Latest news with #ErasTour
New York Post
7 hours ago
- Sport
- New York Post
Patrick Mahomes makes bold Travis Kelce claim following Super Bowl dud as retirement rumors swirl
Patrick Mahomes sees a very different Travis Kelce at Chiefs camp as retirement rumors continue to swirl around the star tight end. Mahomes was asked about Kelce at Chiefs' OTAs on Friday and the possibility of it being his final season. But the former MVP doesn't see someone who looks like he is on his way out of the NFL. Advertisement Instead, he sees a Kelce who is more engaged than ever after a poor season by his standards that ended with a loss in Super Bowl 2025 to the Eagles. Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce (87) following the game against the Philadelphia Eagles in Super Bowl 2025. Mark J. Rebilas-Imagn Images 'If it's the last ride, you would never know,' Mahomes said. 'The way he's talking about football, the way he's talking about working and trying to be even better this year than he was last year, he doesn't seem like a guy like it's his last ride, like he's tired of the job.' Kelce, 35, is coming off a season in which he had 97 receptions for a career-low 823 yards and just three touchdowns – also the worst output of his career. Advertisement He wasn't much better in the playoffs, making just 13 catches for 175 yards, one touchdown and seven first downs, as the Chiefs failed to complete a historic three-peat. Kelce particularly struggled in Super Bowl 2025, with four catches for 39 yards. The underwhelming postseason raised questions about Kelce's future as he enters the final year of his two-year, $34 million contract. Advertisement Quarterback Patrick Mahomes #15 of the Kansas City Chiefs speaks to the media during the press conference interviews after the Kansas City Chiefs OTAs on May 29. Getty Images Mahomes sees Kelce and being motivated by last season's failures and preparing to redeem himself. 'He's in here, he's working. I know his body feels good,' Mahomes said. 'I think he feels better than last year before going into last season. I think he's motivated to go out there and have an even better year than he had this last.' Advertisement Kelce is coming off a relatively quiet offseason, after one filled with trips to girlfriend Taylor Swift's Eras Tour. The couple, which has engagement rumors swirling around them, stayed very much out of the public eye outside of a few date nights, including one recently in Florida. It will remain to be seen if Kelce's seeming heightened focus will lead to results on the field.
Daily Mail
8 hours ago
- Business
- Daily Mail
Taylor Swift PLC: How star's blockbuster Eras Tour, cool strategising and canny marketing nous paved the way for showbiz's most-stunning ever business deal
Six years ago, Taylor Swift was left nothing short of bereft after her former label sold 'her entire life's work' to music mogul Scooter Braun. What transpired was one of the nastiest feuds in music history involving Swift and Braun, who controversially acquired the rights to Taylor's material for $300million after buying Big Machine Media. He then went on to sell the catalogue of her first six albums to private equity firm Shamrock Capital for profit. But in a stunning moment of business brains versus Braun, Taylor has bought back 'her entire life's work' - largely thanks to her lucrative Eras tour last year, but also a string of other profitable ventures. The billionaire songstress, 35, could barely hold back her happiness as she announced yesterday 'all my music I've ever made now belongs to me' following an eye-watering buy-back deal thought to be in the hundreds of millions. Sources close to the negotiations told MailOnline the recent figure touted of 'between $600million-$1billion' was 'highly inaccurate' and is believed to be closer to the figure Shamrock originally paid, at around $360million. Taylor, who thanked Shamrock Capital for their 'honest, fair and respectful' way they handled the deal, said: 'I really felt like they saw it for what it was to me: My memories and my sweat and my handwriting and my decades of dreams.' She also joked: 'My first tattoo might just be a huge shamrock in the middle of my forehead.' The whopping sum represents a sizeable yet affordable chunk of the $1.6billion Taylor is said to have accumulated, according to Forbes. Last October, the outlet reported she is now the world's richest female music artist, having overtaken Rihanna, who owns the wildly-successful Fenty cosmetics and lingerie brand. So just how has the Love Story singer launched herself into the billion-dollar stratosphere? First and foremost, her record-breaking Eras tour became the highest-grossing tour of all time after passing a staggering $2billion in revenue. Comprising of distinct 'eras' based on her 10 studio albums, the singer committed herself to a three-hour-long, 40 song setlist for each show. Millions around the world - including A-listers, politicians and Royal Family members - flocked to see Taylor on a two-year tour that encompassed 149 shows. But while her jaw-dropping schedule would have been more than enough for most to contend with, Taylor additionally busied herself with other projects over those 24 months. The pop icon released re-recorded versions