Some corrections: Firstly, yes, nobody is forcing anyone to buy every single variant of this album. The reason I made this video is because I don’t want this to become the norm. I don’t want any artist to feel like they have to release a bunch of variants with minor differences to gain success. Just because a lot of bigger artists do this doesn’t make it automatically ok. Secondly, I shouldn’t have made chart manipulation such a focal point in the video. A commenter correctly pointed out that in most cases, Taylor would’ve kept her chart placements whether or not she released the variants. The timing of the releases were definitely a little shady, but the numbers don’t lie. And finally, while I feel that Taylor is one of the biggest offenders of this practice, she certainly isn’t the only one. Even for the other artists I mentioned, they've all released a ton of color/cover variants, which is pretty excessive. We really don’t need a Walmart exclusive, a Target exclusive, an Urban Outfitters exclusive, etc. Taylor stands out here because for the vast majority of other artists, they aren’t including exclusive bonus tracks with every variant. Not to mention, most of those artists release their variants on day of release, not sporadically for months after release and for very short time periods. I’d also like to once again reiterate that this video isn’t meant to be an attack on Taylor’s music, and especially not her fans. I and many others are just tired of having so many unnecessary variants, especially now that they're locking content behind them. Hope you all are doing well, and thanks for watching. Hope all of that made sense. Updated Variant Count: 23? (8/15/24)
Swiftie here, I hella agree. I wish she just had one version of the standard and then another version with the anthology. It’s so wasteful to get the other variants when they exist IN THE ANTHOLOGY. It just seems money grubby, especially coming from someone who’s already a billionaire. She doesn’t need it. She just needs to be happy making her art and stop focusing on numbers. Trying to beat her peak is exhausting
Although I did lambast Taylor's business model here, I really do hope that her and her team do end up releasing the Anthology physically at some point soon. It's pretty clear that you and many others want it, and I'm hoping they have at least seen the amount of support for it.
As a Swiftie, I wondered the same thing, especially when it was blocking other women's success. How can she be a femenist and do this. She still seems nice and kind, but a lot of things she does don't really line up with that image, which I don't like
I bought the 4 special editions for the bonus tracks (+shipping for each!) since some of her bonus track were never released on digital, so imagine my disappointment when anthology had all 4 of them
I can only imagine that kind of disappointment. The shipping thing really gets me too. Instead of letting people combine shipping, they chose to release them all at different times so they’d have to pay shipping 4 times over. Hope you still enjoy them though, they do admittedly come in nice packaging
I am a big fan of some of her work but this variants mess is just plain pathetic, greedy and insecure. She's already at the top, she doesn't even need this. Just taking advantage of her fan's money and devotion to her.
A big problem I have with this is that any physical product has a carbon footprint. It takes resources, and the packaging and sometimes the product itself winds up in a landfill eventually. That's why encouraging buying a whole new album for one song and having so many variants greatly increases the footprint of the album. Don't get me wrong - consumerism is toxic no matter what artist it comes from. But Taylor is a big offender, esp as someone who once claimed to care about the environment.
@@lordfreerealestate8302 completely agree with you there. I’m happy that artists like Billie Eilish and Coldplay are now using recycled materials when pressing their albums, and I’m hoping it’ll become the norm once the technology improves
Ya know it would have been fine with just the first four varients (Manuscript, Bolter, Albatross, Black Dog) but like those otehr ones were annoying as shit and I really hope only a tiny amount of people bought those ones
I'm a swiftie and her tactics infuriate me - I think ecologically it's more demaging to the environment than her planes bc SHE DOESN'T HAVE TO DO IT - she still earns millions. Also it's getting tiring and so obvious it's just for cash. And don't get me started on how crazy swifties use this absurd 2014 white girlboss feminism defending her - "YOU JUST HATE WOMEN WHO ARE SUCCESFULL". What the hell..
i'm glad i'm not the only one sick of these variants. it's so unnecessary. i especially hated how PRIOR to ttpd's release she started selling different albums with "bonus track"s on them, making people feel like they wouldn't be able to hear those extra songs unless they tortured their wallets, even though after they wasted their money she just released those bonus tracks with the anthology. ridiculous. that's not even clever marketing, it's just rude
The difference here is that each of her variants have an exclusive bonus track with them. Not trying to give a free pass to other artists either, but for most of them they’re just color/cover variations.
15 variants on all forms? where is this energy towards billie eilish, olivia, dua, and others that release more than 15 for vinyl ALONE? Also no one is forcing any of you to buy them
Those artists are certainly guilty of this practice as well, but Taylor (and Olivia as well, though she didn’t advertise it) is including 1 exclusive song with each edition. That’s why I'm calling attention to her. And yes, nobody is forcing people to buy them, but locking content (even if it’s inessential) is my biggest problem here, and I don't want this to become the norm.
Yea as a swiftie myself I agree… there is this random assumption that you can’t criticize tour favourite artist which is just ridiculous but for an artist as big as Taylor swift it’s just a whole other level
It feels like the tone in your video is very mixed. - Your thumbnail & title incite rage? Or vindication? - Your disclaimers (due to seemed genuine ironically) make the main target for clicks take you less seriously - You direct all criticism to Taylor Swift as a person rather than specifing the persona (which would make the next point redundant) - You can criticize Taylor Swift BRAND without making HER the villain. You mention her team once throughout when a much more nuanced approach for this topic would be looking into her team. You can’t kill a Hydra by chopping off one of its heads. - Then again, this might be what you’re going for so :p
You know what, fair criticism. I sound mixed in this video because I do genuinely enjoy a lot of Taylor Swift's work, I'm just sick and tired of her and her team pulling this off over and over again. And you do make a point about how a lot of this is to blame on her team as well, I should've reiterated that more. But at the end of the day, Taylor most likely is the one approving these decisions, so it’s not just the team. And finally, I see how the title/thumbnail create some disparities from how I tried to conduct myself in the video. That’s a completely valid point, and I'll tweak them. Hope all of that made sense if you chose to read it. Appreciate you taking the time to critique everything.
@@Muted7017 Likewise. I would argue that Taylor doesn't have the authority to be that involved, but Taylor's fame & situation are different to other artists & has been shown time & time again to have authority over her brand. Also, I shouldn't have commented that harshly on your mixed tone as I now see it has more emotional gripe that does work. Thanks for responding so well :)
@@ExecutedOrganGrinder All good. I'm glad you pointed out the problem with the title/thumbnail, definitely shouldn’t have made it sound vindictive. Wish you the best!
