Music The phenomenon Taylor Swift performs in Switzerland for the first time

Zurich is in the starting blocks for a mega event: Taylor Swift will be performing at Letzigrund Stadium on July 9 and 10. She is coming to Switzerland for the first time. The performances as part of her "Eras Tour" are not just pop concerts, they are evidence of a phenomenon.

The anticipation for Taylor Swift is great. Her performance will last over three hours. For long stretches, she will not be alone on stage. The show also includes dance interludes. And the star from Pennsylvania will perform more than forty songs, from soulful ballads to pop hits. This can be deduced from the previous performances of her "The Eras Tour".

The tour started in Arizona in March 2023 and is scheduled to end in Vancouver on December 8. Over 150 concerts are planned worldwide, 51 of them in Europe - two in Zurich. With a capacity of 50,000, the Letzigrund is the largest venue for concerts in Switzerland. So 100,000 people are expected just for the concerts, a significant proportion of them from abroad. And these are only those who have managed to get hold of one of the coveted tickets.

Swifties with money to spend

As early as mid-June, it was reported in Zurich that the campsite in Wollishofen was completely full and the hotels were almost fully booked. The catering trade will also be rubbing its hands in glee. Taylor Swift's mostly female fans - "Swifties", as they call themselves - are on average over thirty years old and wealthy.

Taylor Swift's positive influence on the economy is well known and has long been documented with its own term: "Swiftonomics". In an analysis, the online broker Freedom24 points to a positive influence on small economies in particular, such as those of Switzerland, Ireland and the Netherlands, where there could "certainly be local effects".

Accordingly, guests from neighboring countries are likely to come to Zurich. "In addition, the number of people who have not managed to get concert tickets but still want to be close to their idol in Zurich should not be underestimated," says Freedom24. In addition to tourism providers, retailers, local attractions and merchandising providers also benefit from this.

In Edinburgh, for example, where Taylor Swift has performed three times, the income for the city's economy is estimated at several tens of thousands of pounds, according to the newspaper "The Scotsman".

Taylor Swift earns money from Taylor Swift

The fact that this phenomenon has come about at all is thanks to Taylor Swift. She is unique in that she has only become a billionaire thanks to the income from her music.

She has always made sure to keep the power over her business in her own hands. She has won the power game against streaming providers Spotify and Apple Music. And: after the music rights to her first six albums were sold to a media entrepreneur and then to a private equity company, she re-recorded them as "Taylor's Versions" and thus secured the rights.

The proceeds from the filming of her "Eras Tour" will also go to her because she produced the film herself and negotiated directly with the American cinema chain AMC instead of hiring a producer and a film distributor.

This has also catapulted her to the top of the world financially, at least on a par with stars such as Beyoncé or Bruce Springsteen.

SDA