of Speak Now (July 2023) and 1989 (October) 2023 - announcing each release during tour dates, and accompanying them with music videos and never-before-heard songs. In February 2024 she shocked fans after announcing in her victory speech for Album Of The Year at the Grammys that she would be releasing yet another album, The Tortured Poets Department (TTPD). And that was not all: when TTPD was released last April, Taylor surprised Swifties by revealing it was a double album, meaning she effectively released the equivalent of four albums throughout the duration of the tour. Using her business nous to the max, Taylor further monetised the tour by releasing a film, which streamed on Disney+, and a book, published by her own company, documenting her record-breaking concerts. Secondly, her music catalogue itself has generated $600million in wealth for Taylor. The 14-time Grammy Award winner has been releasing music since she was 15 and has 11 original studio albums, including six that Braun had bought the rights to in 2019. Taylor, who branded the mogul a 'bully' for his tactics, claims she was unaware of his plan and alleged that when she previously approached Big Machine label head Scott Borchetta about buying her masters he would only sell them to her one at a time, starting from her earliest, least-profitable recordings. In exchange for the option to buy the masters back, Taylor claimed she would have to record a new album for the label in exchange for each old recording she bought, shackling her to Big Machine for years to come. The singer posted an emotional Tumblr at the time telling fans she made the 'excruciating choice to leave behind my past. Taylor surprised fans by releasing a staggering four albums while her Eras tour was running Now that her music is back under her control, Taylor's royalties and income from her music could skyrocket further 'Music I wrote on my bedroom floor and videos I dreamed up and paid for from the money I earned playing in bars, then clubs, then arenas, then stadiums.' She added: 'Never in my worst nightmares did I imagine the buyer would be Scooter. 'Any time Scott Borchetta has heard the words 'Scooter Braun' escape my lips, it was when I was either crying or trying not to. 'He knew what he was doing; they both did. Controlling a woman who didn't want to be associated with them. In perpetuity. That means forever.' She added that when she heard the news: 'All I could think about was the incessant, manipulative bullying I've received at his hands for years.' Taylor then listed a string of examples accusing Kim Kardashian and Kanye West – then Braun's client – of bullying. Shamrock acquired the master recordings to Taylor Swift, Fearless, Speak Now, Red, 1989 and Reputation – which Taylor has now regained ownership of. But prior to that she had begun a campaign to re-record her first six albums and has released the first four in recent years. Reputation (Taylor's Version) was heavily tipped to be her next release and the singer addressed the rumors in her open letter, saying it's the 'one album I thought couldn't be improved upon by redoing it' but teased she may still record another version, as well as offer up 'unreleased Vault tracks' from that album. Taylor says she has re-recorded the entirety of her debut self-titled album which, like Reputation, will 're-emerge when the time is right.' Now that her music is back under her control, Taylor's royalties and income from her music could skyrocket further. Last but not least, Taylor's third significant source of income is said to come from her impressive property portfolio, which Forbes estimates to be worth around £125million. The pop superstar first embarked on the property ladder in 2009 at the tender age of 19 when she snapped up with a three-bedroom penthouse in Nashville for $1.99m. Now Taylor boasts further homes in New York, California and Tennessee after opting for several stunning properties with fascinating histories. Most recently, the star revealed plans to expand her ocean-front estate in Rhode Island. After splashing out $17.75 million on the home in 2013, the Cruel Summer hitmaker plans to drop a further $1.7 million on a grand renovation. Elsewhere, new reports claim the singer is eyeing up property in Kansas City, Missouri, as Taylor allegedly looks into buying a home with NFL star boyfriend Travis Kelce. As for where Taylor's business acumen comes from, one does not have to look far to see where her natural nous comes from - with the singer heaping praise on her own parents for helping launch her to stardom. Her father Scott, 73, has played a key role in his daughter's business management team over the years. He is a longtime Merrill Lynch (a Bank of America company) employee, whose registered investment adviser The Swift Group is based in the family's hometown of Wyomissing, Pennsylvania. A disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission lists him as linked to 10 companies affiliated with his daughter, according to Bloomberg. This includes merchandising and rights-management businesses and entities that own her tour bus, two private jets and real estate. Meanwhile her mother Andrea, 73, is a former marketing executive described as 'calculated, logical, and business-minded'.
