Did Taylor Swift’s Dad Buy Her Career?
The short answer is, no. But you wouldn’t believe that from listening to Taylor Swift detractors or reading the comment threads on Swift articles. Quick to discount the young songstress, this is the first accusation you will see of why Taylor Swift’s success is a sham.
It sounds like such a sexy, plausible idea. The problem is it really is impossible for anybody to buy the massive public appeal Taylor Swift enjoys. Sure, money can set the wheels in motion, and make no mistake Taylor’s dad did offer material support to her career in its early stages. But Taylor’s success and meteoric rise depended way more on smart moves, her savviness with social networking, the appeal of her music (however good or bad you may think it is personally), the fact that her audience is the last bastion of the music buying public (little girls and their moms), and possibly most importantly, timing. In truth, Eric Church may have had just as much to do with Taylor Swift’s success as Swift Sr (see below).
Does Taylor Swift’s dad own Swift Trucking?
No, this is an urban myth.
Was Taylor Swift’s dad/family rich?
Scott Swift is a financial adviser for Merrill Lynch. Taylor’s mom is a homemaker. By most accounts, the Swift’s were wealthy, but not rich, living on an 11-acre tree farm before moving to the semi-affluent Wyomissing, Pennsylvania when Swift was 9, summering in a home in Stone Harbor, New Jersey. Swift’s family was solidly upper middle class, but in no way super-affluent to the tune of being able to shell out millions of dollars to make their daughter’s music career a reality. In fact Taylor was the one shelling out millions for her parents when she bought them a $2.5 million mansion in Nashville in August 2011.
What Swift’s parents did do is support her no different than most families might support a child pursuing their interests. Taylor’s music career was not foisted upon her by her parents. They gave Taylor her gender-neutral name in hopes she would be big in the business world. Once she showed interest in showbiz and music, they paid for lessons, sent her to camps, chauffeured her to various songwriting sessions and coffee shop/club gigs, and eventually moved to Nashville as her career began to take off. The support of Taylor’s dad helped her career, but saying it was “bought” seems like a reduction of her family’s efforts, including the efforts of Taylor’s mother who remains a major part of her management team.
Did Taylor Swift’s dad buy a mass quantity of her first album to drive sales numbers?
Another common accusation. If he did, no smoking gun has ever surfaced to prove so. However this practice to artificially bloat sales numbers to increase visibility and attention through chart rankings is not uncommon, especially for inaugural albums. And let’s remember, Taylor’s first album was also the inaugural album for Scott Borchetta’s Big Machine record label, creating multiple reasons to show successful sales numbers. How might we know if this tactic was used in Taylor’s case? It could come out in litigation, which leads to the one possible unscrupulous event in Taylor Swift’s rise.
Taylor Swift’s Dad vs. Dan Dymtrow
Dan Dymtrow was Taylor Swift’s first real manager; a big, New York-based talent representative that also represented Britney Spears for a period. He was hired in April of 2004 when Taylor was 14, and was fired by the family right before Taylor signed with Scott Borchetta and Big Machine in July of 2005. Dymtrow was the one responsible for introducing Taylor to Borchetta and the booking agency CAA. After allegedly being “strung out” by the Swift family, Dymtrow was dumped, allegedly at the behest of Scott Borchetta.
Dymtrow was only paid $10,000 for, as he claims, helping launch Taylor Swift’s career, and in response filed a lawsuit in 2007, demanding the 5%-10% of Taylor’s earnings his contract with her stipulated. Certain provisions of the lawsuit were initially thrown out, but the one claiming “unjust-enrichment” remained in tact.
The most damming piece of evidence from the lawsuit was an email Taylor’s dad supposedly sent to Scott Borchetta showing a prearranged agreement to dump Dymtrow before Big Machine would sign Taylor. “Enough with the Dymtrow,” Scott Swift allegedly wrote to Scott Borchetta. “You asked me to break both his legs, wrap him in chains and throw him in the lake. I did.”
The defense for the lawsuit was a technicality. Taylor Swift was under 18 when she signed the contract with Dymtrow, and since the contract did not have court approval, which is law in New York for a minor, Swift and Borchetta’s lawyers claim the contract is null and void. The Swift’s and Borchetta did not attack the merits of the contract itself, though they did say Dymtrow is grossly exaggerating his impact on Taylor’s career.
The other interesting part about this lawsuit is how secretive it has been. It was started in 2007, but was not made public until October of 2010. Since then, there has been no word on the progress or outcome of the suit, and numerous calls and emails by Saving Country Music to the various parties rendered only “no comment” replies. The hushed nature of this lawsuit is what has led to some of the suspicions, misconceptions and urban myths about Taylor’s meteoric rise.
But even if all of Dymtrow’s accusations are true, does this somehow frame Taylor’s dad as the Daddy Warbucks of her career? No. If anything, it proves that the well-connected Dymtrow was the one responsible for Taylor’s rise, not her dad.
