Is Taylor Swift the “Music Industry?”
Some people call her “the Music Industry,” some people call her “an attention-seeking-manipulative singer,” and others call her “an inspirational leader and savvy businesswoman.” I tend to fall into the third category. Taylor Swift is a singer song-writer that got her start as a country singer in Nashville over 15 years ago, transitioned to pop and found a home in Alternative music. She has released 206 songs and 9 studio albums. As a household name, Swift embodies the leadership theory of the 21st century authentic leadership. Authentic leadership is the theory of leadership that emphasizes the importance of the authenticity of leaders. Swift, throughout her long career in the music industry, has embodied traits and skills attributed to authentic leadership — morals, ethics, etc. — as described by Peter Northouse in his text, Leadership: Theory and Practice (Northouse 15).
Swift has shown leadership in a myriad of ways within different sectors. Swift has both personal and positional power because not only does her fan base revere her as an expert but also those outside of her fan base tend to consider an artist at her level and caliber to be legitimate and reputable due to her status. Using her influence as one of the most influential recording artists of all time and since “leadership is noncoercive influence” (Northouse 4), in October 2018, Taylor Swift released a statement regarding the then upcoming midterm elections in Tennessee endorsing Phil Bredesen for the Senate and Jim Cooper for the House of Representatives. She stated, “In the past I’ve been reluctant to publicly voice my political opinions, but…I always have and always will cast my vote based on which candidate will protect and fight for the human rights I believe we all deserve in this country” (Swift). She chose to use her judgment to influence those that are registered voters in the state of Tennessee. It’s important to note that although she does not have any positional power in terms of politics, she received both positive feedback and negative backlash for using her influence as a celebrity to speak about her socio-political views. Swift further embodies the idea that “without influence, leadership does not exist” (Northouse 7).
Moreover, as an artist, within the music industry, Swift has demonstrated leadership by focusing directly on fellow artists. Considering that as an artist, Swift is known to stand for her fellow artists as well as understanding the importance of mentorship (Northouse 28), she made the decision to pull her entire catalog of music from Spotify in November 2014. She made the decision to do so in order to protest against the ad-funded free tier with the stance that music should not be free and instead, artists should be able to have the choice to release their music exclusively for the paid Premium tier of Spotify. In standing up against the inadequate compensation against artists, Swift depicts that she embodies traits of sincerity, kindness, and logic that drive her decision-making skills towards making such a bold move that was both preceded and followed by other artists making the same decision. Although in this instance, it was truly her traits that guided her leadership judgment, if we take the skills approach and apply it to this situation where the skills approach focuses on abilities than can be born and developed not those that are naturally embedded in an individual’s personality rather than the traits approach which are derived from personality (Northouse 28) and set benchmarks (Northouse 42), then it’s noticeable that she was able to take this decision given she’s a highly popular and talented artist.
While Swift’s success can be highly attributed to her technical skills in music, which are competencies in the specialized area of music (Northouse 57), her conceptual skills as well as her human skills are what sets her apart as a leader from other artists. Swift’s brand is to be true to herself and as genuine as possible so there’s a “girl next door” kind of relatability when it comes to her lyrics and her fans. However, she took that a step further by demonstrating her knowledge about and ability to work with people by directing her “energies toward individuals who are trying to achieve something together” (Northouse 7) and by taking “into account the purposes of everyone involved in the group and is attentive to the interests of the community and the culture” (Northouse 439). One case of when she took a step in a very representative direction for both her fans and constituents worldwide was when she decided to pursue a court case against an act of sexual assault committed against her and only sought out $1 in damages. It proved that the case was not about bankrupting another individual, rather it was about vindication an individual could get from reporting a case of sexual assault. Considering that over 67% of all cases of sexual assault go unreported, Swift’s pursual of the case shows other victims of sexual assault that it’s both okay and effective to report a perpetrator (RAINN).
Finally, Swift has been able to display authentic leadership led by firm morals and ethics, which has not only benefited her brand as a relatable individual but also benefited a large group of individuals both in the music industry and outside. Her “success” as an artist and a leader from these decisions comes from the pureness in her actions with a very clear goal. This sincere leadership style has also allowed her to develop a very devoted and cult-like fanbase. Further, Swift uses her problem solving skills, which are crucial competencies for leaders because they dictate how well complex issues can be solved by a leader’s judgment, and implements solutions to problems by influencing others to either follow suit or support her initiatives.
Works Cited
Northouse, Peter Guy. Leadership: Theory and Practice. SAGE, 2021.
“The Criminal Justice System: Statistics.” RAINN, https://www.rainn.org/statistics/criminal-justice-system.
Swift, Taylor [@taylorswift]. Photo of Taylor Swift. Instagram, 7 Oct. 2018, https://www.instagram.com/p/BopoXpYnCes/?hl=en.
