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Strategy Lessons from Taylor Swift

Lessons that conventional businesses can learn from Taylor Swift's ability to navigate new technologies, channels, and power structures to create enduring advantage.

Charikleia Kaffe, Adam Job and Martin Reeves

Boston Consulting Group, 2023

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Talented star and savvy business maven Taylor Swift has succeeded, in part, by adhering to three strategies many businesses should consider, write Charikleia Kaffe, Adam Job, and Martin Reeves of the Boston Consulting Group. Swift’s tactics have enabled her to change genres, control her creative endeavors, define new trends, and remain relevant to her fans. She has always connected with them online, and she continues to create buzz around new projects with hints on social media. By nurturing her loyal fan base and taking control of her music’s production and distribution, Swift has powerfully crossed genres and created new trends while remaining relevant – a feat that holds lessons for many businesses.

Summary

Being strategic about the business side of entertainment helped Taylor Swift become a generational star.

Taylor Swift built her empire on her music, but she shaped and expanded it by being a savvy businessperson. Experts predicted that her 2023-2024 Eras Tour would boost the US economy by $5.7 billion. Since first topping the charts in 2012, Swift has used her “strong intuition for good strategy” to create a bond with the public, upend the hierarchy of her industry, and remain relevant to her fans.

Swift mastered three strategies: building a heartfelt bond with the public in a digitized industry, taking control of her work, and continually reinventing herself. Applying her three lessons – build a loyal following despite digitization, carve your own path, and stay relevant to your consumers – can help any business avoid becoming just another commodity in the digital economy. In fact, Swift has taken full advantage of digitization instead of being hampered by it.

Prizewinning new artists now often use commercially available options to record their music and release it on social media platforms, following Swift in...

About the Authors

Martin Reeves is chairman of The Boston Consulting Group’s Henderson Institute. Adam Job directs the institute’s Strategy Lab, where Charikleia Kaffe is an Ambassador.

Strategy Lessons from Taylor Swift

Lessons that conventional businesses can learn from Taylor Swift's ability to navigate new technologies, channels, and power structures to create enduring advantage.

Read or listen offline

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Summary

Being strategic about the business side of entertainment helped Taylor Swift become a generational star.

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