How big is Taylor Swift in India — ask the small businesses

KV Prasad Jun 13, 2022, 06:35 AM IST (Published)

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Taylor Swift is more than just a singer-songwriter. She is a global phenomenon, a living legend, especially since she set her record-breaking The Eras Tour in motion. She is the true story of a writer’s billion-dollar success — a success that came from being relatable and aspirational, at the same time.

Her latest album The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD) scored 313 million streams on Spotify, while simultaneously selling over a million copies — all in a single day. This is something that no other artist in history has been able to achieve and everyone is vying for a piece of this pie, regardless of whether they’re a fan or not.

But things haven’t always been the way they are now. As little girls growing up in a small town in Uttar Pradesh, Swift was our best-kept secret back in 2008. Passing hand-written lyrics of Love Story in between classes to painting our nails sky blue just like her in the Our Song music video or writing 13 on the back of our hands because that’s what she does — our friends and we would hop on to every chance to feel close to her.

Cut to 2023 and almost everyone is a Swiftie — what the fanbase likes to call itself. This woman who started her music career 17 years ago isn’t just relevant today but is also constantly making headlines and how! There has never been a better time to be a Swiftie, especially in a country like India.

When Swift announced the international leg of The Eras Tour — a three-and-a-half-hour concert where she performs various numbers from her career — in June 2023, Indian Swifties were seemingly upset finding no mention of the country in the list. The closest was Singapore and fans left no stone unturned to find a seat in the National Stadium, Singapore where Swift performed six shows in March 2024.

We got to play 6 shows in Singapore for the most wonderful crowds – just want to say thank you from the bottom of my heart to everyone who traveled and put so much effort into being at our shows. What an unforgettable way to end this leg of the tour!! See you in May when we get… pic.twitter.com/CpFhBhHg1F

— Taylor Swift (@taylorswift13) March 10, 2024

It was her only stop in Southeast Asia and getting the tickets was not a walk in the park. Fans had to wait hours in a virtual queue just to be able to grab a spot to book the tickets — ranging from 88 SGD (₹5,456) to 1,228 SGD (₹76,136).

According to a March 2024 report by The Hindu, Sanjana Shankar, a Chennai-based law student, spent ₹15,000 on tickets and ₹50,000 for a five-day stay in the country with her friends.

Agasthya Shah, a 21-year-old content creator, also attended the concert with his girlfriend with 13 painted on the back of their hands and friendship bracelets to exchange. He said that they met about 25 other Indians at the stadium on the night.

“Being a Taylor Swift fan is an experience. The first song I ever heard of hers was Blank Space (Swift’s single from her album 1989) and became a fan when Midnights came out. She brings out the emotions in her songs, and that’s what makes her relatable. Nobody does it like she does,” Shah told CNBC-TV18.

The fans who could not attend the concert were delighted when Swift announced that Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour concert film would be coming to Indian theatres and like Swift said in Long Live “the crowds went wild.”

“The musical, a passionate tapestry of her journey and experimentation with music complete with Swift’s connection with her audience and her saga resonated with audiences all over the country. We spanned an impressive 75 cities, selling a total of 3 lakh tickets. While Mumbai, Delhi NCR, Bangalore, Chennai, Hyderabad, Pune, and Kolkata locked the top spots, who could have guessed that fans from emerging markets like Nashik, Kota, Siliguri, Ludhiana, Jalandhar, Salem, Guntur, Rourkela, Ranchi, and Srinagar would drive the sales to astounding new heights,” Sanjeev Kumar Bijli, Executive Director, PVR INOX told CNBC-TV18.

Swifties were absolutely ecstatic as they got to experience the magic of Taylor Swift’s live performance on the big screen at PVR! 🎬🎵

Here’s the sneak peek of the fabulous #TSTheErasTour for all of you. 🔥❤️
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.#TaylorSwift #TheErasTour #BigScreen #TaylorSwiftErasTourMovie… pic.twitter.com/hRn39tatbY

— P V R C i n e m a s (@_PVRCinemas) November 4, 2023

Swifties went all out for the film, donning merch, era-inspired outfits, and chanting lyrics — it was an experience of its own, even on weekday afternoons.

However, getting their hands on official Taylor Swift merchandise remains a pricey affair. As a result, many turn to small businesses selling ‘unofficial’ but more affordable and diverse options. Despite not being official, these products still offer good quality, allowing fans to express their love for Swift without emptying their wallets.

