2023 was the year of Taylor Swift, it’s looking like 2024 just might be the same…especially since she has added more Era tour dates in the U.S. after her global tour
It was said that the U.S. economy was boosted because of her success of her sold out shows. It was more than that, it was the size of the stadiums she was playing in, the amount of nights she performed in each place which was more than once, and the cost of the tickets.
Somehow ticket master is to blame for the price gouging of tickets skyrocketing to the $1,000 minimum ticket, but we know that was intentional. Supply and demand. There was a high demand and not enough seats in any one arena to hold the millions of fans wanting to see her 44 set list, 3.5 hour long, visual spectacular that covered 15+ years of her music.
Swift & Demand
Ticket prices are set at a price people are willing to pay. If no one wanted to go, ticket prices would drop to try incentivize people to attend her concert.
Would I have spent a month’s salary to take my wife to this concert, no, but people did. Good for them, it’s what makes America great. The market allowed for Taylor to maximize on her talent and the bigger and better she made her show, the more the system rewarded her.
If the show was terrible, no one would have followed up by going to consecutive shows. This is innovation at its best, you provide something that is new, that no one has done before, and people buy it.
People willingly and without coercion flooded the economy with billions of dollars to be a part of the Taylor Swift phenomenon. That is how capitalism works and to regulate or force any part of this process would be absurd. Every single American freely gave of their money to see her, pay for souvenirs, t-shirts, & posters. One article called her the “Capitalist Queen.”
Swift Money
I say all this to point out that if you are a liberal and paid money to go see Taylor Swift, then you are a contradiction. Taylor herself is a talking contradiction by saying all the correct things for the political left. At the same time she is maximizing on a system that the left is wanting to dismantle.
Should the government regulate her ticket sales or the number of places she should play to reduce carbon emissions? Should she stop flying on her private jet to get to all the events she needs to for her career? Do barriers need to be placed to prevent her from exploiting her own talent and savvy business skills? Taylor is only as successful as the next big business, corporate America machine that she is a part of. Swift is her own business, should we take her money and redistribute it? Doesn’t she have enough?
She can have all the money owed to her because she earned it. So, listen to her music, buy her albums but don’t listen to her politics. She is using an economic system to her advantage that is antithetical to her own political policies. She is just playing along with the rest of the Hollywood elite, while enjoying a life of luxury.
If there is a critique to be made of Taylor Swift, it’s to be honest about using the economy as designed. It’s because she is thriving in America, this wouldn’t have happened anywhere else.
In Truth & Love,
Matthew J Diaz