How Eric Church Helped Taylor Swift
In October of 2006, Eric Church was on a major arena tour opening for Rascal Flatts. Church continuously played too long, and too loud, defying the wishes of Rascal Flatts until he was asked to leave the tour. Who was Eric Church’s replacement? Taylor Swift, sitting in the cat bird’s seat because of her relationship with live promoter CAA who former manager Dan Dymtrow introduced Swift to. This was her first major concert tour break and significantly helped propel her career because it paralleled the rise of her first single, “Tim McGraw”.
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But whether it is crediting Eric Church, Dan Dymtrow, Taylor’s dad, or Scott Borchetta, discounting all of Taylor Swift’s own hard work, and the right time/right place appeal for her songs and image seems to be misunderstanding of what has led to Taylor Swift’s success.
June 5, 2012 @ 9:27 am
an 11 acre tree farm and a summer home on the jersey shore? must have been nice. if i was lucky i got to spend time in an airstream or maybe a tent at a state park down at the beach.
June 5, 2012 @ 10:26 am
the old “must be nice” card.
Every (most) parents try to give their kids as much opportunity as possible and the best life possible. So her father worked his career and it allowed him to give his daughter options.
Not everyone has the same support, but that isn’t the successful persons fault. Some could argue growing up an orphan and dirt poor is the only way some very successful people got the drive to make it. Should we say “must have been nice to have that shitty life as motivation?”
Taylor isn’t my cup of tea, but none of us, no human chooses their childhood nor would they turn down a good up bringing.
June 5, 2012 @ 12:24 pm
that wasn’t my point. just trying to add a little humor. of course no one can choose their parents or their situation in life as a child to assume such would be asinine.
May 9, 2023 @ 1:20 am
Delusional moron
This is the problem with nepotism and rich people. The rich can afford to buy careers, cars, homes, even people. Its obvious you have no clue about her story, how her dad bought a 300K stake in that label and got her a 13 year contract. What artists have ever gotten a 13 year contract? Its usually a 3 album deal and thats it. 1% own everything, 99% struggle to gain a foothold. To argue your poor person point, even less than 1% who grow up poor ever make it, so it makes her situation even that more repulsive. Sorry, your point is misguided.
September 24, 2023 @ 10:21 pm
What a surprise. The only delusional person is you, my dear. Nepotism is not only not new and completely natural, but benign. It also exists at every income level but we all know that you’re not waltzing into your local bakery that’s been passed down in the family for generations and tell the baker that he doesn’t deserve his career because he didn’t have to work hard like the others because of his family. This whole argument is a pathetic mixture of people still abusing their anonymity on the internet to be bullies (only now it hidden behind a thin veil of moral righteousness used as a justification) and humans age old need for an enemy. But the enemy here are governments, huge cooperations and billionaires which makes this so complicated and difficult to resolve, so instead you attach your feelings to a figure that is public and familiar because that is easy. Maybe there’s also a bit of our desire to see the downfall of a celebrity mixed in there. Probably a bit of jumping on a bandwagon for likes and retweets. The initial comment was also correct in saying that the notion that you can only have drive and creative merit if you came from nothing is glamorizing the struggle. To end this, the fact that you used the word ‘repulsive’ in regards to this situation shows how out of touch and uncaring you are to what actually goes on in this world, because there are a million situations going on that deserve to be called that and this is not one of them.
December 23, 2023 @ 6:40 am
good grief … you sound wrong to me…way too over explainy if you happened to be right… lol
February 11, 2024 @ 7:53 am
The truth is very much abused. Her father invested approximately $100,000. into a failing record company. Equal to about 3% ownership. Not $300,000. Her talent is ignored in your reply. She is so talented. She is 34 years old and began singing professionally before she could drive, so her parents were of course involved. Now her net worth is over $1.1 Billion. With a B! And her mother still works with her management company. Both patents attended every concert of her sold out 2023-24 tour. 4 time winner of the Grammy fot album of the year. Your accusations of her parents made her a star with financial influence is an insult to the Swift’s, the fans and recording academy. Your responses reek of jealousy.
October 4, 2023 @ 1:21 am
Even if her father helped her make records by his record company deal, if those records were not appealing to the public they would not have been purchased in such great numbers that she has now become one of the richest women singers. There are examples of parents bankrolling their kids, and the kids never actually making it one their own to any degree. Like it or not, Taylor’s success has something to do with her talent and hard work.
December 23, 2023 @ 6:43 am
anyone saying this has never had a music career or attempted lmaooooo she wouldnt care about you irl for a second. thats her schtick.
December 5, 2023 @ 5:47 pm
People Get a Long Neck Bottle!
February 22, 2024 @ 8:50 am
Wrong. Dad did invest 1 million dollars in her career which was obviously a great investment. Tay is famous for being an incredible songwriter and performer. Don’t Google it, ask people who were around that helped further her career. She deserves her recognition and if she wasn’t such an incredible artist the money certainly would not have plummeted her to fame.
October 5, 2014 @ 7:04 pm
Taylor’s Father owns 3% of the label Big machine Records, and was an initial investor in the record company launch with an estimated 120 thousand investment. So in essence you might say he “Bought” her career . As far as her career goes Taylor is a superstar because of Taylor herself. Its her writing that has made her what she is. Sounds to me like dad had the foresight and faith in his daughter’s talent and made a REALLY sound business decision based on those factors. Becoming famous is hard enough, but staying there is a whole other thing. She puts the work in and she writes the songs, she keeps herself relevant and popular.
