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> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: I think that's a poor reading of Swift & her team. They've clearly got a rock-solid understanding of suppl

> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: I think that's a poor reading of Swift & her team. They've clearly got a rock-solid understanding of supply & demand, and other economic concepts, to the extent that their behaviour subverts textbook economic thinking. Spotify acts like a textbook perfectly competitive marketplace: all actors have perfect information, there are no monopolies, the market price for all items is the same, and all vendors are price-takers (the platform controls the price). Within this framework, Scooter Braun's masters of Swift's work, and Swift's "(Taylor's Version)" re-recordgins are homogeneous products. A textbook reading of this setting should assert that, through supply & demand, both versions should attract an even split of consumption. But most consumers willingly choose to listen to Taylor's re-recordings[1] over Braun's masters. [1] https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-taylors-version-stats-chart-numbers/a-big-difference-in-total-streams/ https://www.billboard.com/lists/taylor-swift-taylors-version...

conception 3y ago
I’m not sure most consumers are choosing Taylors version. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-fearless-streams-1182567/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-f... The Billboard article seems to be saying that when the new album was released people… bought the new album rather than the old one (they probably already had) during the same time period. And that total streams on new tracks are higher than old tracks that weren’t on streaming for years and (as the OP notes) people had to buy copies. Certainly hardcore Swifties are staying true but most consumers just don’t care about the morality of their music (see Chris Brown for instance).
gumby 3y ago
>> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: > I think that's a poor reading of Swift & her team. My read of Thompson's piece was that he agrees with you. He quoted Patel to say that he (Thompson) agreed with him (not her) back in 2014 but later learned that this reasoning was wrong -- too shallow and too net-boosterist.
stonogo 3y ago
If the products were homogenous they wouldn't have different names. Are you under the impression that the phrase "Taylor's Version" was chosen at random? Could the labeled active endorsement of the artist, with whom millions of fans have a parasocial emotional bond, possibly be affecting consumer choice in this matter? Of course it can. Nobody's "subverting textbook economic thinking," a ridiculous assertion.
RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago
> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: That statement is even more laughable when you realize that she is one of the most financially savvy people, and both her mother and father worked in the financial industry.
- true_religion 3y ago
  What’s up with finance always leaning hard on blood relations to imply competence? No where else is this true. No one will say the children of doctors should definitely be medically savvy.
  - Slow_Hand 3y ago
    I took it to mean that she has good counsel on financial matters as a result of her parent’s background.
kibwen 3y ago
> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand I interpreted this as a criticism of Swift's attempt to generalize her experience to the rest of the artists in the industry. As you say, Swift and her marketing team have a solid understanding of what her fans will accept. However, to have her say that her tactics are applicable to musicians who don't have anywhere near her sort of following comes across as tone-deaf (heh) at best, and disingenuous at worst.
- ender341341 3y ago
  I think Bo Burnham had a bit this reminds me of on Taylor Swift: "Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner telling you to sell everything and invest in the lotto." being the culmination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JgG0ECp2U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JgG0ECp2U
candiddevmike 3y ago
> the market price for all items is the same, and all vendors are price-takers (the platform controls the price) Not to detract from your point, but that's not really true: https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/ https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/ > Contrary to what you might have heard, Spotify does not pay artist royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate; the royalty payments that artists receive might vary according to differences in how their music is streamed or the agreements they have with labels or distributors.
- extra88 3y ago
  Aren't they referring to the price of each track to the consumer? To the consumer, the price to listen to any particular track is the same.

conception 3y ago

I’m not sure most consumers are choosing Taylors version. https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-fearless-streams-1182567/ https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-news/taylor-swift-f... The Billboard article seems to be saying that when the new album was released people… bought the new album rather than the old one (they probably already had) during the same time period. And that total streams on new tracks are higher than old tracks that weren’t on streaming for years and (as the OP notes) people had to buy copies. Certainly hardcore Swifties are staying true but most consumers just don’t care about the morality of their music (see Chris Brown for instance).

gumby 3y ago

>> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: > I think that's a poor reading of Swift & her team. My read of Thompson's piece was that he agrees with you. He quoted Patel to say that he (Thompson) agreed with him (not her) back in 2014 but later learned that this reasoning was wrong -- too shallow and too net-boosterist.

stonogo 3y ago

If the products were homogenous they wouldn't have different names. Are you under the impression that the phrase "Taylor's Version" was chosen at random? Could the labeled active endorsement of the artist, with whom millions of fans have a parasocial emotional bond, possibly be affecting consumer choice in this matter? Of course it can. Nobody's "subverting textbook economic thinking," a ridiculous assertion.

RcouF1uZ4gsC 3y ago

> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand: That statement is even more laughable when you realize that she is one of the most financially savvy people, and both her mother and father worked in the financial industry.

true_religion 3y ago
What’s up with finance always leaning hard on blood relations to imply competence? No where else is this true. No one will say the children of doctors should definitely be medically savvy.
- Slow_Hand 3y ago
  I took it to mean that she has good counsel on financial matters as a result of her parent’s background.

kibwen 3y ago

> Taylor Swift doesn’t understand supply and demand I interpreted this as a criticism of Swift's attempt to generalize her experience to the rest of the artists in the industry. As you say, Swift and her marketing team have a solid understanding of what her fans will accept. However, to have her say that her tactics are applicable to musicians who don't have anywhere near her sort of following comes across as tone-deaf (heh) at best, and disingenuous at worst.

ender341341 3y ago
I think Bo Burnham had a bit this reminds me of on Taylor Swift: "Taylor Swift telling you to follow your dreams is like a lottery winner telling you to sell everything and invest in the lotto." being the culmination https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JgG0ECp2U https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q-JgG0ECp2U

candiddevmike 3y ago

> the market price for all items is the same, and all vendors are price-takers (the platform controls the price) Not to detract from your point, but that's not really true: https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/ https://support.spotify.com/us/artists/article/royalties/ > Contrary to what you might have heard, Spotify does not pay artist royalties according to a per-play or per-stream rate; the royalty payments that artists receive might vary according to differences in how their music is streamed or the agreements they have with labels or distributors.

extra88 3y ago
Aren't they referring to the price of each track to the consumer? To the consumer, the price to listen to any particular track is the same.