Taylor Swift .Generous donations for the UK food banks

[Moier]

I don't know anything about Taylor Swift.. couldn't name any of her songs.
But I've just read she's donated enough money to every food bank in every city she's played to last a year.

Springsteen donates a lot to food banks

Weirdly, I've never seen it used as a reason to slag him off.

That's probably because nobody is going on about them like they do with TS. 😵‍💫

Even more oddly, it's not often used as a reason to say how he's so much more generous than other artists.

Tell you what then
Next time you want to go see a band, a play, a movie - whatever you are into then just don't go and donate thd cost to charity.

She is a billionaire, but she will donate more to charity than I will ever earn in a lifetime. I don't really care if it's a tax write-off or a PR stunt - she has been charitable giving to very different, specific causes throughout her career and there is a long list of individuals out there who've had their lives changed by her paying for college tuition- I remember her buying one fan a house. She has invited fans she hand picked online into her house to listen to new albums and bought Christmas presents. People tell the papers or post online about it themselves. I'm not saying she's a saint, and I'm not saying she never does a canny PR move (like trying to offset the carbon emissions) but a lot of people move through this world with a lot of money who don't do any of this, and I think regardless of whether it's PR or not, she sets a good example and money goes to people who need it.

Also tour ticket prices: the prices differ by country and then the venue and the ticket selling sites put a load of top, depending on what ticket you are buying. Every show is absolutely massive for the venue, but also her tour crew is HUGE, seriously huge. It's a massive custom built stage with multiple moving parts and built in screens that also needs to be able to travel, for a start, so the actual ground crew costs must be massive. Then she has a huge amount of dancers, with different costumes and set pieces... honestly, I see gig tickets for the same price as taylor swift where it's just a band on stage for 2.5 hours - which is still great, but the complaints that the tickets are overpriced are coming from people who havnt done any research into the current state of gig ticket sales globally, or people who have no idea what the Eras tour actually entails, or people who just love to jump on the 'let's shit on taylor swift' bandwagon which is... yes, exactly what the media guide you to do because it sells newspapers.
Have legitimate criticisms about her carbon footprint or the ethics of being a billionaire? Absolutely. I totally understand that and would agree with you on many points. But some of the comments do make me wonder if people do even the slightest amount of research before opening their mouths any more.

Of course it is a tax write off.
Off course she has made billions
Of course it's a PR exercise.
But
Many, many families will benefit from this gesture.
The real issue as,mentioned, is the fact that we need food banks in 2024!

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@Kartoffel54321 that's probably true. I don't think it's a reason to criticise her for the donation though.

Or you could look at it another way… they probably feel lucky to be employed by her as they will benefit from working with her more than other artists. Not only in the bonuses, but having such an iconic tour on their cv will lead to more work. They probably enjoy being part of it and are paid well.

Why do they need a bigger share of her profits? They are already working for the world’s number 1 artist at the top of her game. I’m sure they’re all very happy and would be appalled by your attitude tearing down their boss.

Taylor has a massively beneficial impact on local economies and communities, entertainment industry staff. You are the problem, not her. You think you’re being kind fighting for social justice, but you’re actually being really mean to an hard working, successful woman and it’s unnecessary.

Considering that she doesn't have to give anything above what they've agreed to work for, yes, it does.

I'm not criticising, just pointing out the reality of the situation.

I'd have more respect for her if she used her platform to tell Western governments that they needed to tax the shit out of billionaires like her.

You could take £2bn from her from this tour alone and she'd still have £2bn left.

Stop fawning over her. Don't we little people just love the scraps from the big table? If the likes of Taylor Swift were taxed properly, there wouldn't be food banks. Thanking her for donating is engaging in Stockholm syndrome.

Actually the £4.1bn is indeed her take home pay, after deductions. Forbes estimate that's 85% of all profits.

It's actually not that generous, but it's good PR.

@TwigTheWonderKid That bonus represents 0.0025 % of her earning from the tour.
**
Does it still look generous?”

Would you prefer that she didn’t donate?

If the tickets are sold out they aren't over priced. That's capitalism basics.

People seem to be forgetting that pennies to her is enough to make a massive difference to thousands of families. No idea why she gets so much vitriol, it's ridiculous. The question should be why more big stars don't do this. If every sell out arena tour donated a similar amount to foodbanks they wouldn't ever need to fundraise again

The existence of billionaires is obscene in itself.

But Taylor has made that money herself, from her songwriting, because people love what she has to offer.

Other mega-wealthy people, few of whom make their fortune from hard work, find ways to avoid tax that involve offshore accounts and funnelleling away of money where no one can touch it. So if Taylor chooses to write off tax while also feeding several cities' worth of hungry people then isn't that just a little bit better?

Her tickets aren't massively expensive if you manage to buy them in the first instance - where it's Ticketmaster bumping up the cost through its own fees and profiting hugely from the demand for Swift tickets - the costs become astronomical in the secondary market where it's touts and resellers profiting from wildly inflated prices.

The Eras show is boosting the economy everywhere she takes it. She's doing more than a lot of governments - certainly ours! - to directly benefit people.

And she's making incredible, vast, dizzying amounts of money - sure. And I'm horrified by anyone holding so much wealth. But as far as billionaires go, I think she's doing more good than most. And people love her, and love her music and I love to see art generating so much wealth and so much joy when the arts are diminished and reviled all the time.

TLDR: she's better than all the murky hedge fund billionaires squirreling away their fortunes from tax and charity and doing nothing to improve anyone's lives.

Oh and another point: annoys me people going 'ugh she's so over exposed, people keep banging on about her, why do we hear about it'

She has a massive fanbase who like to talk about her. Also, people talk in general. This weird thing where people almost imply that she's the problem when... its other people who are doing the talking...... how exactly is that her fault?

I could go into how the media profits by generating hype, overexposing someone and then producing a backlash to make money, but honestly if people don't understand how this works yet I absolutely despair. It's so obvious, it's done right under our noses, over and over again (largely to women) and yet people still fall for it....

The local press did pick this up and the food bank said they were asked not to disclose the amount received but they are so very grateful. It's a great thing she has done for the city, better than the feckless council.

I interpret that as she wanted the amount to be kept private as it's no one else's business. I agree and believe charitable donations should be private. Shame it will be criticised.

Please also remember the revenue the tour has brought to this country. Hotels, restaurants etc have all benefited at a time they need it!

Please also remember the people removed from temporary accommodation in Edinburgh solely to provide more space for TS fans/tourists.
https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/articles/cd11em0e5e6o

You mean the homeless people who were taxied to hotels in other cities because the hotels were fully booked? None of whom were removed from accommodation they were actually staying in? This happens in lots of places when there's big events on but let's not let facts get in the way of bit of Taylor bashing...

It's not bashing to point out facts.
They had access to normal temporary hotel accommodation removed due to TS tourism.
You think it's ok to ferry actual homeless people to Newcastle from Edinburgh?

I think Springsteen quietly gives a lot to DV charities. But yes I agree with your general point - she is a good'un for doing this.

What facts? You said people were removed from temporary accommodation to make way for fans which is not accurate. The hotels that are sometimes used for accommodation were full so those needing temporary accommodation were transported to hotels with spaces in other areas.

Of course it's ok to transfer people to hotels further away with spaces. The hotels are businesses first and foremost.

Edited as you added extra after posting