Taylor Swift Fans Should Celebrate Her Becoming a Billionaire

Many Taylor Swift fans have been angry at her since Ticketmaster botched its attempt to prevent scalpers from driving up the cost of tickets for her 2023 Eras Tour. As one fan put it, “Even though Ticketmaster is 99% at fault, I’m extremely disappointed in Taylor, this was so capitalistic & classist.”¹ Now, some are taking to social media with fresh criticisms of the pop star. Her offense? She will soon become a billionaire.

One fan said that she was “watching Taylor Swift on her way to become a billionaire,” which means she “either has to admit there’s an ethical way to become a billionaire or stop supporting her wholeheartedly.”² Another concluded: “Taylor Swift is about to become a billionaire because she really is first and foremost a little capitalist girlie and when we say ‘eat the rich’ we can’t forget that miss Taylor is in fact on the menu.”³

Ouch.

Clearly, many of the pop star’s “fans” judge her based on her involvement in capitalism’s supposed vices. It’s reasonable to be upset with Ticketmaster over the scalping fiasco. The company failed to uphold its end of the deal, causing many Swift fans to miss out on affordable tickets to her shows.

However, maligning Swift for becoming a billionaire—and criticizing capitalism, the economic system that enables people to profit from their effort and creativity—is unjust and irrational.

Like millions of Swift’s fans, I receive tremendous value from her work. Her song lyrics have comforted me countless times. Of course, I’m not unique in this respect. Her work brings fans a massive amount of enjoyment and spiritual fuel to overcome the challenges in their own lives—not to mention the inspiration they get from her example of incredible success.

Swift has proven that her work ethic and creativity are unstoppable. For this high level of productivity—four new albums in the span of three years, multiple music videos, and a grueling tour schedule—she earns deservedly high rewards. Most important, she does not—and cannot—force anyone to buy her albums or show tickets. People voluntarily pay Swift for her work because they enjoy her music—which justifies her wealth.

And this is exactly what capitalism makes possible. As philosopher and novelist Ayn Rand described it, capitalism is “a social system based on the recognition of individual rights, including property rights.”⁴ Of course, it sucks when scalpers violate policies and drive up ticket prices, and a proper legal system has means for dealing with such people. But how many of Swift’s fans would prefer to return to the days when a musician’s career depended on the patronage of only a few wealthy aristocrats? Or would they prefer a socialist system, wherein creative works are vetted and “edited” by government censors?

Capitalism makes rewarding careers such as Swift’s possible, incentivizing artists to offer their best efforts, to experiment, take risks, and innovate—which is precisely what Swift has done, again and again. This is because, as Rand put it, capitalism is the only system that “keeps the road open to man’s most valuable attribute: the creative mind.”⁵

Contra those who think it’s not possible to ethically accumulate so much wealth, Swift has done so by trading value for value—never resorting to force or fraud. She created that wealth, and fans upset about this “need to calm down” and acknowledge this fact.

Instead of demonizing Swift or the system of individual rights, her fans should celebrate the products and opportunities it provides them, including the upcoming Eras Tour. As a European Swiftie, I’m willing to save up and pay for tickets to her international tour, once the dates are announced. If you love Swift as much as I do, I hope we can scream our lungs out together at one of her shows!

About Justyna Piątek-Pawłowska

Justyna is a social media manager at Objective Standard Institute. She holds a BA in American Studies and is the European Regional Director of Ladies of Liberty Alliance. In her spare time, she loves to sing, trains in karate, and is a shameless cat lady.

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