If you had the money to help your daughter fulfill her dreams and you knew she was seriously talented wouldn’t you shell out the money to help make it happen?….He did what any good father in his position would do, and Taylor took it and ran with it. Now they are all reaping the rewards and pressures of being famous !
They are all around Smart and this pop album will break records also. All the best artists change and grow and take you in different directions. She always has a plan just like Madonna did back in the day, every album had direction and vision. She controls her destiny, and Big Machine collects the checks!
October 15, 2015 @ 5:57 pm
You have got to be kidding. I clearly remember an ET interview where her mother doted on her and in not so many words conceded they were buying her way in.
If you think her “music” can be construed as anything other than contrived, synthesised commerce, you literally have no taste in music whatsoever and you have no clue what good is. You’re as intellectually underdeveloped as she is. Just as vapid, just as egocentric.
But hey, tons of people on the A list of pop culture are just as sheltered and devoid of soul as her. They live in a surrealistic bubble. They haven’t got experiences that give their music any viscera.
I will say, as a true artist and songwriter that Taylor Swift is no different than KFC or A Coach bag or a BMW. She’s a shill for a conglomerate of douchbag rich scum buckets, making money off of tone-deaf idiots. Yeah. That means you.
But again, no big deal, as history will have the same opinion I have. Time will prove me right.
November 3, 2015 @ 6:40 am
Ugh, you’re so disgustingly smug that I want to vomit. Aren’t you SO cool for your strong opinions on pop music? Yeah, everyone will definitely care about your opinion 10 years from now. Take your big words and animosity and apply them to something that actually matters, rather than Top 40. Just the fact that you get so fired up over something so trivial proves your own idiocy.
P.S. Taste is subjective. Go put on another Pink Floyd record and cry in the corner, O Great One.
June 30, 2019 @ 3:05 pm
Hey; Don’t be dissing Pink Floyd!!!! The guy probably listens to Milli/Vanilli anyway! As far as your other comments, you took the words right out of my mouth! I am a singer/songwriter with very modest success who could only WISH to have the songwriting chops of Taylor Swift!!! The guy you responded to is not worth the trouble! He obviously is a jackass and a loser with a big mouth!!!
November 5, 2019 @ 10:06 am
Hmm. More people seem to agree with him than you though. You should expand your horizons beyond the feeding trough of manufactured and capitalized “art” allowed you by the money pigs that keep you so happily in your cage. You are meant for more than this. Please dont squander your own gifts.
July 10, 2019 @ 5:32 pm
I am 49 years old, and Taylor Swift rocked Titans Stadium last August. 55,000 I think broke the record for attendance. It was beyond AMAZING!!!!!!!!
March 27, 2023 @ 2:29 pm
not yet
April 30, 2023 @ 7:30 pm
How do you feel about her now breaking records with the eras tour? Yes, her dad helped her get noticed and paid her way into that. But as far as the songwriting and music goes, she wrote that herself and always gives 100% credit to her co writers. She may not be a god on guitar, but the fact that she is a literal lyrical genius and comes up with all her melodies is why people like her. In fact not many know that Scott is why she got noticed. She is now playing back to back stadiums 3 to 4 nights in a row breaking world records with the attendance of 70,000 each show all sold out. I think her lyrics are way to over your head and you probably just don’t understand them. All that said, ur dumb
October 22, 2023 @ 10:22 am
This didn’t age well.
July 30, 2020 @ 7:33 pm
$3 million
May 11, 2024 @ 9:05 am
WRONG, she’s as big as she is cause she’s an industry plant that acts like “I’m original and I’m fighting the big fight for YOOOOOOU!” We all know it here in Beverly Hills and Hollywood. So StFUand sit down. We can tell by ur Palestine flag that u think u know every damn thing.
U look like a Clown ????????????
June 27, 2024 @ 1:05 pm
Your statement is so rude, How old are you? and why do you say she is an industry plant?? What I see is the opposite, She is not a plant, She is a woman that wants control of HER ( Female) music in a misogynistic music world. I think you should take your own advice Shut up and Sit the …. down too.. What do you really know about any of it. I won’t tell you what you look like.. Be a nice human and stop your hating. If you don’t understand she was being used by MEN in a very unkind way.
February 11, 2024 @ 10:57 am
I heard from good sources inside music row that her dad gave Brechitta several million to make her famous . Breschetta was also one of the best radio promoters in Nashville and knows the biz.. I know I’m.butchering the spelling. Radio still won’t equal sells, so the money could have turned into turntable hits
June 27, 2024 @ 1:31 pm
Easy enough to look up the spelling online, avoiding the bad look of butchering it two separate ways. It’s Borchetta. And it’s also “sales,” not “sells.”
October 21, 2024 @ 9:33 am
“I heard from good sources” is another way of saying I heard it on the rumor mill. It’s like when Trumf prefaced his lies and fairy tales with “lots of people are saying”
June 5, 2012 @ 12:57 pm
Oh hey another Taylor Swift post!
