Taylor Swift Wrote An Op-Ed In The Wall Street Journal, And It's Filled With Fascinating Insights

Superstar singer Taylor Swift has just published an op-ed in the Wall Street Journal about the music industry in the era of social media. And though the idea of the Swift publishing something on the stodgy WSJ edit page is inherently amusing, it would be a mistake to just ignore it, because the piece is filled with fascinating insights.

For example, we didn't realize before that the celebrity autograph is all but dead:

I haven't been asked for an autograph since the invention of the iPhone with a front-facing camera. The only memento "kids these days" want is a selfie.

And people in entertainment are getting jobs because of their Twitter followings:

A friend of mine, who is an actress, told me that when the casting for her recent movie came down to two actresses, the casting director chose the actress with more Twitter followers.

And in fact, this is likely to be the future of all big deals:

In the future, artists will get record deals because they have fans-not the other way around.

Something that many people might not realize is that the notion of discreet genres is dead. Everything's mixing with everything:

Another theme I see fading into the gray is genre distinction. These days, nothing great you hear on the radio seems to come from just one musical influence.

And while album sales are going to be tough to come by in the future, there's still a huge opportunity in musicians who can form a relationship with fans:

I think forming a bond with fans in the future will come in the form of constantly providing them with the element of surprise. No, I did not say "shock"; I said "surprise." I believe couples can stay in love for decades if they just continue to surprise each other, so why can't this love affair exist between an artist and their fans?

Anyway, read the whole thing! There aren't many people with her perspective.