The Successful Strategy Behind ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version)’

The marketing success of Taylor Swift releasing her first re-recorded album and why her future re-recorded albums are likely to repeat this success.

Taylor Swift recently released her first re-recorded album: ‘Fearless (Taylor’s Version),’ returning to the No. 1 spot on country sales charts. Many people are surprised by the chart-topping status of the project after projecting that re-recording her albums would not be a successful project.

This new release is a great method for Taylor to reach an even larger audience than she has recently, now having released a pop album, 2 indie albums, and a country album in the span of two years. It brings nostalgia to those who grew up listening to ‘Fearless’ upon its release thirteen years ago and brings her newer and younger fans the opportunity to experience her older music for the first time. She breaks away from her current image for a bit to bring her audience back to her country music roots, gaining back listeners who may have preferred “country Taylor” to her more pop and indie recent self.

It’s interesting to note that Taylor did not release the first album she created as her first re-recording. She’s releasing all of the albums in a different order, ‘Fearless’ being her second album and ‘1989’ (the hinted next album) being her fifth album. This was a strategic move, as ‘Fearless’ was a highly successful album with many hit singles and an Album of the Year win. Starting with a bang will encourage her audience to stick with her throughout the release of her other re-recorded albums.

The strategy of releasing ‘From the Vault’ songs - songs that were never released on the album - only adds to the success of the re-recordings. It entices people who may not be interested in hearing the same songs from 2008 over again into listening, curious about whether they will discover a new fan-favorite like ‘Love Story.’ ‘You All Over Me’ is a great example - topping the country charts in the past couple of weeks since it’s been released as a single.

Ultimately, Taylor and her team just really know their consumer base. Her decades of success and the many times she’s rebranded to appeal to her audience and the pace of the music industry predicts that the rest of her re-recordings have a bright future.