For Swifties, there's no such thing as too much of a good thing. They will gratefully take whatever Mother serves them and come back for seconds…or thirds, or quarters. There's a reason why Taylor Swift sells more physical copies of albums than any other contemporary artist. It's both incredible business acumen and a thousand shares of an extremely loyal fan base. This is the recipe behind the release strategy for Swift's next album, The Department of Tortured Poetsstarting April 19.
During her Eras Tour on Sunday evening in Singapore, the singer announced a third variation of TTP, “The Black Dog”, which she described as the “new final edition” of the album on her Instagram. Each edition of the album she announced comes with different cover images, different lyrical hooks and a different bonus track, for which each variation is named: “The Black Dog” (lyrics: “Old habits die screaming”), “The Albatross”. (lyrics: “Am I allowed to cry?”) and “The Bolter” (lyrics: “You have no right to talk to me about sadness”). This is in addition to the standard edition of the album, which includes the bonus track “The Manuscript” (lyrics: “I love you, it's ruining my life.”) To make the bonus variants even more appealing, each n 'was only made available on the Swift website for a limited time. (If you're reading this Monday morning, you still have two days to get your hands on “The Black Dog.”)
This is a classic Swiftian tactic and one that few other artists could deploy with such success. Olivia Rodrigo tried a similar multi-edition version as a “bonus version” for GUTbut Swift still won the battle for physical release in 2023 with 1989 (Taylor version)which broke the all-time record for the largest vinyl sales week in U.S. history (by Forbes). In this case, the track listing remained the same, but Swift sold a few different variants with different covers and unique polaroid images in each copy (these variants were titled “Crystal Skies Blue”, “Rose Garden Pink”, ” Aquamarine Green”, and “Sunrise Boulevard Yellow”).
The previous record for the biggest vinyl sales week of all time was held by Swift for 2022 Midnights, an album that could win the prize for multi-edition gadgets. These editions also didn't have much difference in track listing, but had different artwork for each copy – and if you bought all four variants you could put them together to create a clock. And if you bought the gear in the Taylor Swift store, it would be a functioning clock. With vinyl, CD, cassette and digital, the pop star at one point offered more than 20 different versions of the album, according to Billboard. At the end of the “era”, Midnights had been resold, repackaged and reconfigured so much that it began to erode the integrity of “the album” as a concept.
The Eras Tour (Taylor's Version) uses a similar tactic
Of course, this isn't a brand new strategy for the industry or for Swift itself. Since 2010, she has a partnership with Target to offer exclusive editions of his albums with special bonus content. But recently, she's stepped up her game and turned capitalism itself into an art form, especially since she started the re-recording project when she realized that putting “(Taylor's Version)” on her products was not just a recovery but a branding opportunity. This strategy extends beyond just album sales. THE Concert film of the Eras tour created for the first time with the successful cinema versionSO an extended edition (with three additional performances, “The Archer,” “Long Live,” and “Wildest Dreams”) available for digital rental. Later this month, a third the version will be broadcast on Disney+. According to the trailer released on Monday, the Taylor's version from the film Eras Tour will include the performance of “cardigan” as well as four new acoustic songs (one of which appears to be the Midnights song “Maroon”).
As with most things, Swift's multi-pronged release strategies make it unique in the industry. Yes, she's one of the only artists who can pull it off, but she's also one of the few modern pop stars who can't. need all the bells and whistles to sell physical copies. Fans would still line his pockets even without all the variations, as proven by the success of Speak Now (Taylor's Version)who according to Forbes was the biggest vinyl debut of 2023 (before 1989 Television was released) and did not take the bet on the multi-coverage variant.
So why bother with all the bells and whistles? Swift knows her fans are collectors and willing to spend their money, so it's an easy way to squeeze all the juice out of each album. Given the immodesty push of various remixes to get her songs to number one, it's clear she doesn't rise above a certain level of ruthlessness when it comes to breaking records and making money. Maybe this ruthless ruthlessness Taylor's version the era comes from her feeling of being “canceled” in 2016. At the time, Swift was sure her career would be taken away from her. She knows the tide can turn at any time, so it makes sense to make hay while the sun shines. We'll just see if it stops at four Tortured poets variants, or if the department reserves more for the future.