Article: Most of today's flights to Sydney are sold out due to Taylor Swift

Himeno said:
I have no idea who Taylor Swift is.
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I was reflecting on this recently … I know who Taylor Swift is, it’d take quite some insulation from the world not to, but never before have I not known even the chorus of a song by an artist that was even slightly near her level of popularity.

It used to be the case that if a singer or band was popular, you couldn’t get away from their music; you’d hear it, even if you (to use Swift as an example) had zero interest in tepid bubble-gum pop. But with Swift at most I’ve read a couple of song titles, the only one I even remember is ‘cos it sounds like it’s a cover of a Bananarama song, and I’ve not been subjected to any of the music.

Which is weird because, in the past, I don’t think any artist was as big as this. I remember U2’s tour being huge, Guns ‘n‘ Roses in the early 90’s, Madonna, Dire Straights, even Pink Floyd’s Delicate Sound Of Thunder tour; but nowhere near as big as Swift, where I can be talking to my mum over the ‘phone when the ABC news comes on her TV & she’s telling me Swift is the leading story ‘cos she’s arrived in the country & ate at some restaurant or other.

It’s probably a change in the machinations of the music industry, they’re selling the Swift rather than trying to sell the music ‘cos the music’s not particularly saleable.
 
Forg said:
I was reflecting on this recently … I know who Taylor Swift is, it’d take quite some insulation from the world not to, but never before have I not known even the chorus of a song by an artist that was even slightly near her level of popularity.
Click to expand...
The vast majority of music I listen to is Japanese.
The only western music I listen to is what is on the radio at work.

The first time I even heard the name "Taylor Swift" is when the media started screaming it everywhere recently.
 
Himeno said:
The first time I even heard the name "Taylor Swift" is when the media started screaming it everywhere recently.
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Aha - so you DO know who she is!
Because the definition of Taylor Swift is “person media is screaming about everywhere”. :)

Maybe I’ve heard of her because a few friend‘s daughters were teenagers about 10-ish years ago, that was her market & that market now has their own money to spend on huge event concert extravaganza tickets.
 
The first I knew of TS was because of her RBF when she was still a country singer
 
Forg said:
It’s probably a change in the machinations of the music industry, they’re selling the Swift rather than trying to sell the music ‘cos the music’s not particularly saleable.
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How do you know that if you don’t know the music?
Ok you are probably right, but perhaps your listening habits have changed. I listened a lot to the radio when I was younger, but now less so and when I do it is less likely to be a station playing TS. My kids don't listen to the radio at all, so even if they pump out music it is streamed, so no DJ telling you who is playing. (I discovered I did know some TS songs afterall.)
In the end TS puts out a 3+ hour concert I believe. Credit where credit is due. If you half like her, that is a good deal.
And hats off to the promoter. Multiple releases of tickets you couldn't get. Non stop publicity.
Now I never want to hear about TS again.
 
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Meanwhile Coldplay played recently in Perth twice only

Flights were full - prices horribly high

It’s similar to the big sports event phenomenon (AFL Grand final or Soccer when it was played in places other than Sydney)

But it’s also to do with how they Taylor their yield management strategies.

They’re Swift to drive the dynamic auction style pricing structure

They’re Swift to take advantage of the last few seats being sold at the highest of prices because of high demand

They could hold and release seats later or actually not raise the prices for the last seats - they can Taylor Swiftly practically any tactic but let’s face it. High demand makes for willingness to pay through the nose cause the person “just has to be there” FOMO
 
We saw similar lack of flights when Cold Play performed in Perth only. Scarcity creates FOMO and the desire to be part of the exclusive club that was "there" drives demand and the rest is economics 101.

If you plan to go, buy plane tickets and accomodate early; if you are travelling for other reasons at this time try to be flexible.

Any market researcher will tell you that a huge portion of Gen Z value experiences over assets. And from what Ive seen plenty of Gen X and Gen Y parents forking out huge $$$ to give their kids the Taylor experience.

Forg said:
It’s probably a change in the machinations of the music industry, they’re selling the Swift rather than trying to sell the music ‘cos the music’s not particularly saleable
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Now I am not a Swiftie and given the average age here skews older, few here would be in her fan base demographic but to claim here music is not saleable is just ignorant of the facts.