Irish Examiner
11 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Irish Examiner
‘Feels bigger than herself': the importance of Taylor Swift's latest victory
It goes without saying, but Taylor Swift has scored a lot of victories in the past few years. There was, first and foremost, the blockbuster Eras Tour, which became the bestselling concert tour of all time and a certifiable cultural era in itself. She released the bestselling concert film of all time, with a distribution model that upended the theatrical market. There was yet another album of the year Grammy. She turned the Super Bowl into the ultimate rom-com. Even with mediocre critical reviews, her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, set more streaming records than I can count. Read More Taylor Swift announces she has acquired the rights to all of her music All of these were beyond impressive, if at times threatening overexposure and annoyingly at odds with her self-styled narrative as an underdog – the emotionally astute lyricist battling against a sliding scale of villains, from careless boys, bitchy girls and heartbreak to gossip, criticism and misogynistic double standards. Often, the targets are petty; I never want to hear a Kim Kardashian reference again. But on Friday, with the announcement that she purchased the master recordings of her first six albums, Swift notched arguably the most significant victory of her career, over the one remaining foe worthy of her stature: the artist-devaluing practices of the music industry. For those who do not follow what has become canon in Swift's massive fandom, ownership of her masters has been the animating force behind the last six years of Swift's career, ever since Scooter Braun, most famous as the music manager behind Justin Bieber, purchased them from Swift's former label Big Machine Records for $300m in 2019. Like virtually all young artists, Swift had signed a deal that did not entitle her to ownership of her recordings, just royalties from their sales. The deal 'stripped me of my life's work', Swift wrote at the time, and left her catalog 'in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it'. (Braun used to manage longtime Swift antagonizer Kanye West.) Taylor Swift performs during her Eras Tour. Picture: Charles McQuillan/TAS24/Getty Images for TAS Rights Management For the following six years, even after Braun sold the catalog to private equity group Shamrock Capital for $360m, Swift re-recorded each album under the moniker 'Taylor's Version', a business masterstroke that at once devalued the originals, ginned up nostalgia and set the stage for the Eras Tour. The ownership of her master recordings, as well as her all her music videos, concert films, album art, photography and unreleased songs, is, in Swift's own words, deeply meaningful on a personal level. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she said in a handwritten letter posted on her website to announce the acquisition. 'All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy.' (Swift, the daughter of a Merrill Lynch stockbroker and forever a savvy dealmaker, also thanked Shamrock Capital for being 'the first people to ever offer this to me' and praised the private equity firm for being 'honest, fair, and respectful'.) But it is also a victory that, for once in this era, feels bigger than Swift herself. Swift owning her masters is a small step toward transparency and artistic integrity in the music industry, and one made possible by her immense wealth and power. The fact that we're even talking about ownership of master recordings, that millions of music listeners now question the business standard of recording industry contracts, is a testament to the power Swift can wield when she chooses a worthy target, even if that target often takes direct form in the figure of Braun (who, for what it's worth, said he's 'happy for her'.) 'I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,' Swift wrote. 'Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.' This is Swift in her best crusader mode – grounded in the work, clear-eyed on the stakes, speaking as a songwriter in perhaps the one arena where she remains an underdog with something to fight for. Though often overshadowed by gossip and her personal life, in ways both self-inflected and expected by a culture that loves to see women fail, her flexing of her exceptional clout over the music industry for artists rights is one of her most enduring fights. It dates back at least to an open letter to Apple Music withholding her album 1989 from the company's streaming service because it would not pay royalties to artists during the service's first three months. (Apple quickly caved.) Or her Billboard's Woman of the Year speech in 2014 in which she called for fairer compensation of writers, musicians and producers – a point she cited five years later when accepting Woman of the Decade in 2019, in a speech that is worth revisiting for the contrast between which fights resonate, and which rankle. Taylor Swift arrives on to the Aviva stage for the first