...ugh, now this is the sort of messy conversation that's probably worth having, because it's not like Zola Jesus is precisely wrong, but this is one of those cases that are layered and complicated (short thread ahead...)

Because on the one hand, she's right: Taylor Swift 'playing' indie singer-songwriter as a multi-millionaire with the most obvious whitebread collabs (shut up, you know I'm right here) while making bank off of it is infuriating to indie musicians who couldn't tour/record in 2020.

Especially when she has the marketing/promotion force of a label behind her and it's not like Universal 'needs' Taylor to release new music to keep the lights on, esp. co-opting the iconography of 'indie' music.

But I have quibbles here...

1. Not sure how much anyone in the know BUYS that Taylor Swift is adopting indie folk as more than an aesthetic, and it's a dated aesthetic too - Taylor's tones sound like the 'indie records much cooler than mine' that she was bashing in 2012... because they sound out of 2012.

It's not like the music press bought into Swift going indie - pretty much everyone saw through it, and it's likely why she didn't get the universal annals her team might have assumed they would have.

2. I sympathize with getting angry at artists, but Universal are the ones playing this game. And they've been playing it since punk got co-opted in the 70s. It seems counterproductive to target Swift, esp. as with her style there's a 'rising tide lifts all ships' in streaming.

(yes, that's not much consolation because streaming pays like shit, but again, that's not Taylor Swift's fault, that's the fault of Spotify - hell, it's one of the big reasons SHE fought against them for so long)

3. There are folks who are not Taylor who she is supporting here - her crew, her live team, her backing band, all of whom are probably getting pennies from the label and who are likely the size of a small army. The Swift 'industry' is a thing, and SHE keeps the lights on.

It's in Swift's best interest to ensure these people remain employed and with her, so I can bet these albums are less financing her - esp. with her paying out of pocket to rerecord her old albums - and more her crew. Not ideal, but likely.

In all of these cases above, Swift is neither victim nor really a villain unless you want her to be - these are just rotten, pernicious corporate systems around her exploiting artists and an ignorant populace.

It sucks. But there are ways to challenge and change it.

Bandcamp. Buy music directly from the artists. Buy merch from indie acts you support. Dump Spotify. Contribute to the live performance venues you want to survive the end of lockdown. Dump Spotify.

And again, dump spotify.

PS: if there's a conversation music critics should have, it's how the 'indie' aesthetic became so thoroughly commodified in the 2010s. @ShadowTodd called this out as early as 2017 with this video, which remains one of the best things he's ever done: