Tuesday
Nov112014
November 11, 2014 The Taylor Swift Factor
Taylor Swift’s new album, 1989, is my jam this month. As an independent musician, studying The Swift is like a study in everything a musician can do right on a grassroots level. The weird part? She’s arguably the biggest pop star in the world at the moment, and she just sold 1.2 million albums this week…in a year when NO ONE ELSE has gone platinum. In fact, her first week sales numbers have consistently gone UP when it’s trending downward for everyone else. Let’s examine this, shall we?
Swift Factor No. 1: Be a social media phenom
Taylor has openly admitted to stalking her fans online, and they know she’s lurking. Her Tumblr is hilarious and a peek into her sense of humor. She reblogs fan posts, artwork, and the occasional embarrassing middle school photo. She’s just like us, trolling the internet late at night when we can’t sleep. On Twitter, she’s been re-blogging photos of fans with 1989 albums in hand. Most pop stars try to seem a little bit untouchable, which is a tactic that actually works sometimes (hey, Rihanna). Taylor’s approach of accessibility has made for a very loyal crowd in her demographic. The selfie is the new autograph and the re-tweet is the new high five.
Swift Factor No. 2 Connect with fans on a personal level
Her PR game started way before release week, obviously. One ingenious idea was hosting “Secret Sessions” where fans got to listen to the album before it came out. What made this interesting is that the fans were selected through social media by Taylor and her team, and they were invited to Taylor’s house where they listened to 1989, took photos, and ate cookies…baked by Taylor. The biggest pop star in the world right now is baking cookies for her fans. I’m sure it made the life highlight list for all the participants, but the ensuing news stories also made casual fans wish they had the opportunity to go, and non-fans admit that hey…that’s pretty cool.
Swift Factor No. 3 Make a physical product people want
People stream and people download. CDs are dinosaurs, especially to anyone under the age of 35, which is Taylor’s main demographic. How did she sell 1.2 million albums to people who don’t buy albums? First, if you bought the physical CD, you got the added bonus of lyric Polaroids. Each CD comes with 13 photos, kind of a throwback to collecting trading cards. She also partnered with Target to sell the Deluxe version which included bonus tracks and voice memos of rough demos. Extra content only available on one format = more sales.
Swift Factor No. 4 Take chances and be vulnerable
Those voice memos on the Target edition struck me as brave. They’re raw beginnings of songs that are produced and polished on the album. They are hesitant and unsure and sometimes pitchy. That’s how songs get written, and if there was a thought that Taylor wasn’t writing her own stuff, this helps combat it. The other thing I admire about this record is that the last track is a co-write with Imogen Heap, a very respected writer and producer outside of the Top 40 realm. While there are plenty of Max Martin produced songs here, having Imogen end-cap it is a really classy thing to do. It makes me excited for the artistic growth that’s bound to happen if Taylor continues to do her thing.
Swift Factor No. 5 Respect your own work
The other big hullabaloo this week aside from selling a bunch of albums was that 1989 was not on Spotify and in fact, her entire back catalog was removed from the service. I thought it a given that a new release would not be on a streaming service immediately, especially since there was such a mad rush to sell product, but the removal of older albums was interesting. Granted, rumor has it that her label is up for sale and this was a bargaining chip (remember kids, follow the money), but all the indie artists I know have been aflutter with Swift commentary this week because it’s a big deal when the Big Folk stand up for the Littler Folk (even by proxy of actions with other intentions). Taylor and her label have bargaining power in this art-meets-tech world we live in, and she just pulled out of the game entirely. Whether it’s permanent or temporary, it is at least causing us to discuss the value of music as a service. We pay $100 for cable TV access every month. What will make the majority of music listeners pay for access? How is music even valued these days? Fans aren’t paying $13.99 for the Deluxe Target version of 1989 for the songs. They’re paying for the right to be a fan…to call themselves members of the “Taylor Nation” and to have a communal experience. Hopefully, whatever comes of this Spotify streaming conversation, artists will be able to stand up for the work they create.
Swift Factor No. 6 Make your loyal fans have your back
Another interesting point in this whole thing is that no tracks leaked early from those aforementioned “Secret Sessions”. The fans were asked not to record anything and no one did. When the album did leak online a few days early and tracks were being posted around Tumblr, fans were refusing to listen to them or share them. They assumed it would hurt Taylor and her sales, and at this point the diehard fans were like a rabid guerrilla marketing team…they had a vested interest in their girl doing well on opening day. This is direct opposition to most album leaks…people generally scoop them up with little thought. Taylor had connected so much with her base that they weren’t about to mess up the album release or spoil the experience of Release Day excitement (which they knew Taylor would be tweeting and blogging about right along with them).
That’s a lot of dissection for a 24-year-old pop star. I think that Taylor encapsulated everything I try to preach about when I meet with musician clients…connect with your fan base far beyond that of a “I am an artist buy this music because I made it” mentality. It’s old and uninspiring. Create your army that will go to bat for you, spread the word for you, share in your victories with you…that is a fan base that will keep returning as long as you stay true to your art. Follow the Swift.
Jana Pochop is a singer-songwriter, content creator, and social media champion in Austin, Texas. She drinks a lot of coffee, wears a lot of flip-flops, and blogs at www.janapochop.com.
Reader Comments (3)
Totally agree with you. You may not like her music, she's a complete artist. I watched her on a Quebec's tv show. ( Tout le monde en parle ). She really impressed me. People ( or musicians...? ) sometimes judge easily when we see a young artist at the top.
Great article.
Nicolas
La Relève Inconnue
http://lareleveinconnue.wordpress.com/
Too busy...working like mad to get workshop together..with SPECIAL GUEST...LOL
Chico F. SMMC
What do you mean ? They can false numbers like that in the press ?