Taylor Swift - CMU | the music business explained

IFPI stats run for 2025 begins with the customary Taylor Swift accolades

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IFPI • 2 min read

IFPI stats run for 2025 begins with the customary Taylor Swift accolades

The IFPI earlier today published five charts tracking global success in 2024, all of them topped by Taylor Swift, making her the trade group’s Global Recording Artist Of The Year for the fifth time. The global charts from IFPI precede the organisation’s big Global Music Report next month…

Chris Cooke • 18 Feb 2025

Ticketmaster pauses ticket transfers on Taylor Swift shows following disappearing tickets problem

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Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Ticketmaster pauses ticket transfers on Taylor Swift shows following disappearing tickets problem

There has been a flurry of reports in US media recently of concert-goers seeing digital tickets disappear from their Ticketmaster accounts as hackers use transfer tools to steal those tickets. Ticketmaster has now paused ticket transfers for Taylor Swift shows until three days before the concert…

Chris Cooke • 08 Oct 2024

Taylor Swift’s three Vienna shows cancelled after terror attack arrests

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Taylor Swift • 1 min read

Taylor Swift’s three Vienna shows cancelled after terror attack arrests

Taylor Swift was due to play three shows in Vienna this week, starting this evening, but they have all been cancelled after the authorities confirmed they were investigating a planned terrorist attack at the venue where she was due to play. Two suspects have been arrested…

Chris Cooke • 08 Aug 2024

Ticketmaster denies data breach could result in replicated tickets for Taylor Swift shows

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Ticketmaster • 2 min read

Ticketmaster denies data breach could result in replicated tickets for Taylor Swift shows

Hackers behind the Ticketmaster data breach last week said they had barcode data connected to tickets sold by the company. That led to speculation tickets could be replicated and that the ticketing company was being held to ransom by the hackers. But Ticketmaster has denied tickets can be replicated…

Chris Cooke • 08 Jul 2024

Setlist Podcast: Calls for urgent new AI laws in UK and US

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Setlist • 4 min read

Setlist Podcast: Calls for urgent new AI laws in UK and US

Politicians, artists and industry reps say there is an urgent need for new AI laws, UMG and TikTok are best buds again, and more…

Andy Malt & Chris Cooke • 04 May 2024

And Finally! Dreading accompanying your child to a Taylor Swift show? Take a course in becoming a superfan

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And Finally • 5 min read

And Finally! Dreading accompanying your child to a Taylor Swift show? Take a course in becoming a superfan

The internet loves a photo of a dad having absolutely no fun while accompanying his daughter to a pop concert. It’s a whole thing. But it doesn’t have to be this way. Ahead of Taylor Swift’s three shows in Glasgow this June, a local college is offering a masterclass in becoming a rabid Swiftie…

Andy Malt • 03 May 2024

Taylor Swift and Record Store Day push UK vinyl sales reach highest level since 1994

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Record Store Day • 2 min read

Taylor Swift and Record Store Day push UK vinyl sales reach highest level since 1994

Over 300,000 vinyl albums and singles were sold in the UK last week. Taylor Swift and Record Store Day created a spike that pushed sales figures to their highest in three decades. This “shows physical music can stand tall alongside streaming”, say distributor Drew Hill…

Andy Malt • 01 May 2024

Setlist Podcast: MPs want to see action on musicians’ income

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Setlist • 4 min read

Setlist Podcast: MPs want to see action on musicians’ income

UK politicians on the need for changes to how musicians get paid, Blur drummer Dave Rowntree's lawsuit against PRS, and more…

Andy Malt • 12 Apr 2024

Universal relaxes TikTok boycott - but only if your name is Taylor Swift

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Taylor Swift • 2 min read

Universal relaxes TikTok boycott - but only if your name is Taylor Swift

Taylor Swift has a new album to promote and would presumably like her fans to help by posting TikTok videos aplenty. But she works with Universal Music, which is boycotting TikTok. Worry not, however, because Universal’s big boycott no longer applies to Swift…

Chris Cooke • 12 Apr 2024

And Finally! Ed Sheeran has let British music down, and now everyone only likes K-pop

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And Finally • 7 min read

And Finally! Ed Sheeran has let British music down, and now everyone only likes K-pop

You know who’s popular? Taylor Swift. The IFPI confirmed it this week with its annual Global Recording Artist Of The Year list. Ed Sheeran’s dropped out of the top ten though, as have BTS, although only one of them has a decent excuse. This and a selection of this week’s funniest music news awaits……

Andy Malt • 23 Feb 2024

And finally: Swift Swiftie breaks record for shouting out song titles really fast, and more of this week’s funniest music news stories

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And Finally • 4 min read

And finally: Swift Swiftie breaks record for shouting out song titles really fast, and more of this week’s funniest music news stories

A Taylor Swift fan has broken the record for identifying her songs only by excerpts of their lyrics. In a minute, Bilal Ilyas Jhandi named more than 30 Swift tracks just by having lines from them read out to him, earning him the title of Swiftest Swiftie…

Andy Malt • 02 Feb 2024

Explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images prompt renewed calls for new anti-deepfake laws

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Taylor Swift • 2 min read

Explicit AI-generated Taylor Swift images prompt renewed calls for new anti-deepfake laws

Sexually explicit AI-generated images of Taylor Swift circulated on X last week, putting the focus back on proposals in US Congress to introduce new laws to stop unapproved deepfakes. X said the Swift images broke its existing rules covering “non-consensual nudity” and were being removed…

Chris Cooke • 29 Jan 2024