of her three sold-out Dublin gigs as part of her Eras tour. Picture: Chani Anderson The part about adjusting her sound and image to appease critics? Flop, mild applause, one of many instances where Swift evinces a sensitivity to criticism and bone-deep desire for popularity that is so incongruous with her stature as arguably the most famous woman on the planet that I find it endearing, the most human element of her incomprehensible celebrity. The part where she bluntly calls out 'the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it is real estate, as if it's an app or a shoe line'? It's the most strident and fair she's ever sounded, and it holds up. Even if the purchase of her masters feels a bit like settling out of court before the full trial – the re-record project remains unfinished – this is the win that could have the most salient downstream effect for both artists and people who appreciate music. Similar to how her criticism of Ticketmaster, and fan frustration over the experience of buying tickets for the Eras Tour, led to efforts to reform ticket transparency and break up the Live Nation monopoly, this is power appropriately applied upward. 'Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion,' she wrote to her fans. 'You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.' Swiftie or no, this is a Swift victory worth cheering for. - The Guardian Read More Aviva stadium company enjoys Taylor Swift and Pink dividend as operating profits increase to €7m
The Guardian
12 hours ago
- Business
- The Guardian
‘Feels bigger than herself': the importance of Taylor Swift's latest victory
It goes without saying, but Taylor Swift has scored a lot of victories in the past few years. There was, first and foremost, the blockbuster Eras Tour, which became the bestselling concert tour of all time and a certifiable cultural era in itself. She released the bestselling concert film of all time, with a distribution model that upended the theatrical market. There was yet another album of the year Grammy. She turned the Super Bowl into the ultimate rom-com. Even with mediocre critical reviews, her most recent album, The Tortured Poets Department, set more streaming records than I can count. All of these were beyond impressive, if at times threatening overexposure and annoyingly at odds with her self-styled narrative as an underdog – the emotionally astute lyricist battling against a sliding scale of villains, from careless boys, bitchy girls and heartbreak to gossip, criticism and misogynistic double standards. Often, the targets are petty; I never want to hear a Kim Kardashian reference again. But on Friday, with the announcement that she purchased the master recordings of her first six albums, Swift notched arguably the most significant victory of her career, over the one remaining foe worthy of her stature: the artist-devaluing practices of the music industry. For those who do not follow what has become canon in Swift's massive fandom, ownership of her masters has been the animating force behind the last six years of Swift's career, ever since Scooter Braun, most famous as the music manager behind Justin Bieber, purchased them from Swift's former label Big Machine Records for $300m in 2019. Like virtually all young artists, Swift had signed a deal that did not entitle her to ownership of her recordings, just royalties from their sales. The deal 'stripped me of my life's work', Swift wrote at the time, and left her catalog 'in the hands of someone who tried to dismantle it'. (Braun used to manage longtime Swift antagonizer Kanye West.) For the following six years, even after Braun sold the catalog to private equity group Shamrock Capital for $360m, Swift re-recorded each album under the moniker 'Taylor's Version', a business masterstroke that at once devalued the originals, ginned up nostalgia and set the stage for the Eras Tour. The ownership of her master recordings, as well as her all her music videos, concert films, album art, photography and unreleased songs, is, in Swift's own words, deeply meaningful on a personal level. 'To say this is my greatest dream come true is actually being pretty reserved about it,' she said in a handwritten letter posted on her website to announce the acquisition. 'All I've ever wanted was the opportunity to work hard enough to be able to one day purchase my music outright with no strings attached, no partnership, with full autonomy.' (Swift, the daughter of a Merrill Lynch stockbroker and forever a savvy dealmaker, also thanked Shamrock Capital for being 'the first people to ever offer this to me' and praised the private equity firm for being 'honest, fair, and respectful'.) But it is also a victory that, for once in this era, feels bigger than Swift herself. Swift owning her masters is a small step toward transparency and artistic integrity in the music industry, and one made possible by her immense wealth and power. The fact that we're even talking about ownership of master recordings, that millions of music listeners now question the business standard of recording industry contracts, is a testament to the power Swift can wield when she chooses a worthy target, even if that target often takes direct form in the figure of Braun (who, for what it's worth, said he's 'happy for her'.) 