June 5, 2012 @ 1:39 pm
You know the new SCM motto: “All Taylor, All the Time!”
😀
June 5, 2012 @ 1:59 pm
You can fool some of the people some of the time ……………
June 5, 2012 @ 4:49 pm
Considering Taylor’s album debuted with 39K copies and took something like 40 weeks to reach number one on the country music charts, I think it’s safe to say her six months radio tour and other concerts, and her signing autographs after shows for hours at a time rules out her label or dad buying it to inflate her sales totals.
I think this headline is somewhat sensationalist, which I realise is intended to drive visits to the site, but in a way it encourages these misplaced rumors which were largely generated by one single fanbase; the artist of that fanbase I won’t mention because for all I know they are innocent of the hatred that fanbase has always shown towards Taylor, along with a couple other fanbases and various other groups.
You could write the same article about numerous other artists, such as “Did so-and-so’s career only happen because of American Idol” or “Did Blake Shelton only win those awards because of his exposure on “The Voice” or any other number of somewhat inflammatory headlines. I think it’s a little disrespectful of Taylor’s efforts and using her for your own promotion in a not-so-gallant way, even tho I know you discount these rumors for the most part in your article.
I don’t mean this as an attack, and I’m not always able to write my thoughts clearly. You have to write how you feel and usually I think you do a good job of being fair and impartial to everyone, so perhaps it’s my own partiality of Taylor that causes me to react towards this one the way I do. In any case, kudos to you for recognizing these rumors for what they are, for the most part.
One last thing, I don’t think Taylor owes anything to Eric Church, she was going to be big in music whether she opened for the Flatts or started in some other way. It was her determination and committment that got her where she is, no matter how much money was behind her. If it was only money, many other would-be superstars would be superstars today.
Thanks for letting me comment 🙂
June 5, 2012 @ 6:20 pm
Good comment Sinn!
The title of this article was generated for one reason and one reason only: to capture people going to search engines and trying to find information about if Taylor Swift’s dad bought her career, a question I have seen very commonly asked, and a statement I’ve very commonly seen asserted in many places. I agree it can come across as sensational, but I’m not sure how to word it any other way and give it the same effect. It is always difficult as a writer. It is your job to both write articles and attempt to be as impartial as possible (when the content is of this nature), yet if you believe in your content, you have to be a salesman for it to try and get it in front of as many people as possible.
Trust me when I say a lot of my regular readers saw this title, rolled their eyes, and moved on. That’s OK, because this article was not for them. 2/3rds of the traffic that comes to Saving Country Music comes organically, meaning not from links on Facebook or Twitter, not from clicking on bookmarks for the site, but going to search engines and looking for information. If I had titled the article, “Dispelling Taylor Swift’s Urban Myths” people may not have found it because they most likely string of words people will put in to a search engine if they’re looking for this info are “Taylor Swift’s dad bought her career” or “Did Taylor Swift’s dad buy her career?” This may be a lot of technical mumbo jumbo, but it is the basis for choosing the title that I did.
The journalist inside of me likes to be facts set straight, even if they work against my interests. Setting facts straight was the objective of this article. It will also hopefully generate traffic to the site, but if that was my only objective, I’d rarely or never write album reviews, and would strictly write about country music celebrity gossip.
June 5, 2012 @ 10:50 pm
Thanks Triggerman 🙂 I do think you are pretty awesome, for everything you do. And thanks for explaining it so much clearer, I though tthat’s how it was but yet because I am a fan it still rankled on some level lol. Keep writing your heart, it’s true that’s the only way to do it, and even when you go wrong you won’t go wrong, if you know what I mean.
June 15, 2012 @ 6:10 am
Triggerman,
I appreciate your articles because regardless of your personal feelings, you always convey your message in an unbiased and entertaining style. I for one will continue to visit your website and follow you on social media.
You’re a breath of fresh air in an industry riddled with sleaze buckets.
Dude, you rock!
thanks for a informative and interesting article.
May 9, 2023 @ 1:34 am
Her dad bought 100K copies of her first album, it had nothing to do with whatever bullshit you think happened. The fact she was the only artist signed to Big Machine at that time, gave them ample time to promote. The head guy at BM worked at every major record label, giving him an in to promote her shit. Her record sales were inflated to promote her music to gain interest, and it worked. This shit isnt a secret, its common knowledge and had nothing to do with Church or anyone else. You just cant accept shes an industry plant and her daddy bought her career.By rights her first album was trash by country standards, and I still dont know how she managed to gain traction. Probably the reason she left country because she couldnt write country music, or should I say, her team couldnt write country songs, so they told her to change genres because all pop songs are based on the same 3 chord progression, but you wouldnt know that.
