Overview
Steptoe partner Pantelis Michalopoulos and associate Weisiyu Jiang authored an article titled “Monopolizing Vengeance: Does Taylor Swift Have Market Power?” which appeared in Law.com. To answer the question, the authors analyze the market for revenge. Spoiler alert: they conclude that the answer is no.
While Ms. Swift is seen by some as “the queen of revenge,” she doesn’t monopolize the genre: “The market for revenge songs is fiercely competitive, replenished daily by new grievances and ex-lovers.” There may be only three or four archetypical tales of vengeance – from the Iliad to The Count of Monte Cristo to Cousin Bette; but there are countless ways of telling them. The article does humbly recommend that Ms. Swift consider diversifying beyond the revenge genre, even as she is safe from antitrust exposure in that genre.
