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The Business of a Taylor Swift Album Launch

By
Tom Huddleston Jr.
Tom Huddleston Jr.
By
Tom Huddleston Jr.
Tom Huddleston Jr.
September 22, 2017, 8:00 AM ET

Few things go better togetherthan Taylor Swift and capitalism. This summer, when the pop icon announced the long-awaited follow-up to her multiplatinum 1989, her fans (“Swifties”) rejoiced. They weren’t alone. A new album is big business for Swift herself, but also for the many corporations in her orbit. Here, five big players cashing in on Swift’s Reputation (due out Nov. 10).

Facebook/Instagram

For a few days in August, Facebook-owned Instagram was ground zero for Swift’s surprise release of her first new solo music in three years. Swift initially wiped her social media presence clean of all posts, then dropped cryptic hints (like grainy videos of a snake) before thrilling her 103 million followers with a new single, “Look What You Made Me Do.”

Spotify

The song set a new Spotify record with 10 million streams the day it debuted. It proved a proper capper for Swift’s return to Spotify just two months earlier, after years of feuding with streaming services over royalties.

Google/YouTube

The official video for the single also had a record-setting debut on Google-owned YouTube, with 43.2 million views in 24 hours (topping the 36 million South Korea’s Psy got for “Gentleman” in 2013).

UPS

Swift’s face will adorn UPS’s fleet of brown delivery trucks to mark the album’s release, and fans who preorder it from UPS.com will enter a contest to win concert tickets, merchandise, etc.

Target

Swift is teaming up with the retail giant again—she promoted her past three albums in Target commercials. Stores will sell an exclusive version of Reputation, including collectible magazines featuring Swift’s lyrics and poetry.

A version of this article appears in the Oct. 1, 2017 issue of Fortune.

CORRECTION: This article has been corrected to show that “Look What You Made Me Do” set a new Spotify record with 10 million streams the day it debuted, Aug. 25.

About the Author
By Tom Huddleston Jr.
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