Taylor Swift (Acquired’s Version)

Acquired

Ben Gilbert and David Rosenthal

Venturecapital, Ma, Investing, Acquisitions, Startups, Vc, Investment, Business, Technology

4.8 • 2.9K Ratings

🗓️ 23 January 2022

⏱️ 157 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

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.

Sponsors:
Vanta: https://bit.ly/acquiredvanta

Statsig: bit.ly/statsigacquired
Modern Treasury: https://bit.ly/acquiredmoderntreasury

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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.

Transcript

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0:00.0	You're looking very good in that scarf, sir.
0:02.2	Ah, as are you, Fenceir.
0:05.2	Had to bust out the red scarf.
0:24.2	Welcome to Season 10 Episode 1, the season premiere of Acquired,
0:29.5	the podcast about great technology companies and the stories and playbooks behind them.
0:34.1	I'm Ben Gilbert and I am the co-founder and managing director of Seattle-based Pioneer
0:38.0	Square Labs and our venture fund, PSL Ventures.
0:41.1	And I'm David Rosenthal and I am an angel investor based in San Francisco.
0:47.2	And we are your hosts.
0:49.5	She is billboards woman of the decade.
0:52.4	She was the first woman to ever win the coveted album of the year Grammy twice.
0:57.6	And now she's won it a third time.
1:00.4	She was the highest paid celebrity in the world in 2019, more than Kanye, LeBron James,
1:06.0	Roger Federer, or even Beyoncé.
1:08.6	Her fanbase is so passionate and she's accumulated so much power that she is leveraging it
1:14.3	to reorganize the power dynamics of the music industry in front of our very eyes,
1:19.2	taking it back for artists and of course, standing up for women everywhere.
1:24.0	You knew her when she was 15, 22.
1:27.2	And now she's accomplished all of this at the still unbelievably young age of 32.
1:33.0	That was good. I like that. I like that.
1:38.0	You probably know her all too well. She's maniacal.
1:44.4	You could even say she's fearless, a mad woman or David or that she'll never go out of style.
	...

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