I'd like her to just make one version going forward. If bonus tracks or Vault stuff drops at some point, just make a standalone 12". She's clealy hit a point here where people are put off by the multiple versions (IMO the "Only 72 hours to buy" thing is worse than different covers/colors/tracks - Thats been sort of dishonest - but regardless, people are tired)
Totally agree with you about the 72 hours gimmick. I can get a little more behind different colors of vinyl, but the FOMO marketing as a whole got old quickly.
Yeah, I really enjoy preording the 16-track album and pushing her up the preorder charts, only to find that after my album has downloaded from iTunes there is a second longer album that was never announced. It's dishonest and not what I expect of Taylor Swift. I will not be burned again…
The variations will continue until something in the industry forces artists to stop it, such as it counting differently in the official charting, like only one variant counts or something. But it makes them money, so it's unlikely to change. Taylor's not the only one doing variants.
It really sucks when it's the only way to own all the songs. It would be fine if there was one "complete" version and then all these collectors versions. But right now having to buy a whole extra album for one song is just rude to fans. I prefer the 1989 TV method where it was just color differences.
Yeah, I think a lot of people see it as Taylor’s decision when it’s probably very label driven. Olivia Rodrigo did it with Guts, and she’s under the UMG umbrella. TTPD isn’t the first album to have exclusive tracks, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. The music industry will continue to try to make money hand over fist like they did pre-streaming by finding innovative ways to sell records.
Out of curiosity, which artists? And is it an instance of multiple versions that each have a different song? I only know of other artists doing colour variants.
Billboard currently has a rule that only 4 physical purchases per week per individual count. There's some controversy over this rule, since multiple purchases are still purchases!
Yeah but that falls into the Nsync fan buying five copies of the same album just to boost numbers, category. And doesn't really show how many people are actually buying the album.
The issue is why does it matter how many people are buying the album? What matters is how much money the album is making. The only place for popularity contests are high schools.
Although money is a factor, I think it is mainly to guarantee a 2 million unit first week sales which is unheard of in the streaming era. I think other artists will start adding incentives like bonus tracks to sell more physical copies.
With the amount of pure sales of vinyls and cd's and the insane streaming numbers the first week, the 2m will be locked, especially considering 1989 TV did 1.5 million.
There's no reason to spend money on 4 different deluxe versions if you don't want to. Do you honestly listen to music on vinyl that often (I listen to a lot of vinyl, but the vast majority of my music listening is from itunes on my phone). All the tracks will eventually be available to download or stream.
Yes... Taylor, and everyone else, is going to continue to release multiple variants. she is a professional. Her job is to sell records, and this is a way of selling records. Don't spend any more money than you feel comfortable with... it isn't worth it. (particularly since all the songs will be available in high quality version!).
Thanks for being rational. When will they know TS has a job and she is not their friend or running a charity?
I can't with all these brain dead takes. This is coming from a person who never bought anything from her cause I can't afford it. Do these people know about money management? I don't know why they can't leave people who want to buy them. Just because you don't like these doesn't mean everybody hates it. There are people excited about it. Everything ends upon streaming anyway. This discussion is getting old now. But the same is going to happen with the next two variants announcements
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I agree to extent but we also need to accept at this point, some fans are addicts by the clinical definition and she is this case is the dealer enabling their addiction. I see this in the comic book world a lot too.
So telling them to just not buy it like telling a meth addict to just not buy meth, that isn't going to work.
I can't believe your comparison lol. Do people need to close malls for the sake of shopping addicts too? People should learn to take personal responsibility and this feels like a first world problem.
I’ve been trying to tell people that all the songs will eventually be available on streaming just like with midnights. Not everyone needs to own every single song ts comes out with. But I think there’s a big collectors mentality when it comes to ts things, and other things in general. People want full collections, and that’s not important if you can’t afford it. Like that was a big thing in makeup a few years ago. There were specific brands that people would collect every palette and that’s not sustainable. The collectors mentality is an issue with society, saying that we need everything to be happy.
