Taylor Swift unveils 1989 world tour, exits Spotify
There’s more and less of Taylor Swift in the news this week, with just-announced details of her 1989 world tour competing with word that Swift’s record label has pulled her music off Spotify for an indeterminate period.
Swift’s latest world tour will commence May 20 in Bossier City, La., continuing with 57 stops in arenas and stadiums across North America through Oct. 31, in the first leg of a broader tour. She has three Southern California dates scheduled so far, with shows on Aug. 25-26 at Staples Center in Los Angeles and Aug. 29 at Petco Park in San Diego.
Ultimately the 1989 tour is slated to take the pop-country star to eight countries on four continents, also including Europe, Australia and Asia. General ticket sales begin Nov. 14, while American Express cardholders will get early access to tickets starting Friday.
Her “1989” album was released on Oct. 27, and industry projections have it headed toward first week sales of more than 1.3 million copies, according to Billboard’s latest figures. That’s putting it within reach of Britney Spears’ 2000 album “Oops!…I Did It Again,” which sold 1.319 million, the highest first-week figure for an album by a woman.
It’s also vying to be the biggest first week for any album since Eminem’s “The Eminem Show” sold 1.322 million copies in 2002. Sales figures for the reporting period ending Sunday are expected to be released by Nielsen SoundScan on Wednesday morning.
Meanwhile, all of Swift’s albums have been removed from Spotify, as her label, Big Machine Records, reportedly is being put up for sale for an estimated $200 million, according to the New York Post.
Spotify reportedly was caught off guard by the move, which was delivered in a formal notice to the service’s officials late last week, BuzzFeed has reported.
Historically Swift’s new albums have not been available on streaming services immediately upon release. Big Machine founder Scott Borchetta has told The Times the revenue model is negligible for independent labels such as Big Machine, so the label has held back each of Swift’s hit albums from streaming services until the next new release surfaces.
For now, anyone searching Spotify for Swift’s music will find a playlist titled “What to Play While Taylor’s Away,” with tracks by Katy Perry, Demi Lovato and Jason Derulo, Ed Sheeran, Sam Hunt, One Direction, Hilary Duff and other youth-oriented pop and country acts.
Other services including Rhapsody, Pandora, iTunes and Google Play are still streaming Swift’s music, except for the new “1989” album.
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