Taylor Swift recently announced The Tortured Poets Department at the Grammys.
Set to be released on 19 April, Swift has already announced two variants of the album with different bonus tracks, without any pre-release single, echoing her previous Midnights albumrelease in 2022.
This also follows in the footsteps of Olivia Rodrigo, who recently released four different coloured variants of her GUTS album, featuring different bonus tracks on each one.
This extreme capitalisation of their music overshadows the artistry of two incredibly talented musicians.
Students’ take on album releases
Brig asked fellow students what they felt. One stated: “It’s hard being a student and having a limited budget to keep up with new releases. It gets harder to justify buying new vinyl just to have one or two different tracks.”
Another said: “The idea of the music machine churning out song after song for profits sets an extremely uncomfortable precedent for the music industry and capitalism’s inherent greed. It turns me away from trust and has me concerned for what a fan is to some stars.”
Students simply don’t have the money to invest in certain artists’ fandoms, as their music is locked away behind a paywall for a prolonged period.
Growing amount of album variants
For instance, Hits Different from Swift’s album Midnights was only released on limited edition CDs in certain shops on its 21 October 2022 release date, hitting streaming services over seven months later on 26 May 2023, meaning that some fans couldn’t engage with discussion over the track due to the inability to afford a physical copy of the album.
The Midnights album feels incomplete on physical formats.
The 3AM Edition of the album only exists on streaming platforms, and there are currently no known plans to release this on vinyl or CD meaning that fans are essentially paying for an incomplete product.
In addition, the often time-locked preorders for special editions preys on FOMO of young fans and convinces them to spend a significant amount in an instant, often an amount they can’t afford.
While Rodrigo did release an exclusive record store day EP with all of the bonus tracks included, these still have not been added to streaming services and no ‘complete’ version of the GUTS album is available.
The over-commercialisation of certain album releases has become a problem for student fans who just want to indulge in the discographies and fanbases of their favourite pop stars, without feeling excluded due to price.
feature image credit: pexels.com
He/Him
Arts Editor 24/25
Press email: arts@brignews.com
