Bella Dougherty
Staff Writer
Taylor Swift is leaving many of her fans confused and disappointed by not releasing her new album, 1989, onto spotify. Swift used the same strategy upon the release of her previous album, Red, by waiting months after it’s official release to allow it to be released on spotify. After selling, Swift stated that she believes her music is valuable art which should be paid for. Taylor Swift’s album sold over a million albums in its first week, which may have been as a result of her unwillingness to release her album to popular streaming sites such as Spotify and Pandora.
Taylor Swift has had remarkable success in terms of album sales for the last three albums she released. She sold over one million albums in the first week, being the first female artist to achieve this since 1991. Swift reportedly stated that she attributes part of her success to her marketing strategies and her refusal to allow her album to be streamed from free music websites.
1989 has received almost entirely positive feedback from large labels, magazines, and critics. To promote her album release, Swift appeared on Ellen, was on the cover of Time magazine, and had been self promoting her album release for weeks prior to the event. Many individuals were anxiously awaiting the release, and many were disappointed by the lack of access to the album.
Swift has two million active followers on Spotify who pay a monthly membership to listen to music. She has many more followers who actively listen to her music, but do not subscribe to the site. Many of her followers on Spotify, myself included, were frustrated by her decision to not release her album on Spotify. Her response to the public regarding this issue was that she believes music is an art form, which is valuable and should be paid for. I do not disagree with this; however, I would argue that I am paying for Spotify, and that I believe her music should be accessible to all of her fans. After two weeks of waiting for her album to be released on Spotify, I gave up and purchased her album. I was not disappointed with my choice to do so, because I thoroughly enjoyed listening to the album; however, I was disappointed that I had to spend the $13.00 on it.
After having purchased the album, I am happy to have supported Swift in her album release and her successful endeavor to sell record breaking number of albums. While her marketing strategies were viewed as annoying to many, they proved to be successful by how many albums she sold. Her fun, pop, upbeat album was not only loved, but also purchased by a majority of her fans. Her tremendous success is not only attributed to her incredible musical talent, but also her ingenious marketing strategies.
