Taylor Swift (Acquired’s Version)

ℹ️ EPISODE INFO

Released

January 24, 2022

Duration

2h 39m

Channel

Acquired

Watch on YouTube

▶ Open ↗

📝 EPISODE DESCRIPTION

Not only is Taylor Swift the biggest music artist of our generation by nearly every metric (it’s not even close!), with the re-recording of her original albums she’s in the process of reshaping the entire music industry in a way no band or artist ever has before. And oh yeah — she’s still *only thirty-two*. We dive into the incredible business story behind perhaps the new “last great American dynasty”… the TSwift empire. PSA: if you want more Acquired, you can [follow our newly public LP Show feed here: http://pod.link/acquiredlp in the podcast player of your choice (including Spotify!). **Sponsors:**

• Thank you to our presenting sponsor for all of Season 10, Vanta! Vanta is the leader in automated security compliance – making SOC 2, HIPAA, GDPR, and more a breeze for startups and organizations of all sizes. You might say they’re like the “AWS of security and compliance”. Everyone in the Acquired community can get 10% off using this link: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

• Thank you as well to Vouch and to SoftBank Latin America. You can learn more about them at:
• https://bit.ly/acquired-vouch
• https://bit.ly/acquiredsoftbanklatam

**Links:**

• Taylor Swift The Brightest Star: https://www.amazon.com/Taylor-Swift-Loves-Global-Sensation/dp/1912587556/
• All You Need to Know About the Music Business: https://www.amazon.com/Need-Know-About-Music-Business/dp/1501122185/
• Switched On Pop: https://switchedonpop.com/episodes/deja-vu-olivia-rodrigo-copyright-decoder-good-4-u-paramore
• Joni (Blue) vs. Taylor (Red) Album Art: https://gaylorlyrics.tumblr.com/post/624477640229863424/we-3-some-joni-mitchell-parallels
• Kelly Clarkson’s suggestion to re-record Taylor’s Big Machine albums: https://twitter.com/kellyclarkson/status/1150168164853882880?s=20
• Episode sources: https://docs.google.com/document/d/1YKvfZuBrMB_BawZzt5c6ap8b2KdNg7n5Ko2tqF5AkCE/edit?usp=sharing

**Carve Outs:**

• The Beatles Get Back: https://www.disneyplus.com/en-gb/series/the-beatles-get-back/7DcWEeWVqrkE
• Italic: https://italic.com/

*‍Note: Acquired hosts and guests may hold assets discussed in this episode. This podcast is not investment advice, and is intended for informational and entertainment purposes only. You should do your own research and make your own independent decisions when considering any financial transactions.*

🎤 SPEAKERS

• Ben Gilbert

  host

• David Rosenthal

  host

🧾 EPISODE SUMMARY

In this episode of Acquired, featuring Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal, Taylor Swift (Acquired’s Version) explores Taylor Swift’s business strategy, music rights battles, and industry power shift Acquired breaks down Taylor Swift as a “company,” tracing how early ambition, songwriting leverage, and direct-to-fan engagement built a compounding career from country upstart to global pop powerhouse.

🔗 RELATED EPISODES

Super Pumped (with Brian Koppelman and Joseph Gordon-Levitt)

The Browser (with Brendan Eich, Chief Architect of Netscape + Mozilla and CEO of Brave)

Peloton - the entire history and strategy behind America's trendiest workout

CAA (with Michael Ovitz)

FTX with Sam Bankman-Fried & Mario Gabriele (Extended Cut)

Not Boring (with Packy McCormick) - Extended Cut