January 25, 2024 @ 2:39 am
100% correct. What also helped her gain traction as that her father paid huge sums of money to leading music agencies to book her to appear on prominent tours alongside big artists. This gave the illusion that she was bigger and more successful in the earlier years than she really was
October 21, 2024 @ 9:34 am
“I heard from good sources” is another way of saying I heard it on the rumor mill. It’s like when Trumf prefaced his lies and fairy tales with “lots of people are saying”
June 5, 2012 @ 10:27 pm
Thank you for writing this! I literally was just looking up this question yesterday (I don’t think I’d heard the rumor before) and all I could find were random people on Yahoo answers and the like saying he had bought her career. Not exactly credible… I’m glad someone addressed the issue intelligently. I’m a pretty big Taylor fan so it’s definitely comforting to see confirmation that she really did get to where she is now by a lot of hard work. Not to say her parents didn’t help her anyway they could, but just that it was really her dream and she went for it.
February 11, 2024 @ 11:07 am
Back then it cost $500k to just get a song on Billoard. I lived in Nashville back and had a band. It took a whole lot of money to get her career going. I’ve talked to a lot of insiders back then too. You needed an outside investor to get anywhere.
June 6, 2012 @ 4:36 am
I’m not trying to kiss ass and I’m not trying to stir things up. I’ll admit that I don’t love posts like this. I’ll read them. They are moderately interesting to me, but I understand the need to draw new readers. I’m fine with all that.
However, I would rather read one hundred posts like this than have this website turn into essentially a collection of personal journals and a dictation of taste. This is my assessment of a certain “other” “country” music website that ostensibly covers similar music. If I wanted to be talked down-to about the history of rock, punk, metal, and lounge (WTF?) music, I’d have been a music history major in college. If I wanted to read about horror movies or politics, I would go to websites dedicated to those topics.
Hopefully the nature of this headline keeps this from becoming a shitstorm, but I had a need to vent somewhere.
June 6, 2012 @ 3:13 pm
Just a quick correction – the Dymtrow case has concluded. All his claims were thrown out, expect for the unjust enrichment one. That was settled out of court, presumably to avoid further email leaks etc.
June 6, 2012 @ 3:50 pm
Thanks for the updated info. I did mention the claims getting thrown out, except for the unjust enrichment.
“Certain provisions of the lawsuit were initially thrown out, but the one claiming “unjust-enrichment” remained in tact.”
Do you have a link to a story that says the lawsuit was settled, or do you just know this personally. I’m not trying to discredit what you’re saying whatsoever, I just want to be able to verify that the lawsuit was settled so I can add that information to the story, as well as any details about what the settlement was. I spent a long time trying to procure this information. Thanks!
June 8, 2012 @ 1:18 am
The New Yorker mentioned in October 2011 that the claim was being settled. http://www.newyorker.com/reporting/2011/10/10/111010fa_fact_widdicombe?currentPage=all
June 7, 2012 @ 8:06 am
Nice story, Triggerman. I never bought that one. It just makes zero sense. You can fool people once (milli vanilli or whatever it was called), but you can`t do it for a long period of time. Obviously Taylor has talent and more importantly she is a very smart girl. She was one of the pioneers of using social media to get her message, music out there. Now owning her own Management company, bus company.
But Carrie Underwood (sorry, we all knew that this was what Sinn was talking about) fans will stay hanging on to this for dear life. And that is sad.
January 9, 2013 @ 12:18 pm
Jacklantern, your comments are asinine. If someone is a fan of say Carrie Underwood, that does not automatically make them against Taylor Swift. I go to cmt website from time to time and see the same things you just wrote about anytime Carrie or Taylor are mentioned. You must be one of the many of use aliases on the same site. I like them both but it is people like you who do anything they can to keep things stirred up. I suppose you are a “swifty”. I think you are sad. I read Sinn’s comments too and it is obvious that she is a “swifty” too. Its almost word for word what has been posted under another name on other boards. I call it sour grapes because Shelton won ETOY and Swift did not. As far as the reference to Carrie about being someone from American Idol, why does it matter how she got her career started? Afterall, Eric Church provided the platform for Ms Swift didnt he? All artist still have to work to keep it going. These comments are right in line from the TS fans who for some reason have this thing against Carrie Underwood and Blake Shelton because their favorite artists did not win at the ACMs this year. I call that sad also.
July 2, 2023 @ 9:03 am
Taylor actually won Artist of the Year in 2009. Get your facts straight before you Tfy to diss her. And BTW I’m a Swiftie!
June 7, 2012 @ 9:21 pm
Good writing as always Triggerman. My girls have been pretty much in love with Taylor Swift from first sight. She seems to know what she’s doing, she seems sincere. My 5 year old wants her to sing a duet with Lonesome Wyatt.
June 7, 2012 @ 10:08 pm
If her dad bought her career, I reckon he owes me some money, ’cause my kids are nuts about her. Surely that means he paid ’em off, right? (And yes, my kids. She’s Country Barbie, the closest thing in their eyes to a real live princess. You’re absolutely right that this is where her strength still lies. I let ’em get away with it ’cause they sing along with Hayes Carll too.)
November 3, 2012 @ 12:58 pm
Thanks for what appears to be pretty clear-eyed analysis of the matter. Fact is, if Taylor Swift (and her collaborators) didn’t have what some sector of the public wanted and found pleasurable, it wouldn’t matter how much money anyone invested in it.