'I'm extremely heartened by the conversations this saga has reignited within my industry among artists and fans,' Swift wrote. 'Every time a new artist tells me they negotiated to own their master recordings in their record contract because of this fight, I'm reminded of how important it was for all of this to happen.' This is Swift in her best crusader mode – grounded in the work, clear-eyed on the stakes, speaking as a songwriter in perhaps the one arena where she remains an underdog with something to fight for. Though often overshadowed by gossip and her personal life, in ways both self-inflected and expected by a culture that loves to see women fail, her flexing of her exceptional clout over the music industry for artists rights is one of her most enduring fights. It dates back at least to an open letter to Apple Music withholding her album 1989 from the company's streaming service because it would not pay royalties to artists during the service's first three months. (Apple quickly caved.) Or her Billboard's Woman of the Year speech in 2014 in which she called for fairer compensation of writers, musicians and producers – a point she cited five years later when accepting Woman of the Decade in 2019, in a speech that is worth revisiting for the contrast between which fights resonate, and which rankle. The part about adjusting her sound and image to appease critics? Flop, mild applause, one of many instances where Swift evinces a sensitivity to criticism and bone-deep desire for popularity that is so incongruous with her stature as arguably the most famous woman on the planet that I find it endearing, the most human element of her incomprehensible celebrity. The part where she bluntly calls out 'the unregulated world of private equity coming in and buying up our music as if it is real estate, as if it's an app or a shoe line'? It's the most strident and fair she's ever sounded, and it holds up. Even if the purchase of her masters feels a bit like settling out of court before the full trial – the re-record project remains unfinished – this is the win that could have the most salient downstream effect for both artists and people who appreciate music. Similar to how her criticism of Ticketmaster, and fan frustration over the experience of buying tickets for the Eras Tour, led to efforts to reform ticket transparency and break up the Live Nation monopoly, this is power appropriately applied upward. 'Thank you for being curious about something that used to be thought of as too industry-centric for broad discussion,' she wrote to her fans. 'You'll never know how much it means to me that you cared. Every single bit of it counted and ended us up here.' Swiftie or no, this is a Swift victory worth cheering for.
Yahoo
17 hours ago
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Taylor Swift Fans Think Something Big is Coming Amid Friday's Major Announcement
Taylor Swift Fans Think Something Big is Coming Amid Friday's Major Announcement originally appeared on Athlon Sports. Kansas City Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce and 14-time Grammy winner Taylor Swift have been dating for almost two years. Despite all the attention surrounding them, both have continued to stay focused on their careers. With Kelce heading into his 13th NFL season, Swift has been taking some time off after wrapping up her The Eras Tour in December. Meanwhile, all eyes were on Swift on Friday after she made a major announcement on social media, revealing that she now officially owns all of her masters and music. This is something the 35-year-old has worked toward for a long time, and it finally became a reality after she bought the albums back. Swift fans were already filled with excitement, but things reached another level later on Friday. IMAX, the theatrical distribution platform, posted a photo of beads styled like Swift's iconic friendship bracelets, spelling out "IMAX 🩵 TS." Swift fans flooded the replies, convinced that something big is coming. Some guessed it could be another documentary from her recent tour or another surprise project. While it's possible the post was simply celebrating her reclaiming her music, most fans think there's more to it. "ohhhh is something coming??" a fan said. "So a rerelease of Eras Tour in theaters or….," another wrote. "You announcing something?" added another. "EXCUSE ME WHAT??" one wrote. "UMMMMM WHAT IS THISSSSS??!!" a fan added. "IF THIS IS FOR A DOCUMENTARY, PLEASE I BEG YOU I CAN TRAVEL TO THE US ANYTIME," said a fan. Swift has released documentaries for her tours before. She put out one for The Eras Tour in October 2023, followed by an extended version of it in March 2024. There could be another film coming, maybe about The Eras Tour or something new entirely. Only time will story was originally reported by Athlon Sports on May 30, 2025, where it first appeared.