Tay Tay is 34, she has been in the charts since she was 16, Gen Y, Gen Z and the Alphas have grown up with her music; that a massive fan base.

Her most successful album has sold 14million copies and is still selling. Look at the ARIA charts, she currently has 9 of the top 20 albums and 6 of the top 20 singles. She is also the most streamed artist on Spotify of all time.

Love her or hate her, you cant deny the success. She is clearly resonating with the majority of under 40s. She writes (music and lyrics) and performs; has taken control of her back catalogue by re-recording earlier material that was profiting others and by all reports is very generous to her crews giving huge bonuses over xmas last year. A savvy business woman to boot.

I'm in the indifferent category, I do not actually mind some of her songs (and if you listen to FM commercial radio or shop at Coles/Woolies I guarantee you will have heard a lot of it).

I personally dont understand why the Beatles were/are so popular, different music resonates with different fan bases. Tay Tay isnt going anywhere. I don't begrudge the fans having their moment; the level of passion Ive seen from them is amazing, they are sharing the joy.
 
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I'm hardly an expert on airline yield management practices, but I've always assumed that part of the reason why prices are very high when there are extremely few remaining seats is because airlines need there to be some slack in their network to accommodate passengers in situations like missed connections and cancellations.

To give an example, a situation that I've been in before was flying JNB-SYD-MEL when QF64 ran an hour late due to a mechanical issue on the ground at JNB, and my domestic connection was missed. It wasn't an issue though because SYD-MEL flights are very frequent and weren't fully booked, hence I was automatically rebooked on the next flight.

If that situation had occurred on a theoretical day when all flights out of SYD to major destinations were fully booked due to a major event, and there were no seats to get me to MEL for another 2-3 days, in addition to having to give me a terrible experience as a long haul passenger, Qantas would also have the added expense of providing me with accommodation until my next flight.
 
Himeno said:
The vast majority of music I listen to is Japanese.
The only western music I listen to is what is on the radio at work.

The first time I even heard the name "Taylor Swift" is when the media started screaming it everywhere recently.
Click to expand...
Just for reference, she sold out tokyo dome 4 nights in a row 2 weeks ago too and was a bloodbath for friends trying to get those tickets. Her music was being blasted in places like the main streets of Shibuya and Shinjuku with "Welcome to Japan, Taylor Swift" Banners being hung up by the government.

Then there was the whole US mainstream media trying to work out if she could fly from Tokyo back to Vegas in time for the Superbowl. (Easily could make the flying time, but apparently many Americans didn't realise we "go back in time" going from our side of the Pacific to theirs). Even the Japanese Ambassador had to make a comment that she would have no trouble going from HND to Vegas in time.

As for Taylor herself, shes been a mainstay in modern pop music for almost 2 decades now (good chance everyone that listens to radio has heard some of her songs). Unlike other big artists that ebb and flow, shes only grown more and more over time. She has some very well written lyrics as a singer songwriter.

Part of it is also because of her story and what shes doing to firge a path in the music industry against the coughty practise that occur there. There's a good chance that because of her actions the western music artists as a whole will see less coughty one sided record label contracts. She's given up trying to get her old album master records back for now and is just re-recoding them.

Personally, I have listened to her music but am not a "swiftie". But I've also been watching many friends scrambling to try and get tickets recently.

For the last couple of weeks in aviation theres been quite a few "taytay flights" with cabin crew leading sing alongs or pilots slipping in song names and lyrics into announcements.
 
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Just like when flights go through the roof for AFL finals, this is a tweens/teens footy final

Personally I would fly in the day before and not risk on the day cancellation or delays but thats me, Im at the airport 3hrs before flights 🤣

I have a friend that went with her daughter and granddaughter and they had a fantastic time. I have a coworker that got his friends to join in and they have a corporate box. He figured it was cheaper per person than flights, transport, accommodation ect.
 
I wish real Swifties (Swift Parrots-highly endangered species) would get 1/10th the attention this pop star is getting.

I'm not her demographic nor am I the sort who cares about celebrities and pop stars. But I would hate to get stuck in an airport because my flight was delayed and every flight for the next 3 days was sold out.
 

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