“Every time I browse the store on Taylor Swift’s website, I quickly close it because of how expensive the merchandise is. But thanks to small businesses on Instagram, it’s not inaccessible. My best friend and I love to collect customised stickers for our laptops and phone cases, and accessories like the snake ring from Reputation because it helps us feel closer to Taylor,” Sathvika T, a 26-year-old graphic designer from Hyderabad told CNBC-TV18.

One such business is The Umbrella Store, run by Delhi-based Davneet Kaur since 2019. Kaur’s journey with Taylor Swift-related merchandise when she and her team noticed the enthusiasm of Swifties all across India during The Eras Tour.

“Their unwavering love for Taylor Swift and her music inspired us to create a platform where they could celebrate their fandom through high-quality merchandise. I remember when 1989 (Taylor’s Version) was announced during The Eras Tour and the hype it caused over the internet. Being a Swiftie, I could not resist myself from creating something out of it,” she said.

On The Umbrella Store’s website, under Taylor Swift merch, you will mostly find scented candles and journals, ranging from ₹399 to ₹999. For context, currently, users can only find The Tortured Poets Department merchandise on Swift’s official website — ranging from $25 (₹2,083) to $95 (₹7,917) and primarily consisting of clothing and jewellery. This would most likely be the case till the Europe leg of her tour begins in early May.

“All our Taylor Swift-themed candles and journals are a big hit amongst Swifties. This year we launched a limited-edition desk calendar that was Taylor Swift-themed and it received so much love from the fandom. We are hoping to come up with another one next year,” Kaur added saying that she has seen “exponential growth, both in terms of sales and engagement” since launching the merch.

“We have been inundated with messages of appreciation, expressions of joy, and heartfelt testimonials from fans across the country. [Swifties’] passion for Taylor Swift’s music and the sense of community they find in our merchandise has been truly inspiring and humbling.”

Tanisha Agarwal, a 22-year-old software engineering intern shared with us how she stumbled upon the cardigan from Swift’s single Cardigan and bought it, something that she had been obsessing over. The cardigan was listed on Swift’s official website when her album folklore was released in July 2020. She wore a similar one in the music video for the single and it sold like hotcakes at around $65, with additional shipping costs for international orders. If Agarwal and I got it from the same place, she paid only half of that.

“Being an Indian Swiftie isn’t easy since we don’t get to watch her live and the stuff that we might order takes days to reach us. A simple solution to this is buying merchandise from local businesses,” she added. “Even though it’s not the official merch, it still reminds me of Taylor every time I see it in my closet.”

Shah also shared that he had bought Taylor Swift-themed clothing from local businesses before and their quality is quite good. “They are decent in quality with unique designs and affordable. It’s great what they are doing and it is making a lot of people very happy,” he said.

Above Minimum is another such store that has a variety of things to choose from — totes, notebooks, t-shirts, hoodies and more. Yash Dixit, an engineer by education, was trying to get into the D2C business in late 2023 when Swifties found him.

“We were figuring out how to enter the market. We tried multiple things — selling plain t-shirts and hoodies and cricket merch as the World Cup was around. We also started doing custom designs and the most asked customisations came to us from Swifties. We gradually started getting traction from the fans and then we rolled out our website with some designs on hoodies and tote bags,” he said adding that the most demand for clothing was during those times.

According to Dixit, the fans love Above Minimum because of its quality and affordability (ranging from ₹349 to ₹1,099). “We’ve been loved by them because we helped them get an outfit they could wear to The Eras Tour — movie premier and the actual event in Singapore” he added.

While he is not a Swiftie himself, his friend, Saumya, who came up with a lot of the designs has been one since 2013. “I’m eager to purchase Taylor Swift merch, provided there are options that match my vibe and preferences. I’m quite selective, so I don’t like everything, but for the things I do like, I’m ready to buy them without hesitation,” she said. She also used to design items herself and get custom-printed because of a lack of options and thus became a part of Above Minimum when Dixit asked her.

The Swiftie community is essentially about turning passion into art and that, into a business. It might not be worth a billion dollars but it is a gesture of how Taylor Swift has managed to sweep us off our feet over time. We loved her in 2008 when we could only see her on our computer and TV screens, and we love her now when she’s everywhere and everything — all at once.

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KV Prasad Journo follow politics, process in Parliament and US Congress. Former Congressional APSA-Fulbright Fellow