On the surface, it would be hard to see any parallels between Rolling Stones singer Mick Jagger, 80, and Taylor Swift, 33, aside from the fact that both are mega stars who send people into a frenzy when they walk into a room. But in a new interview with the Wall Street Journal (pay-walled), the Rock and Roll Hall of Famer revealed that he feels a certain kinship with the “Anti-Hero” singer when it comes to the business of show.
London School of Economics dropout Jagger — who said he began looking after the Stones’ business affairs decades ago as an “act of self-preservation” because, as he said, “If you don’t do it, you get f–ked” — told the WSJ that he’s proud to have paved the way for artists such as Swift to pull off huge arena and stadium tours.
“One of the things I’m really proud of, with the Stones, is that we pioneered arena tours, with their own stage, with their own sound and everything, and we also did the same with stadiums,” Jagger said. “I mean, nobody did a tour of stadiums.” In addition, Jagger said that the Stones’ decision to form their own eponymous label in 1970 — with initial distribution though Atlantic Records — was an effort to take control of their rights that also has echoes in Swift’s career.
“The industry was so nascent, it didn’t have the support and the amount of people that are on tap to be able to advise you as they do now,” Jagger said of his band’s move toward more autonomy more than 50 years ago. “But you know, it still happens. I mean, look what happened to Taylor Swift! I don’t really know the ins and outs of it, but she obviously wasn’t happy.”
Jagger appeared to be referencing Swift’s plan to re-record her first six albums in (Taylor’s Version) formats following a dispute with her former label, Big Machine Records, after it sold the rights to those LPs to nemesis Scooter Braun; to date Swift has released re-recorded versions of Fearless, Red and Speak Now, with the 1989 Version slated to drop on Oct. 27.
The Stones are gearing up to release their first new studio album in 18 years, Hackney Diamonds (Oct. 20) and while the legendarily hard-touring band have yet to announce dates for an accompanying tour, Jagger said he’s not sure what it will look like when the octogenarian legends finally retire from the road.
“You can have a posthumous business now, can’t you? You can have a posthumous tour,” he said of the possibility of a virtual Stones tour in the future that will not require their physical bodies. “The technology has really moved on since the ABBA thing [the pop group’s recent “Voyage” virtual show], which I was supposed to go to, but I missed it.”