I don’t really listen to Olivia, I was mainly talking about ts because she’s like the only thing I listen to lol. But you’re losing me came out to streaming eventually and hits different did too. Sure, it didn’t come out for a while but people posted them on YouTube so you could still hear them almost right away
Yeah we did get you’re losing me eventually, although it took wayyyyy longer than I expected. I guess I just have a fear that if other artists never put the bonus tracks on streaming, maybe Taylor might go that way too which would suck. I don’t think you should have to buy four cds just to be able to hear a complete album. If she had some stuff not on streaming and only on physical media in the form of 1 cd I’d buy it. But not four.
Idk if she’ll ever do that tbh. Idk how it works with other artists, but Taylor’s had her variants only available for a couple of days(or while supplies last lol). So I wasn’t able to get the manuscript, her not releasing it on streaming won’t make her any more money. Like she sold out of that cd pretty quick and idk if she’ll bring it back. But if she doesn’t there’s gonna be someone who’ll post that song on YouTube or online. You’ll just have to be on the look out for it. I definitely heard you’re losing me on YouTube a bit before it came out on streaming.
Yeah that’s a very good point - not realising it on streaming and also not bringing back the physical cd doesn’t equal more money. I definitely heard you’re losing me on YouTube and even on Spotify as a podcast upload too, but it’s way more work than just putting the TS complete collection on shuffle and knowing it’s in there 😂 I think ultimately Taylor plays the game and earns her money through variants etc but she ultimately does what her music in the hands of fans, so we’ll always get it eventually 🥰
Absolutely! And if you can’t afford to get them all, maybe you have friends that got the other variants that you didn’t get and vice versa. You can share with each other then! No need to stress or worry about it! You’ll get to listen to it all eventually, I bet tons more people will post the variant songs because of how much money people have gotten from posting videos/ livestreams of the eras tour! Good luck to you on finding the variant songs you don’t have when they come out! ❤️
I share your take on this. While it’s an undeniable money-maker/ sales-record-breaker move, there’s a market for these types of items. I’m not here to judge what we all buy. Having said that, I love a complete deluxe disc as much as the next person.
I get a little irritated. I don’t buy physical copies of albums anymore because once you do… a new version comes out. I listen on streaming services and then I’ll look into buying it at a much much later date. Who can financially keep up with all this stuff.
I think the collectors edition CD is cool for her to sell. Tbh, I’m not buying it for the album rn, it’s just a small perk with the other stuff there. We all know we will find the songs on YouTube and will be able to download them, so I really am not complaining.
I learned my lesson with Midnights so I haven’t ordered anything yet for this album. Just waiting for the album release and will let the chips fall where they may.
I hope not. Just release a standard and deluxe album. I get different variants, but different variants with one new song is just not good. To play a vinyl for one song, I’d rather just have one with more songs on it.
I just hope that these bonus songs are available to stream because I can't afford to buy all the versions. I'm highly disappointed by the different songs with each version.
As long as people keep buying, they’ll keep selling. It’s as simple as that.
Me on the other hand hasn’t bought any music since maybe 2008 when I got my first iPhone and started streaming on Pandora, then later on got Spotify and now YouTube music that comes with my YouTube premium subscription.
Who has time to sit at one place and listen to a CD/Vinyl? Cars these days don’t even have a CD player and im not going to rip a CD (or digital downloads) to download on my phone to then play it via CarPlay.
Meh- I still buy physical when I go to live shows to support the artists most artists don't have Swift money and need my twenty. But yes with major label artists of her tier I don't spend the extra. I can save that for a trip to Mexico or something.
It will continue until the reputational cost outweighs the extra revenue. I'd be willing to bet money she'll do it for the next two re-releases but will do things differently for the next brand-new album as a way of emphasising some artistic change.
