The Power of Swiftonomics: How Does Music Impact the Economy?

With Taylor Swift’s The Eras Tour coming to a close on December 8th, this is the perfect time to look back at the undeniable influence this world tour has had culturally and economically.

Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour touched down in the UK in June 2024 for 17 sold out UK stadium shows, including an eight-night run at Wembley, generating £300m for the capital alone. The tour has taken concert tourism and music festival marketing to new heights with brands, big and small, and across industries jumping onto the Swiftie-Train:

London pulled out all the stops to celebrate Swift’s 8-show-run at Wembley —the most concerts played in one city on The Eras Tour—, with the Mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, kicking off the shows in London with an Instagram post to showcase the new art additions made to Wembley Park.

During the first US leg of the Eras Tour, world leaders quickly realised the impact this event has on the local economy: For Singapore’s Prime Minister the prospect was worth millions of dollars in subsidies to concert organisers to ensure Singapore (apart from Tokyo) would be the only stop of the tour in Asia. While this caused discontent among neighbouring countries, it also caused flight-loads of fans from other Asian countries to touch down in Singapore for the 6-night run of The Eras Tour.

In the original international tour date announcement, Canada was left off the list entirely, prompting Prime Minister Justin Trudeau to approach Taylor directly via X (formerly Twitter) to coax her to add a Canadian leg to The Eras Tour: “It’s me, hi. I know places in Canada would love to have you. So, don’t make it another cruel summer. We hope to see you soon.”

The music industry undoubtedly contributes significantly to the UK economy, having generated £300m for London alone. But the impact extends far beyond ticket sales. Take Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour in Liverpool, for example. While themed activities added excitement for fans attending the concert, the city’s strategic planning yielded a much broader economic benefit. Typically, secondary spend —money spent by gig-goers on hotels, restaurants, and transportation— makes up around 70% of revenue for smaller music venues. Large-scale events take the impact secondary spending has on the local economy to a whole new level.

When the Taylor Swift tour dates were announced, searches for hotels in Liverpool on Booking.com soared by a staggering 6,000%. This surge in demand created a temporary boost for the hospitality sector, not just in Liverpool, but across all cities on the Swift’s Eras Tour UK route.

Besides attracting large numbers of concert goers to these cities, marketing themselves as ‘Taylor-Town’ provides an overall boost to the local tourist industry, as it entices visitors beyond the concert to visit, for example, those who were unable to score Eras Tour tickets. Activities such as those displayed in Liverpool can still offer them a fun day out, celebrating their favourite artist as well as bonding experiences with other fans – which is becoming an increasingly important aspect for concert goers.

The impact on the local economy goes even deeper. Local artists gained a unique platform to showcase their work in the themed installations. Research from Barclays has estimated that the Eras Tour provided a £997 million boost to the UK economy.

Collaborating with local businesses, similar to how the city of Liverpool collaborated with local artists, will appeal to concert and festival attendees across the Channel in Germany as well. Over half of German festival goers think local independent brands and services should sponsor major music concerts and festivals more. This reflects the increased focus on local consumption in Germany overall.

So far, this impact on different levels of the local economy that Swift’s tour had remains unprecedented. Looking ahead, it will be interesting to see whether we’ll be able to observe a similar impact by other global artists, for example, for Oasis’ UK Tour next summer.

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For a broader look at the live music and events industry and how it is evolving, read our Opportunities in the Live Music Industry as Music Lovers Enter Their Concert Era article.