August 26, 2013 @ 10:44 am
With such average musical talent, there has to be a backroom story to her rise. Her dad must have known a bunch of people in Nashville and NY to not only get her noticed, but to get her ahead of the crowd. At least she’s a pleasant diversion from Miley Cyrus and her PR trash machine.
November 4, 2013 @ 5:46 pm
He actually did buy her career, I was there when it all went down. So the short answer here is yes, he actually bought her career. He paid for Big Machine Records to open up and said that the first thing the record label had to do was to sign his daughter and make her a super star. Not sure where you get your facts, but yes, she was made from her dads money.
July 21, 2018 @ 6:00 pm
Her father did not buy her career. He invested in it after she got signed. Even if you truly he did for some insane reason, how do you explain her ability to maintain her career for 12 years? As Taylor Swift once said, “You can be accidentally successful for three or four years. Accidents happen. But careers take hard work.” She is a very hardworking person.
December 20, 2023 @ 2:24 pm
She now has the most Grammy nominations, ever. Another record! Her father may have supported her entry into the biz, but she’s in the driver’s seat and making history.
November 8, 2013 @ 6:37 pm
How much did being a slender, blue-eyed blonde have to do with her success?? In the entertainment world and the world in general there is still a strong advantage for women who have these characteristics..
November 8, 2013 @ 6:54 pm
I think that it comes down to authenticity. Dolly Parton’s father was a sharecropper and a construction worker in the country. Taylor Swift’s father was a stock broker and they had a summer home. Cheryl Crow’s father is a lawyer. Who is singing because it is natural to them to sing country music and who is doing it because it is a good way to make money?
November 28, 2013 @ 10:33 am
This article is a sham….I was in the room when Scott Swift paid Scott Bruschetta 3 million dollars for Taylors deal with Big Machine….fucking liars!
May 8, 2014 @ 2:52 am
And I guess you were the second gunman on the Grassy Knoll too right??
April 22, 2014 @ 4:32 pm
No one person can make anyone a superstar….one word….jealousy. I live in Nashville and I hear it all the time. She has passion and that is what makes her successful.
November 6, 2014 @ 11:55 pm
bullshit, they were stinking rich. Her mother wasn’t just a home maker, she is the daughter of an oil man. They started a bunch of businesses, including a record company, that promoted her music.
December 6, 2014 @ 8:26 pm
Now you have to give credit to MAX MARTIN who make the music and writing for and
with them including Talyor and many many more POP stars.
http://rebekahelle.hubpages.com/hub/Max-Martin-Who-Is-This-Swedish-Hitmaker-Behind-Pops-Biggest-Songs
July 21, 2018 @ 6:17 pm
Max Martin doesn’t really give interviews, but look up ones from her other cowriters such as Liz Rose, Ryan Adams, Jack Antonoff, Ryan Tedder, and Imogen Heap. She does write her own stuff. I quickly found an article on each of the aforementioned people where they talk about cowriting with Swift. They’ve all talked about cowriting with her multiple times, but I just grabbed one interview of each. Plus, since I only named her cowriters I could think of in this moment, I’m sure there are other cowriters of her which have talked about her. For now, see these examples:
Liz Rose, who prides herself on her lyrics and is very vocal about when she writes them, insists that she only edited Swift’s words: https://www.rollingstone.com/music/music-country/songwriter-spotlight-liz-rose-188704/
Ryan Adam’s (cowrote an unreleased song with her during the Red era, then cover the entirety of 1989), describes what writing with her and her ability is like: http://grantland.com/hollywood-prospectus/were-the-same-were-f-to-a-minor-ryan-adams-on-remaking-taylor-swifts-1989/
Ed Sheeran, who is so outspoken about hating when undeserved writing credits are given that he actually wrote a song about it called ‘You Need Me, I Don’t Need You’ with the lines ‘Call yourself a singer-writer – you’re just bluffing/Your name’s on the credits and you didn’t write nothing’ in it, insists Taylor writes her own words. He even says she wrote most of their collaboration ‘Everything Has Changed’ (he talks in more detail about her writing most of it in video interviews, but here is an article): http://theboot.com/ed-sheeran-i-knew-you-were-trouble/
Imogen Heap details in a blog post how she had not done her research on Taylor, therefore she had assumed Taylor didn’t write her own lyrics. Heap writes how she was wrong, how Swift wrote most if not all of the lyrics, and helped with the music (Side Note: Swift has also co-produced a lot of her songs in addition to writing them): http://imogenheap.com/myceliatour.php?article=1321
Ryan Tedder says Taylor Swift is the most talented songwriter he has ever worked with, she has the complete skillset, and more in this interview: http://fault-magazine.com/2016/09/ryan-tedder-returns-to-fault-magazine-cover-ahead-of-new-one-republic-album/
Jack Antonoff, who says he would never write a song for somebody, even if that someone was Rihanna, insists Taylor writes her lyrics: https://www.google.com/amp/ew.com/music/2017/12/28/jack-antonoff-taylor-swift-lorde-interview/amp/
Besides this, most artists that work with Max Martin rarely mention him. This seems to be a way to figuratively sweep his involvement under the rug. Taylor, however, is outspoken about Max Martin and Shellback: “Never mind that Martin is always credited by name in Swift’s album booklets and that Swift speaks openly about their collaborations in magazine profiles and at performances. She even spoke about the Swede on the album itself. On 1989’s voice memos, Swift breaks down how her collaborations with Martin and others came together, even going so far as to play the demos and recordings of the two sharing ideas in the studio.” Also, in her Album Of The Year Grammy acceptance speech for 1989, she brought everyone who worked on the album with her up on stage, and one of the things she said was “Mostly, I want to thank my co-executive producer Max Martin, who has deserved to be up here for 25 years”. She is open about her cowriting. You can even see Max Martin in some of her Making Of A Song videos for Reputation.