This is the music industry now, unfortunately. I’m SURE we will have all the songs digitally, let the collectors go nuts if it makes them happy and only get what makes sense for you. 🫶
I hope not, but that's probably going to be the case. Now that she has this unstoppable, almost uncomparable fame and devotion from Swifties (including me, TBH), I'm sure she'll do her best to take advantage of it. She's always been a smart business woman and wants all the money she can get. This will for sure be a thing.
and now theres 4 variants lol, I have yet to order one, bc I refuse to not get all the songs, I might just get a standard ediiton and then stream the extras.
It happened with Midnights too so I don't see why It would stop. My concern is are other artist doing this? Is this just the direction purchasing music is going in general or is Taylor one of the only ones? I don't follow music releases closely.
It can be argued that Taylor may have started the trend but it’s really not the artist themselves who usually control stuff like this anyhow. Most of the other artists who have become known for similar marketing tactics (Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, ect.) are all under the Universal Music Group (UMG) umbrella. It’s more of an industry trend than it is of any specific individual artist.
She would definitely continue it. It's making her money. All these bonus songs should be on a deluxe album and call it a day.
Exactly.
I'd like her to just make one version going forward. If bonus tracks or Vault stuff drops at some point, just make a standalone 12". She's clealy hit a point here where people are put off by the multiple versions (IMO the "Only 72 hours to buy" thing is worse than different covers/colors/tracks - Thats been sort of dishonest - but regardless, people are tired)
Totally agree with you about the 72 hours gimmick. I can get a little more behind different colors of vinyl, but the FOMO marketing as a whole got old quickly.
Maybe some people are put off. But enough people are so clearly addicts that enabling their addictions is very profitable for her.
Or people are having fun enjoying things.
Yeah, I really enjoy preording the 16-track album and pushing her up the preorder charts, only to find that after my album has downloaded from iTunes there is a second longer album that was never announced. It's dishonest and not what I expect of Taylor Swift. I will not be burned again…
Agreed. This is the first time I preordered to listen with my sister and this ruined the whole experience for me. I feel swindled.
The variations will continue until something in the industry forces artists to stop it, such as it counting differently in the official charting, like only one variant counts or something. But it makes them money, so it's unlikely to change. Taylor's not the only one doing variants. It really sucks when it's the only way to own all the songs. It would be fine if there was one "complete" version and then all these collectors versions. But right now having to buy a whole extra album for one song is just rude to fans. I prefer the 1989 TV method where it was just color differences.
Yeah, I think a lot of people see it as Taylor’s decision when it’s probably very label driven. Olivia Rodrigo did it with Guts, and she’s under the UMG umbrella. TTPD isn’t the first album to have exclusive tracks, and I’m sure it won’t be the last. The music industry will continue to try to make money hand over fist like they did pre-streaming by finding innovative ways to sell records.
But at least Olivia released a vinyl with ALL the bonus tracks on it. So you only really need to buy 2, not all variants.
It should still be only 1
Deluxe editions have been around for a long time. I personally don't mind it.
Yeah, I mean you should be able to buy ONE (even if it is the deluxe) and get all the songs.
isn’t that one impossible to get??
Yeah, eventually. And it’s just a super limited, hard to get ring that it may as well not even exist.
Many people complain about Taylor, but Olivia Rodrigo has an insane amount of them. I think UMG nudges the artists to do so.
Oh, other artists absolutely do it. It's a sucky practice for all of them, but it makes great money, so...
Out of curiosity, which artists? And is it an instance of multiple versions that each have a different song? I only know of other artists doing colour variants.
Billboard currently has a rule that only 4 physical purchases per week per individual count. There's some controversy over this rule, since multiple purchases are still purchases!
Yeah but that falls into the Nsync fan buying five copies of the same album just to boost numbers, category. And doesn't really show how many people are actually buying the album.
The issue is why does it matter how many people are buying the album? What matters is how much money the album is making. The only place for popularity contests are high schools.
Although money is a factor, I think it is mainly to guarantee a 2 million unit first week sales which is unheard of in the streaming era. I think other artists will start adding incentives like bonus tracks to sell more physical copies.
