Taylor Swift Economy: how the pop star queen of Milan moves millions of dollars

Taylor Swift , the latest global pop sensation, performs Saturday 13 and Sunday 14 July at Milan's San Siro Stadium, in a double date organised by D'Alessandro & Galli. Whether you like her music or not, you're going to have to deal with it because the Pennsylvania girl who has made Nashville her elective home is not only music, but economy of scale. With her, for example, we have all learnt what 'funflation' is: that entertainment-related inflation that drives up the prices of any good or service where the pop star performs. It is no coincidence that when his Eras Tour touched down in Argentina last year, there was a curious flow of migration from the US to Buenos Aires. Because Americans found it cheaper, wallet in hand, to go and see it in South America. In Great Britain, on the other hand, the Bank of England could postpone the rate cut initially planned between August and September. Reason: the ten dates in the UK last June gave inflation a big boost. For the use of those who chew more economics than music, let us try to explain it numbers in hand.

In dollars, the personal wealth accumulated by Taylor Swift in her 20-year career. A milestone cut very recently - in May this year - according to US analysts' projections, since only until last year her faculties were around 600 million dollars. Reason for the exploit? The worldwide success of the Eras Tour, which now makes a stop in Milan. It is a well-known fact that in the age of streaming and liquid music, it is live activity that makes the difference in artists' revenues.

In dollars, the estimated total revenue of the Eras Tour which started in the US in March last year and is about to close in Canada in December this year. Performance that will make it the highest-grossing tour ever. Merit for the 'funflation' that the girl - daughter of a former Merril Lynch stockbroker - helped to generate. A premise is in order. Funflation, in the extended sense, is at least as old as popular music. To say: The Beatles made the prices of Ring & David's boots skyrocket; Madonna and Michael Jackson's concerts, in their golden years, always had a strong impact on the prices of the venues where they were held. With Taylor Swift, but also with global K-pop phenomena such as BTS, however, we find a different kind of funflation than in the past, due to the different type of music enjoyment: from the traditional concept of fan we have moved on to that of 'superfan', a compulsive consumer not only of recordings and concerts but more generally of all products related to one's idols. Taylor Swift has the 'swifties', the BTS have the ARMY: we are not talking about simple fan clubs, but veritable global 'churches' dedicated to the cult of the pop star of reference, for whom the superfan is willing to make any sacrifice. Inevitably, the price curve, faced with such attitudes, responds sensitively.

In euros, the takings of the two Milan dates of the Eras Tour, obviously sold out within a handful of days of the start of pre-sales. Note well: a sell-out in a 60,000-seat venue moves something like 6.5 million. Of this figure, net of costs, more than 90 per cent goes to Taylor Swift's production, whose interests are protected by the American agency 13 Management, and the rest to the relevant promoter. No one in the world, with the exception of heavyweights, manages to extract such percentages from concert organisers. And Taylor Swift is a super heavyweight.

You don't throw anything away from a superstar. If the Eras Tour is the richest ever, why not also make a concert film? There you have it Taylor Swift: The Eras Tour, produced last year with a $15 million budget and grossing $260 million. Another $75 million came from the distribution deal on the Disney+ platform.