Taylor Swift’s ‘Eras Tour’, a cultural phenomenon, began on March 17, 2023, in Glendale, Arizona, and is set to end on November 23, 2024, in Toronto, Canada.
Across the world, Swifties and non-Swifties alike were overjoyed and scrambled to get tickets, leading to the Ticketmaster fiasco. Ticketmaster, the company handling tickets for the ‘Eras Tour’, crashed because of the extensive ticket demand from Swifties desperate to attend. Because of this, many people who were hoping to get tickets, unfortunately, couldn’t.
But this didn’t stop ticketless Swifties. Hundreds of people still surrounded the areas around the stadiums to sing along to the songs and revel in the concert from afar.
According to The Wall Street Journal, fans who did get tickets spent hundreds of dollars on outfits for the show, even hiring designers to recreate looks Swift wore on the red carpet or in music videos. At the concerts, they traded beaded friendship bracelets that spelled out song titles and references to inside jokes in the Swiftie community.
The ritual of trading friendship bracelets comes from her lyric in the song ‘You’re on Your Own Kid’ where she says ‘So make the friendship bracelets, Take the moment and taste it’. While this has impacted the bracelet economy and brought new revenue to local businesses, there are also reports of bead and sequin shortages, according to TIME magazine.
While the total impact of the ‘Eras Tour’ is unknown, there are predictions being made by a report from survey provider QuestionPro that the revenue will be close to $5 billion, including ticket sales, travel, outfits, food, and drinks.
Dan Fleetwood, President of QuestionPro Research and Insights, said “If Taylor Swift [was] an economy, she’d be bigger than 50 countries.”
Other than the booming ticket sales, thousands of concert-goers also line up for merch, like $75 hoodies, $55 long-sleeve shirts and $45 t-shirts, the latest vinyl released by Taylor Swift, and much more.
According to Time, the impact of the Eras Tour is starkly reflected in the numbers: a projected gross of $2.2 billion in North American ticket sales alone, and hundreds of millions of streams, reaching a nearly 80% spike in those listening to her music catalog in the weeks after the tour kicked off. That’s a lot of money.
The cities she is set to play in are also completely aware of the legend Taylor Swift is and have gone out of their way to accommodate her, including declaring her temporary mayor, renaming themselves ‘Swift City’ for when she was in town, and giving her keys to the cities.
In ‘Taylor Swift’s Economic Impact: Do We All Need to Calm Down?’ Liz Anderson, of Recruitomics, details how Chicago’s Tourism and Conventions Bureau announced that the city set a record for occupied hotel rooms in June, thanks in part to the three nights that Swift played at a multi-purpose stadium, Soldier Field. Cincinnati’s economy felt a boost, too, when the singer brought Eras to town. Also according to Liz Anderson, in Las Vegas, it was Swift’s presence, not gambling, that caused the highest post-pandemic tourism spending.
But where is all the profit going? While she obviously benefits greatly from the economic boom of the tour, Swift is also known for her generosity in giving away money. Most recently, she gave all the drivers from her trucking staff a $100,000 check.
Money spent on ‘Eras Tour’ tickets, outfits, and merchandise has boosted the economy, coming to a huge total, all spent by fans. As the tour continues, economists and researchers will probably see this trend continue, helping businesses and the greater economy.
