performs for 3 1/2 hours two, three, and at times four nights in a row. She pounds out the performance of over 40 songs every night, disappointing no one, and wakes up to do it again the very next day. I may not fully appreciate her music, but her work ethic caught my attention. I appreciate her laser focus, her sheer will to please those who show up for her, and her commitment to doing something that has never been done before. She keeps her promise night after night. I respect that greatly.
Swift will turn 34 years old later this year. I estimate that it will be the same month that the Eras Tour crosses over the billion dollar mark in gross ticket sales. This year she will move from a net worth of $750M to probably well over $1B. She is not just a musician. She is a brilliant business executive.
The lesson? The success she is seeing this year did not show up suddenly. She has been songwriting since she was 14. She has released 10 albums in almost every genre imaginable - country, pop, electronic, folk. She’s released studio albums, live albums. She is the only artist to have launched 5 different albums with a million copies sold of each. She has sold over 200 million records globally. She is the most streamed female on Spotify. She is the owner of 12 Grammys including 3 Record of the Year. She has 40 American Music Awards, 29 Billboard Music Awards, 12 Country Music Association Awards. Her early days found her singing in coffee shops and small venues. For years she opened for larger country acts including Brad Paisley, Rascal Flatts, Tim McGraw, and Faith Hill. She has headlined over 1200 shows. She has performed at 21 different music festivals and over 200 other live events. This woman is a worker. This woman is consistent. This woman is a model for all entrepreneurs.
She has been writing, recording, singing, partnering, touring, performing, creating, managing, and directing for 20 years. So we should all be proud of her, excited for her, and in awe of what she has built. She stands as an example of what is possible. She has dealt with challenges, adversity, mistakes, and critics just like you and I. But she gets back up every single day and does her thing.
The lesson when that happens?
I’m just gonna shake it off.
Chris Suarez