In conclusion, Taylor has written or cowritten every song on her albums. Plus, some additional songs which were released separately from an album by Swift (‘Change’, ‘Safe and Sound’, ‘Eyes Open’, etc.) or given by Swift to other people like Miley Cyrus (‘You’ll Always Find Your Way Back Home’) or Sugarland (‘Babe’). If you prefer solo writing, she solo wrote 3 songs on her ‘Taylor Swift’ album (4 if you count deluxe), 7 solo songs on “Fearless”, EVERY SINGLE SONG on “Speak Now”, 9 songs on “Red” (11 if you count deluxe), and 1 on 1989. She solo wrote the lyrics to Little Big Town’s ‘Better Man’ and to Calvin Harris and Rihanna’s ‘This is What You Came For’. Taylor does actually write her own lyrics. Despite the sound changing, her writing style is what has stayed consistent. She still has the same lyrical quirks. Songwriting is what she is most proud of. She considers herself a songwriter first, because she is a songwriter first.
December 13, 2014 @ 10:45 am
Every time I hear or see Taylor sing, I am reminded as to why there are so many poor people in the world today. Music to me is personal, if I share it, that’s a big deal, because it’s a part of me. I believe all of us have had that experience. I know that when you sing in unison in large crowds of like 10k you can feel the music inside you, in your heart, the point there is your participating. And exploring the music inside you has much more richness than anything you could ever imagine. Sure Taylor had help, and most of us don’t have parents that make over 100k a year, and if your really lucky, you might get a job serving people like Taylor. So… keep your music special, learn guitar or something, practice singing, This has potential of great riches in your heart, something you can hold on to. Something Taylor has learn to sell, with the direction of her father.
June 2, 2024 @ 11:49 am
What I have never been able to figure out is how she got to write with these people in the first place. I understand once her career became big that she had her choice of writers. But when she first went to Nashville, how did she hook up with the big guns? Liz Rose wasn’t the only top writer who wrote with her.Did Big Machine find her writers?
December 14, 2014 @ 9:57 am
I don’t understand why anyone would consider themselves “lucky” to “serve” a celebrity.
May 7, 2015 @ 10:00 am
Taylor Swift sux
May 18, 2017 @ 10:39 am
and your a three year old who dosent know how to spell sucks
August 2, 2023 @ 9:17 am
It may not be the best idea to criticize someone else’s spelling while using “your” instead of “you’re” and misspelling “doesn’t” as “dosent.”
June 23, 2015 @ 6:28 am
,:)
May 6, 2016 @ 1:31 am
Do I believe Taylor Swift’s dad brought her career? I’ll share my opinion on that in a few minutes. First, I gotta take a massive shit!!!
June 26, 2017 @ 1:34 am
I think her father leaked the information about the letter with intentionally chosen words on purpose to pen Borchetta as the bad guy and not himself, thus preserving his image in the future. Her and her entire family on her dad’s side seem to be EXTREMELY manipulative. Not necessarily a bad thing, in and of itself, BUT I guarantee the reason why her former manager was disposed of as easily as he was is because they don’t give a shit what happens to anyone else as long as they’re positively furthering their own agenda… Power, money, fame.
August 29, 2017 @ 11:38 am
This is without a doubt, he comes from a family of investment bankers. It’s wall street wealth that has suspended itself into the pop music industry. I would like to know who paid the music critics to call her an “expert technician.” It doesn’t take an “expert” to play 5 or 6 chord changes from a chorus to bridge.
And she does it in such mediocrity that you have to wonder if she ever had any musical training or talent prior to her success or prior to pro tools. If she has talent in anything it’s manipulating the audience into believing that she’s anything like the girls she writes about in her songs.
The whole bootstrap ethics of this country belies what the loose definition of hard work can entail. You can dress up a young girl and put her in front of a camera, and she can emit charm and charisma, but it doesn’t mean she worked very hard to get there. Like a lot of country and pop stars, the agenda is power and fame.
Scott Kingsley Swift saw an opportunity to market his daughter. And listen, no 14 year old girl is immune to peer pressure and outside influence, the reason “artists” like Taylor Swift keep emerging and profiting in this century, even amongst extreme economic disarray, (anyone else find it strange that Taylor Swift became a brand the same year after the market crash of 2008?) is because children find them to be role models. Her image is that of a pretty blond with a tan, a slight southern draw (even though she hasn’t retained that draw over the years) sweet, innocent (even when she was 23?) and a hopeless dreamer, and lest us not forget, disgustingly, abhorrently, filthy rich…. So spanning the whole country are children being influenced by this persona. She’s a product.
