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Celeb News: Taylor Swift doesn't understand supply and demand
Member Since: 1/6/2012
Posts: 15,374
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Taylor Swift doesn't understand supply and demand
in response to her Op Ed on the WSJ http://online.wsj.com/articles/for-t...ory-1404763219
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This might make sense if you're Taylor Swift and your enormous army of fans will pre-order anything you tell them to, but the most important lesson of the internet music revolution is that the vast majority of consumers actually reward convenience. That's why the iPod was a huge hit even though digitally-compressed music sounded terrible at the time, and it's why teenagers today get most of their music on YouTube, even though YouTube sounds worse still. It's also why the album is dead: you can't sell a handful of singles and some okayish filler songs to people for $10 or $15 or $25 anymore, because convenient internet music distribution has utterly destroyed the need to bundle everything together. You can just Google the singles and listen to them for free.
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Taylor Swift does not understand that the internet killed scarcity
But on the internet, there's no scarcity: there's an endless amount of everything available to everyone. The laws of supply and demand don't work terribly well when there's infinite supply. Swift is right that "important, rare things are valuable," but she's failed to understand that the idea of rarity simply doesn't exist in the digital marketplace.
Taylor is right that music is art, and that art should be valuable, but figuring out how to value art in a world without scarcity is a problem unlike any other in human history. It's why subscription music services like Spotify are the only way music makes money in countries that have rampant piracy, and it's why Apple had to buy Beats to compete. The only real answer anyone's got so far is advertising, which is probably why Taylor's RED tour was sponsored by Ked
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Taylor Swift is right about how valuable she is
But hitting that tipping point is almost impossible for the vast majority of artists working today, and their inability to actually sell music means they have to sell other things — and making all those other things means they'll have less time and money to put into making their music. It's a vicious cycle, and it means that being Taylor Swift is perhaps more valuable than Taylor Swift's music.
After all, Taylor Swift is a scarce resource.
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more at the link http://www.vox.com/2014/7/7/5878603/...ply-and-demand
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Member Since: 6/21/2012
Posts: 18,849
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Mess 
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Member Since: 7/22/2012
Posts: 6,744
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This got reported real quick.
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Member Since: 1/6/2012
Posts: 15,374
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mess, why was this reported? Is it because I didnt bold some parts?
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Member Since: 2/16/2010
Posts: 69,775
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What exactly did Taylor say? I feel like I need prior knowledge in order to understand the OP.
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Member Since: 10/20/2011
Posts: 4,234
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That was a nice read 
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Member Since: 11/23/2011
Posts: 46,048
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Can't say I'm surprised. After all, it's mostly the label that deals with this, no?
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Member Since: 8/12/2012
Posts: 13,665
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Well, this is pretty much what I thought when I read Taylor's article.
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Member Since: 12/19/2011
Posts: 2,955
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Well Taylor is still selling more than anyone. 1.2 million in a week at $16 an album in 2012. 
We demand it, Lord supplies it.
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Member Since: 9/13/2012
Posts: 29,559
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I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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Member Since: 2/16/2010
Posts: 69,775
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Taylor wrote a really amazing article. I agree with every point she made.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 2,544
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Quote:
Originally posted by Vespertine
I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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Member Since: 8/12/2012
Posts: 13,665
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Quote:
Originally posted by Vespertine
I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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It's quite right for Adele and Taylor and some more, for the rest it's terrible, Indie artists for example earn only a third today of what they have earned 10 years ago, so they have to take a second job to survive but that's not good for their musical craft.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 21,143
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The article is rather interesting. I enjoyed it.
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Member Since: 7/23/2012
Posts: 8,113
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Quote:
Originally posted by Vespertine
I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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All of this tea has just got me like
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 20,022
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That was a nice read. 
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Member Since: 7/4/2007
Posts: 24,859
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"Taylor Swift is a scarce resource."
Yes, one of our nation's greatest resources!
I understand the points of this article, but Taylor was making a specific point which she argued well. Obviously there are multiple sides to every issue.
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Member Since: 8/19/2013
Posts: 1,506
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Kinda agree... partly. Because it's not actual for 100% of listeners. I've already written my opinion in thread discussing Taylor's article tho
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Member Since: 9/1/2013
Posts: 1,507
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Quote:
Originally posted by Vespertine
I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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I like this.
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Member Since: 1/1/2014
Posts: 10,918
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Quote:
Originally posted by Vespertine
I feel like they missed the point of Taylor's piece though. She's saying it's up to artists to create demand. She fully acknowledges that the music industry will never be what it was, but she also feels that most artists no longer create demand for albums because they focus on singles. Taylor fans know that she will always deliver a solid album (in fact, one that's better than the singles lead you to believe). Taylor creates demand for her music. Adele created demand for 21 by making people think it was worth purchasing her whole album. Gaga used to create demand for her entire albums.
These cases are few and far between now (the most recent ones being Frozen and BEYONCÉ), but Taylor is still optimistic that artists can work really hard to put out a product that consumers are willing to pay for.
The fact that some albums still sell millions shows that people are still buying albums--they're just being more selective. Artists need to make albums worth selecting. In most people's eyes, there's no need to buy ARTPOP when you only like Applause and DWUW.
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