Originally Posted by Marc Barnette



The whole time she was building her catalogue and skills, she was also building FAN BASE. She was in the forefront of the TWITTER/MYSPACE/FACEBOOK generation and did it better than anyone else.

Her first song, "Tim McGraw' was written when she was in High School for a contest. She wrote it by herself.

Charlie, her songs have RESONATED with older co-writers (Liz Rose just called her a complete genius, when I saw her last Wed.) she built a connection with critics, the music academy, awards acadamies, musicians, jaded press, and her fans, most of which who DO NOT BUY MUSIC. They buy hers.
She works harder
than others, she designs everything about her image and all the people work for HER, not the other way around. She makes every decision on every thing, from recording, to publicity, to tours, to costumes, to videos.

And she is now the co-owner of the label, BIG MACHINE (because the other major labels turned her down and said she would never go anywhere without the "Nashville Big Machine" behind her) that label now EMPLOYS, Tim McGraw, Reba McEntire, Martina McBride, AND RASCAL FLATTS (whose previous label Lyric Street (DISNEY)folded about five years ago.

Her music grows with her audience and vice versa and even now when she is moving to a more pop oriented audience (most would say she has always been there)her existing audience is going with her. She is not losing anybody. That almost NEVER happens.

So she is UNDENIABLE. You can try but it doesn't work.

This girl is not bad. I hope she does well, seems like she has some accolades. To me she is pretty much like a lot I hear on every writers night in this town, and a lot of the vocal patterns are frankly very Taylor esque. She may have been doing them the same time, but if she has come on the scene in the past 6 -7 years, chances are she was influenced by Taylor.

There are a lot of artists out there. Some are great. Some are not so great. Some might be better singers, better writers, but rarely are they great entertainers, marketers, on top of all the other things. And for whatever reason, don't get the same audienc e reaction. But I wouldn't look for another one to come along that Iconic for a while. They only happen about every 15 years.

The last was Garth. The most recent was Taylor.

MAB


"As always, you are only looking at a very small piece of the puzzle.You are looking at songs and voice only and it is much much more than that. It is FAN BASE"

As always, you are trying to make it about something else. Im not.
Im trying to discuss songwriting and musicianship. And it unfortuante when one is better at it than another, one can be rich and famous and another cant. Im not concerned WHY, im concerned that it exists.

"The whole time she was building her catalogue and skills, she was also building FAN BASE. She was in the forefront of the TWITTER/MYSPACE/FACEBOOK generation and did it better than anyone else. "

And, NOBODY else works their butt off, and builds their fan base. Marc, sometimes things just happen, we cant try to figure it out, shes enormously popular, but you are making it sound like anybody can do what she has done. They cant. Most people cant even get 10 people to download their song, and millions of people cant even get people to download their music for free. Even though they work their tail off.

There is no explanation, she is an anomaly. Most massive pop stars are. if there was a way to harness her technique, everybody would be doing it.

"She works harder than others, she designs everything about her image and all the people work for HER, not the other way around. She makes every decision on every thing, from recording, to publicity, to tours, to costumes, to videos. "

Not sure how you can assume this, you dont even know her. Many artists even those who have made millions work hard, but dont have Taylor Swift kind of success, she is the anomaly.

You have a clear cut reason for her success. so my question is, why arent you enjoying the same success as Taylor Swift? Why arent your students?

Hard work defintly pays off, but I can name 20 indies who work just as hard, and barely pay the rent with music. And many more who dont pay the rent with it.

using the most powerful and commercially successful woman in show biz as a learning tool for the other 99.99% of the crowd, is too much of a stretch.

Why cant I talk about songwriting and singing, if I want to? Does every point have to be a business point?

I think your a smart guy Marc...but Sheesh!