Trend Analysis
December 18, 2024
Sabrina Carpenter opens for Taylor Swift on the Eras Tour
“Should we get there in time to see the opener?” is the age-old question we ask ourselves when planning our concert attendance. But the more important question is how is the opener for a tour being chosen? We usually assume that it’s up to the label or the budget. However, a look at Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour reveals a different trend in tour openers that only Swift has the knack and fanbase for.
Depending on the size of an artist and the venue, there can either be one or multiple openers. Many large arena shows have two openers which is beneficial due to the underlying cost of operating such a large venue. By having fans in an arena for longer, more concessions are sold and the venue is more easily able to break even. In the purview of the record label, two opening acts increases exposure for more of their artists. When the audience discovers a new artist through an opener, it may result in increased streams and new concert attendees. Oftentimes, artists are given financial tour support by their label, which makes it lucrative for a label to promote two artists for the same tour if they are fronting costs for both artists.
That’s the norm, however a look at The Eras Tour blows this idea out of the water: Swift, who is signed to Republic Records under Universal Music Group, chose a selection of artists from various labels aside from her own. Swift's star power and eye for talent show how her openers were more likely chosen based on Swift’s own taste, rather than her label’s.
The Eras Tour holds the title for the highest grossing tour ever. Its global route and sold out stadiums brought in over $2 billion dollars over the course of 21 months. While Swift’s 3.5 hour performance is worthy of study in itself, the opening acts also reveal an interesting industry trend. In the Grammy nomination cycles that have coincided with the Eras tour, 25% of the nominees in the “Best New Artist” category have been Taylor Swift openers.
This includes Sabrina Carpenter, Raye, Gracie Abrams and Benson Boone. This is not the norm; other top grossing tours of 2023-2024, like Coldplay, P!nk and Olivia Rodrigo, only collectively resulted in one “Best New Artist Nominee” - Chappell Roan, who notably supported Rodrigo on a few of her US tour stops. One might assume that this is because Swift’s label has high Grammy-nominating power. However, all of these support artists are signed to different labels. Abrams is signed to Interscope (alongside Rodrigo), whereas Carpenter is signed to Island Records (alongside Roan). Neither Raye nor Benson Boone are signed to labels under Universal Music Group - Raye is with The Orchard, and Boone is signed to Warner Records. One may question why Carpenter went to Swift’s tour and Roan to Rodrigo’s. This is likely due to shared collaborators between these headliners and openers - Rodrigo and Roan both work with producer Dan Nigro, and Swift and Carpenter work with Jack Antonoff.
In addition, Carpenter had a larger audience than Roan at the time of booking, meaning she was a better fit for a stadium support slot over an arena one. However, when Gracie Abrams was announced as an Eras opener, she had just come off a headline tour where she played 1,200 person capacity venues, a comparable size to Chappell during Rodrigo’s tour.
We can attribute Olivia Rodrigo’s fewer Best New Artist nominees as openers in comparison to Swift as being due to her playing smaller venues – it’s less likely that an arena support would blow up enough in the months following a tour to achieve a Grammy nomination. However, when you look at one of the other major stadium tours of 2023-2024, Coldplay’s Music of the Spheres World Tour, it doesn’t hold up. Despite having played at the same sized venues as Swift and her supporting acts on the Eras Tour, there is not a single Best New Artist nominee that opened on the Coldplay tour.
This discrepancy leads us to understand that the extent of Swift's Best New Artist nominee support acts do not single handedly come from venue capacities, but also from other circumstances of her positioning in the industry. The direct correlation between Eras Tour openers and their respective Best New Artist Grammy nominations also come from Swift’s ability to choose artists with star power, an ability she has developed over numerous years in the industry.
With over a decade long career in the music industry, Swift has both the power to choose her openers regardless of label, and the knowledge to spot star power in upcoming artists. The unusually high number of Best New Artist nominees from Swift's Eras Tour could mean two things. Firstly, it could show that Swift has the ability to spot good artists. Armed with an extensive knowledge of songwriting and music, Swift chooses artists she believes have potential. With the large visibility that comes with opening for Taylor Swift, few artists would turn down an offer to join her on tour, which undoubtedly gives her leverage in choosing her openers. Even in past arena tours, Swift would choose artists who became Best New Artist nominees - Ed Sheeran opened for her on the Red Tour and was nominated for Best New Artist the following year.
Additionally, opening for Swift has historically come with mentorship for example Gracie Abrams, whose recent collaboration with Swift earned her a Grammy nomination for Best Pop Duo/Group Performance. This ties into the second reason for the large number of new successful artists coming out of The Eras Tour: visibility. Opening for Swift provides a massive opportunity to gain new listeners and fans. Even if a stadium is only 60% full when you play at an Eras stop, artists that grace the stage still play to thousands of audience members. This allows for a boost in recognition which can lead to an artist’s name to be thrown in the ring for Grammy nominations. These combined phenomena have led to an unusually large number of artists becoming “Best New Artist” nominees following a stint on The Eras Tour.
Whether it be for Swift's own ability to spot star talent, or her large fanbase that propels her openers into stardom, The Eras Tour holds a knack for choosing artists bound for Grammy nominations. From Gracie Abrams’ “That's So True” to Raye’s “Prada,” Swift's openers are dominating the global music sphere. The success of these openers answers the question - yes, you should arrive at the concert in time to see the opener.
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