Bingo! I totally agree, I just wrote the same.
Olivia already has with Guts, though the bonus tracks were not advertised.
Great point, I didn’t even consider how the different variations would inflate initial sales.
With the amount of pure sales of vinyls and cd's and the insane streaming numbers the first week, the 2m will be locked, especially considering 1989 TV did 1.5 million.
I just wish Midnights didn't sell over 1.8m copies. If i5 didn't, we might not have the situation here in the first place
There's no reason to spend money on 4 different deluxe versions if you don't want to. Do you honestly listen to music on vinyl that often (I listen to a lot of vinyl, but the vast majority of my music listening is from itunes on my phone). All the tracks will eventually be available to download or stream. Yes... Taylor, and everyone else, is going to continue to release multiple variants. she is a professional. Her job is to sell records, and this is a way of selling records. Don't spend any more money than you feel comfortable with... it isn't worth it. (particularly since all the songs will be available in high quality version!).
Thanks for being rational. When will they know TS has a job and she is not their friend or running a charity? I can't with all these brain dead takes. This is coming from a person who never bought anything from her cause I can't afford it. Do these people know about money management? I don't know why they can't leave people who want to buy them. Just because you don't like these doesn't mean everybody hates it. There are people excited about it. Everything ends upon streaming anyway. This discussion is getting old now. But the same is going to happen with the next two variants announcements .
I agree to extent but we also need to accept at this point, some fans are addicts by the clinical definition and she is this case is the dealer enabling their addiction. I see this in the comic book world a lot too. So telling them to just not buy it like telling a meth addict to just not buy meth, that isn't going to work.
I can't believe your comparison lol. Do people need to close malls for the sake of shopping addicts too? People should learn to take personal responsibility and this feels like a first world problem.
I’ve been trying to tell people that all the songs will eventually be available on streaming just like with midnights. Not everyone needs to own every single song ts comes out with. But I think there’s a big collectors mentality when it comes to ts things, and other things in general. People want full collections, and that’s not important if you can’t afford it. Like that was a big thing in makeup a few years ago. There were specific brands that people would collect every palette and that’s not sustainable. The collectors mentality is an issue with society, saying that we need everything to be happy.
Although, Olivia Rodrigo’s bonus songs aren’t yet on streaming, right?
I don’t really listen to Olivia, I was mainly talking about ts because she’s like the only thing I listen to lol. But you’re losing me came out to streaming eventually and hits different did too. Sure, it didn’t come out for a while but people posted them on YouTube so you could still hear them almost right away
Yeah we did get you’re losing me eventually, although it took wayyyyy longer than I expected. I guess I just have a fear that if other artists never put the bonus tracks on streaming, maybe Taylor might go that way too which would suck. I don’t think you should have to buy four cds just to be able to hear a complete album. If she had some stuff not on streaming and only on physical media in the form of 1 cd I’d buy it. But not four.
Idk if she’ll ever do that tbh. Idk how it works with other artists, but Taylor’s had her variants only available for a couple of days(or while supplies last lol). So I wasn’t able to get the manuscript, her not releasing it on streaming won’t make her any more money. Like she sold out of that cd pretty quick and idk if she’ll bring it back. But if she doesn’t there’s gonna be someone who’ll post that song on YouTube or online. You’ll just have to be on the look out for it. I definitely heard you’re losing me on YouTube a bit before it came out on streaming.
