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Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

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Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#31

Post by ethagknight »

debacle wrote: post #2

It seems as though the author has a (relatively) specific view of both Taylor Swift and Disney that he is trying to generalize, while ignoring the social ecosystem that both currently exist in. I don't know what knowledge can really be gleaned from this piece. Walt Disney's claim to fame were some of the incredible risks that he took, and his near Jobsian ability to predict what the consumer wanted. Taylor Swift's cl…

I'm so tired of this bullshit narrative. Same argument gets played for Elon Musk. How many millions of attractive white women from affluent parents are there out there trying to excel? Are you really going against that and take away the tremendously focused effort she's put forth for 20+ years? Taylor has taken huge risks and had her share of failures along the way. I remember her playing at fraternity house parties when I was in college.

It is such a harmful fallacy to reduce someone's life work life you have done here.

Im in the "fathers and daughters" camp that Ben Thompson talks about, where over the last ~5 years, Taylor has produced a body of work that is broadly appealing. I enjoy it. My daughter enjoys it. I personally cannot stand Swift's earlier work, seeing as it was written for teenage girls, that makes sense, my daughter loves it, and she cannot stand my weird 90s rock, so we compromise on Swifts new stuff. What Taylor Swift has done, shifting her musical appeal without abandoning her fan base, is super impressive and potentially unprecedented at this scale. Maybe Michael Jackson or Elvis level of mastery of entertainment.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#32

Post by irrational »

riffraff wrote: post #13

I never understood the "Disney's differentiator are their theme park". We didn't have a theme park in all of Europe until the '90s, but the whole continent grew up with Mickey Mouse & Donald Duck.

I think I remember while reading about Carl Barks that it was through comic books, right? Maybe that is another differentiator.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#33

Post by antiterra »

jedberg wrote: post #10
throw7 wrote: post #5

All these fathers with their daughters. ;) I'm happy for them, but dude really: "I’ve been here for 21 years I can’t remember anything as important as these Taylor Swift tickets"

Maybe he's just not old enough to remember trying to get Madonna or Michael Jackson tickets. Camping out at record stores for days to be first at the Ticketmaster booth. Or at the venue itself. I wasn't old enough to go but I remember seeing the pictures on the news.

That quote in the article is from Bill Simmons, who was born in 1969. So, it’s probably not that.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#34

Post by racl101 »

jedberg wrote: post #16
racl101 wrote: post #8

I still could not accurately identify one of her songs by audio if my life depended on it OR if someone offered me $100 million I'd definitely lose out on that money. Yet, she is the biggest popstar on the planet. It's weird, somehow she is everywhere in image and presence but the art she produces eludes me. On the other hand, there are catchy songs like the Benny Hill theme that I know by heart, yet I could not name…

If you heard her most popular songs you would probably recognize having heard them before, even if you don't know they are hers. These each have multi-billion views on YouTube. I suspect if you listen you will recognize them. And if not, well here you go! Now you've heard Taylor. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nfWlot6h_JM https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e-ORhEE9VVg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QcIy9NiNbmo https:/…

That's exactly my point.

I never said I haven't heard her music. What I meant was that I cannot properly identify her particular music.

Like I said, if I was in a game show scenario, maybe I could guess that a song is hers and win the money, but if you gave me a multiple choice and you put in songs with other artists who sound like her then there's a good chance I'd lose.

Recognizing, isn't knowing.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#35

Post by [deleted] »

samcat116 wrote: post #21
debacle wrote: post #2

It seems as though the author has a (relatively) specific view of both Taylor Swift and Disney that he is trying to generalize, while ignoring the social ecosystem that both currently exist in. I don't know what knowledge can really be gleaned from this piece. Walt Disney's claim to fame were some of the incredible risks that he took, and his near Jobsian ability to predict what the consumer wanted. Taylor Swift's cl…

> Taylor Swift's claim to fame is that she is an attractive white woman from affluent parents, who is both highly malleable and a very hard worker. I don't think you understand Taylor Swift whatsoever.

[deleted]

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#36

Post by cjohnson318 »

debacle wrote: post #2

It seems as though the author has a (relatively) specific view of both Taylor Swift and Disney that he is trying to generalize, while ignoring the social ecosystem that both currently exist in. I don't know what knowledge can really be gleaned from this piece. Walt Disney's claim to fame were some of the incredible risks that he took, and his near Jobsian ability to predict what the consumer wanted. Taylor Swift's cl…

> Taylor Swift's claim to fame is that she is an attractive white woman from affluent parents, who is both highly malleable and a very hard worker.

You're clearly missing something, because she's many orders of magnitude more successful than nearly every other attractive white woman, etc. No one falls up from mediocrity that meteorically without unique expertise.

I encourage you to write a song on an instrument, and play it at an open mic; you'll remember those annoyed and disappointed faces forever.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#37

Post by CuriouslyC »

samcat116 wrote: post #21
debacle wrote: post #2

It seems as though the author has a (relatively) specific view of both Taylor Swift and Disney that he is trying to generalize, while ignoring the social ecosystem that both currently exist in. I don't know what knowledge can really be gleaned from this piece. Walt Disney's claim to fame were some of the incredible risks that he took, and his near Jobsian ability to predict what the consumer wanted. Taylor Swift's cl…

> Taylor Swift's claim to fame is that she is an attractive white woman from affluent parents, who is both highly malleable and a very hard worker. I don't think you understand Taylor Swift whatsoever.

I think if you take highly malleable to mean "can seem relatable to a broad swathe of people that she actually shares little in common with through a very American white bread vanilla mix of folk and pop" then that part of the comment is pretty accurate.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#38

Post by rayiner »

debacle wrote: post #2

It seems as though the author has a (relatively) specific view of both Taylor Swift and Disney that he is trying to generalize, while ignoring the social ecosystem that both currently exist in. I don't know what knowledge can really be gleaned from this piece. Walt Disney's claim to fame were some of the incredible risks that he took, and his near Jobsian ability to predict what the consumer wanted. Taylor Swift's cl…

> Taylor Swift's claim to fame is that she is an attractive white woman from affluent parents, who is both highly malleable and a very hard worker.

Swift's success is about much more than that. Fundamentally, she is targeting a market segment her competitors have left wide open. Her persona-- a hard working, self-deprecating, people pleasing young woman trying to navigate relationships--is immensely relatable to a huge number of young millennial women. That's especially true because Millennials are just more square than Boomers or Gen X. They are more inclined to follow social expectations, and have fewer vices than Boomers or Gen X at the same age. Swift's clean lyrics thus stand out in comparison to her contemporaries.

That also makes her more appealing across generations. I've been a Taylor Swift fan since the beginning, and I'm happy to spend $$$ taking my 10 year old daughter to one of her concerts. I'd never do the same with someone like Ariana Grande or Lizzo or even Beyonce, whose music is more sexualized and profane.

You should watch Miss Americana. Swift runs her operation like a business. It's quite amazing to watch.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#39

Post by stonogo »

Shrezzing wrote: post #18

> 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 a…

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.

Re: Disney’s Taylor Swift Era

#40

Post by dfxm12 »

throw7 wrote: post #5

All these fathers with their daughters. ;) I'm happy for them, but dude really: "I’ve been here for 21 years I can’t remember anything as important as these Taylor Swift tickets"

It's Bill Simmons talking in a podcast. He's trying to harness some of the Swift-a-mania and to get more focus on himself.
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