TAYLOR SWIFT - BUSINESSWOMAN EXTRAORDINAIRE
This amazing, gorgeous, brilliant woman I know, also an avid JAM VIEWS reader, has been pestering me for a year to write about the extraordinary business prowess of pop star Taylor Swift. Now, after our crackerjack staff has spent hours in deep research, I must admit I am embarrassed that
So this week let's review eight business strategies in which Taylor swift, at the age of 29, has executed, and in many cases re-written the rules:
1) We must be relentless in differentiating ourselves and our organizations from the rest of the flock. In 2014, Taylor saw that music streaming services were on a path to commoditize music, and therefore erase the value. Taylor pulled her catalog of music from Spotify in response to the service's offering of unpaid, ad-supported tiers. But now, Taylor and Spotify, Amazon Music and Apple Music are all partnering to supply fans with special events, premier access, and first offerings not available to the general public. Constantly reinvent or become irrelevant. Differentiate from the masses.
2) Even with the internet and tremendous technology now, business always comes back to relationships and partnerships. People need connections. This is why Taylor has 400 trillion Instagram followers, or something like that. This is why she made up with Spotify. And, Katy Perry? But, never Kanye! Her recent live performance for Amazon Prime Day was a win-win-win. At Taylor's concerts everyone wears a PixMob light up wristband controlled by infrared signals which have all of the fans' wrists pulsing and changing colors to the music. At our core, we are humans who need other humans, and those who connect the best will profit the most. Did you notice how years ago Schwab, who invented discount brokerage, decided to change tack and swim upstream to full service advisory relationships? Chuck figured out that those relationships held the big money, the "sticky money."
3) Even Taylor, the Queen of Keeping Score, has learned that burying the hatchet and setting aside the ego, can be lucrative, not to mention fulfilling. I call this "being the Buddha." Fans who thought Taylor and Spotify would never get back together may be surprised that she filmed an exclusive video of her single "Delicate" for only Spotify users. Did you see Katy Perry in the burger costume in the "You Need to Calm Down" video?
4) Taylor continues to redefine marketing in her industry. She does it differently, and she does it better. We should all take notes, but then tear up those notes and create unique marketing in our own industries. Taylor doesn't follow what others do. She is not the normal corporate lemming. She controls the eyeballs on Instagram, she designs long, dramatic debuts of new albums and singles. She leaves clues, creates contests and engages fans young and old. She makes being a Swiftie sometimes appear to be a full-time job!
5) Taylor understands that public relations (PR) is different than marketing. Taylor wrote an Op-Ed in the Wall street Journal in which she voiced her ideas that artists should value their art, and that unless they protected this value there would be no more music industry. How many executives read her mission statement nodding their heads in agreement as they rode the train into the city? This was her "Jerry Maguire" Mission Statement moment, and now the world is showing her the Quan!
6) Taylor keeps trying to teach us that "price is only a concern when value is in question." Taylor has, almost single-handedly, forced the music industry to value her music, and therefore everyone's music. She says, "With Beats Music and Rhapsody you have to pay for a premium package in order to access my albums. And that places a perception of value on what I've created."
Don't discount your price, your fee, your commission. I have preached until I was blue in the face that discounting your fee only loses you tremendous amounts of money in the long run, and it instantaneously shatters your value in the eyes of your clients and customers. When you discount, your clients not only deep down respect you less, they also don't enjoy working with you nearly as much. You can rationalize this issue inside your brain as much as you want, but it all boils down to fear and lack of self-worth.
7) Who owns your creations? Taylor has also famously battled Scooter Braun who acquired Taylor's entire music catalog when he bought Big Machine Records from Scott Borchetta. Artists believe they should own their creations, but at age 15 (not age of majority for contracts?) Taylor, or Mom and Dad, signed away these rights in exchange for a producer to create, produce, and market Taylor Swift. This is similar to an author taking an advance from Random House to receive world-wide distribution, while giving up the "ownership" to Random House. Of course, business owners say this is correct as the company spent all the money and expertise and took the risk, while the successful artist now wants control and more fruits of the success.
This teaches us JAM VIEWS members to be detailed and prudent with copyrights, patents, trademarks, employment contracts, non-competes, non-disclosure, and all the rest because we are all going to build massively-profitable enterprises like Taylor. As we always advise, "Write the contracts for the divorce, not the marriage," and "Don't be mentally lazy!"
8) Finally, Taylor exemplifies our better angels as she not only campaigns for her own self-interests, but she promotes the interests of her entire industry, even her competitors. I have always been saddened by the great number of business people who focus on "negative competition" instead of "positive competition." If people could overcome their jealousy and schadenfreude, they would begin to understand that rooting for Susan's success in the cubicle next to you actually brings you great success. If stockbrokers, realtors and software salespeople spent all day rooting for each other's success, they would see that a competitor's success is a rising tide which lifts all boats , which increases the industry's reputation, value, and earnings power for everyone.
Taylor's new record deals with Universal Music Group and Republic Records contain a new provision. Swift's label has promised to give a portion of their earnings from the Spotify shares they purchased years ago to its artists - not just to Taylor but to all of the label's artists. Good karma.
Well, I want to let all the 52-year old male executives reading their weekly JAM VIEWS Post to now know that they can stop watching their Taylor videos in secret behind closed office doors. It's not only uber-cool to be a Swiftie, it's good for business! Have a great week!
"I'm intimidated by the fear of being average." - Taylor Swift
** Thank you for the above stories to my beautiful love, Ashleigh. On the fan list I have always accepted that I would be a notch below Taylor (not to mention Fitz, Riley, Tay and Ethan), but it is still my greatest achievement.
** To access JAM Views directly please visit jeffreyamartinovich.blogspot.com
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