May 9, 2019 @ 6:26 am
This fails to mention her dad’s buying into the record label where he is one of the heads and the subsequent dropping of pop competitors (eg Laura Marano) from the label. A descendant of 3 bank presidents who can buy stakes in a record label is hardly “upper middle class.”
July 11, 2019 @ 2:11 pm
And now the highest paid entertainer in the world who will soon be worth a billion is crying because she was bullied. The uber wealthy have no conception of how the rest of the human race live. Nor do they want to. Yet the fans will utter obscenities and make threats and hurt others in the name of protecting their queen. Pathetic.
September 1, 2019 @ 12:21 am
This article is so biased it literally skips over the start of her career (and lies about her mothers finances and family wealth even though Taylor herself has described her school as a place you didn’t show up to without a designer bag) and just SKIPS to the party where she maintained her career. In doing this you insult our intelligence by not answering what people are asking by going for words semantics.
People are asking if her father physically moved the family to Nashville from their tree farm which he owned because of connections with a client at his lucrative Wall St banking job his family has held for several generations (yes he did) and invested/became co owner of a record company to give himself the power to ensure her being signed (yes he did). Her parents were well off enough that her mom took her on vacation to Nashville previous to that while Taylor was on a break to give her demo of songs she sang when her mother drove her to karaoke competitions in the years before. This is all stuff your average American canNOT afford to do for their 14 year old dreamer that they see has potential.
Your points about her being able to brand herself as talented, relatable and friendly have kept her in the spotlight and that shouldn’t be ignored but you basically dismissed facts that are absolutely true because you don’t want people to give her family credit for their clear investment of money and time into her career that gave an advantage most people even middle class wouldnt have and set up an already privileged girl (white, straight, skinny, pretty, able bodied) to be a star who promotes friendship with other privileged girls (which is her way of making feminism part of that brand, but I digress).
October 15, 2019 @ 1:33 am
Just stop it. Of course her dad buying into a label was HUGE! If you’re an actor and your dad buys a piece of CAA, do you think you’ll get more roles in films with budgets? That was meant to be rhetorical. Kudos to her for taking advantage and staying on top of her career. She’s clearly passionate about what she does and her parents were very supportive. She could’ve had parents who pressured her to go into the family business of investing. But of course there are young girls who are just as, or more, talented and hard-working as she is. Yes. She got a hell of a start. Period.
December 9, 2019 @ 10:15 am
You can’t “buy” extreme success like a Taylor has enjoyed. Her parent’s were well off and supported their talented daughter’s career. To suggest they somehow bought her worldwide superstar status lol that’s preposterous. p
May 30, 2020 @ 1:43 am
Imagine her career If only she could sing.
October 25, 2020 @ 9:18 am
I have a Taylor album. The world is an unfair place but you’re ignoring reality. Buying access *is* buying someone’s career to the extent that it’s possible. No, you can’t force people to buy music but I’m sure that before her parents got to the point of buying an interest in a record label they’d concluded that Taylor was realistically marketable. First and foremost – she’s ridiculously pretty. She’s been carrying around her winning trophy in the genetic lottery for everyone to see her whole life. If she looked like Cass Elliott, Daddy probably wouldn’t have invested in a record company. Taylor probably could have had a career as a model without singing a note. There’s no way she would have made a living as a session singer and gigging musician like for example Shania Twain and others before they got famous. There are trainloads of better singer/songwriter/instrumentalists. She’s got functional instrumental chops and is at best a mediocre vocalist but she’s got a *distinctive* voice. Her strongest musical talent is songwriting. From what I’ve seen reading about her, there was payola involved in getting her early music played. People were *paid* to play her music. The practice is alive and well.
December 24, 2021 @ 4:36 pm
Average singer (at best), very basic musical skills (can strum a few chords), and horrible songwriter. Yeah, I’m guessing daddy war bucks had quite a lot to do with paying his way into getting his little princess’s career jump started.
September 24, 2023 @ 10:58 pm
Taylor Swift,not nepotism,made her career.She’s a good,if not great and highly relatable singer/songwriter,thus almost anybody can become a “Swiftie,” as her fans are called.Very few even superstar acts can truly make that claim.
January 25, 2024 @ 2:42 am
Her father paid huge sums of money to leading music agencies to book her to appear on prominent tours and gigs alongside big artists. This gave the illusion that she was bigger and more successful in the earlier years than she really was. This gave her the traction needed
May 11, 2024 @ 8:56 am
STATE Your Sources. Cause we All Know Here in Beverly Hills and Hollywood that she’s into Occult shit and That Her Dad donated a large amount of $$$$ to the record label, that’s why they gave her a deal. SOME of his donations are Public Knowledge. If u were a REAL Journalist You would Know THAT! ???????????? The Donations from him, not public know are what worey the MOST.
May 11, 2024 @ 9:12 am
So BASICALLY this “article” was written by a Swiftie who has ABSOLUTELY NO Credibility or Experience in JOURNALISM ????????????????????????????????????????????????????????????