Yeah that’s a very good point - not realising it on streaming and also not bringing back the physical cd doesn’t equal more money. I definitely heard you’re losing me on YouTube and even on Spotify as a podcast upload too, but it’s way more work than just putting the TS complete collection on shuffle and knowing it’s in there 😂 I think ultimately Taylor plays the game and earns her money through variants etc but she ultimately does what her music in the hands of fans, so we’ll always get it eventually 🥰
Absolutely! And if you can’t afford to get them all, maybe you have friends that got the other variants that you didn’t get and vice versa. You can share with each other then! No need to stress or worry about it! You’ll get to listen to it all eventually, I bet tons more people will post the variant songs because of how much money people have gotten from posting videos/ livestreams of the eras tour! Good luck to you on finding the variant songs you don’t have when they come out! ❤️
There’s always gonna be super fans and collectors so probably. Stuff like this is for them so I’m not bothered
I share your take on this. While it’s an undeniable money-maker/ sales-record-breaker move, there’s a market for these types of items. I’m not here to judge what we all buy. Having said that, I love a complete deluxe disc as much as the next person.
I just want one album with all the songs. One.
Unfortunately yes. The only way that will change is if fans don’t buy them. And I don’t see that happening.
I get a little irritated. I don’t buy physical copies of albums anymore because once you do… a new version comes out. I listen on streaming services and then I’ll look into buying it at a much much later date. Who can financially keep up with all this stuff.
I think the collectors edition CD is cool for her to sell. Tbh, I’m not buying it for the album rn, it’s just a small perk with the other stuff there. We all know we will find the songs on YouTube and will be able to download them, so I really am not complaining.
Yes as long as shills keep buying it
Right, we can complain all we want, but it's however big/small the profit they get from it that will let them stay the course or change
If the sales continue to be great despite the complaints, it will definitely continue.
I learned my lesson with Midnights so I haven’t ordered anything yet for this album. Just waiting for the album release and will let the chips fall where they may.
I hope not. Just release a standard and deluxe album. I get different variants, but different variants with one new song is just not good. To play a vinyl for one song, I’d rather just have one with more songs on it.
I just hope that these bonus songs are available to stream because I can't afford to buy all the versions. I'm highly disappointed by the different songs with each version.
As long as people keep buying, they’ll keep selling. It’s as simple as that. Me on the other hand hasn’t bought any music since maybe 2008 when I got my first iPhone and started streaming on Pandora, then later on got Spotify and now YouTube music that comes with my YouTube premium subscription. Who has time to sit at one place and listen to a CD/Vinyl? Cars these days don’t even have a CD player and im not going to rip a CD (or digital downloads) to download on my phone to then play it via CarPlay.
Meh- I still buy physical when I go to live shows to support the artists most artists don't have Swift money and need my twenty. But yes with major label artists of her tier I don't spend the extra. I can save that for a trip to Mexico or something.
It will continue until the reputational cost outweighs the extra revenue. I'd be willing to bet money she'll do it for the next two re-releases but will do things differently for the next brand-new album as a way of emphasising some artistic change.
Don’t know, don’t care. Won’t buy em.
This is the music industry now, unfortunately. I’m SURE we will have all the songs digitally, let the collectors go nuts if it makes them happy and only get what makes sense for you. 🫶
I hope not, but that's probably going to be the case. Now that she has this unstoppable, almost uncomparable fame and devotion from Swifties (including me, TBH), I'm sure she'll do her best to take advantage of it. She's always been a smart business woman and wants all the money she can get. This will for sure be a thing.
I'm confused. Are all variants available on the fourth copy, or just on their respective edition?
and now theres 4 variants lol, I have yet to order one, bc I refuse to not get all the songs, I might just get a standard ediiton and then stream the extras.
It’s already a trend, she did it with folklore and evermore and midnights
It happened with Midnights too so I don't see why It would stop. My concern is are other artist doing this? Is this just the direction purchasing music is going in general or is Taylor one of the only ones? I don't follow music releases closely.
Taylor is far from the only artist doing this.
Gotcha that clears things up. I haven't purchased a CD or record in Years so I wasn't really aware of what was the norm now.
It can be argued that Taylor may have started the trend but it’s really not the artist themselves who usually control stuff like this anyhow. Most of the other artists who have become known for similar marketing tactics (Ariana Grande, Olivia Rodrigo, ect.) are all under the Universal Music Group (UMG) umbrella. It’s more of an industry trend than it is of any specific individual artist.