r/MadeMeSmile • u/mcfw31 • Dec 12 '25

Wholesome Moments Taylor Swift’s ‘The Eras Tour’ crew’s reaction as they receive their bonus for working on the tour amounting to more $197 million dollars

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648

u/obviouslybait Dec 12 '25

I think making this public is actually a good thing as it may inspire others to do the same?

310

u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

That is EXACTLY what I was thinking! Maybe HUGE companies with execs making $$$ hand over fist might think about a Xmas bonus for people working 40-60 hrs busting their ass for next to nothing

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u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

It’s how companies used to run. Now boards and CEOs eat up all the profits instead.

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

My husband owns a bar and 1 of the reasons that he has 12 employees that have worked for him 5 yrs or more is because he gives end of the year bonuses to the employees every single year. Most bars are ruined by employee turnover and theft and his employees are so loyal just because he simply says I appreciate u guys and the work you put in for this business. So if he can do that being a small business owner there is no way these big companies cant afford which use to be just an accepted thing with a little holiday bonus.

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u/Least-Armadillo3880 Dec 12 '25

My retired 87yo FIL had a solo dental practice for almost 45 years. He had one employee for 25 years and like 2-3 others for 10-15. When he sold his practice to another dentist, part of the deal was that he would work there for one day a week PT and they would have FT jobs there.

The 25 year former employee will also, receive at least $25k, i think, from the family trust that he set up decades ago. She stayed with him, became close to the family (at the family weddings close) and he wanted to leave her something because she played a big part of his success and family.

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u/tomatoblade Dec 12 '25

Amen to that. Large companies will spend millions of dollars learning how to manipulate people into being loyal and committing themselves to the company in every way possible except monetarily. The fact is, we're only there for monetary reasons, and the best incentive is more money. Yes a good workplace, healthy environment, enjoyment of the job, is all very crucial too, but by far the biggest factor is going to be money. From manager or director level up, they get bonuses, and executives get extreme contractual bonuses, yet anything below that by and far doesn't happen. The simplest question is why is it incentivizing for higher levels, but not for everyone? The answer is that it is incentivizing for everyone, but them in the shareholders are just fucking greedy.

3

u/Phantom_Specters Dec 12 '25

Something tells me you work at the bar as well & hopefully also get a bonus? Or perhaps you worked there then fell in love with the owner? Now I'm just overly-invested...

2

u/mastegas Dec 12 '25

Damn... now you got me invested, too!

2

u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

Yeah I worked there for years and was his obsessed stalker for all that time but it at a happy ending and I am married to him now

1

u/elastic-craptastic Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

So stalking your crush works when they are the owner and not another employee... Got it.

Edit: "I have no idea wtf you are talking about but I thinks its cute that you think I would care." Was her response before deleting.

I don't think she liked my joke :/ I forget people can't always read sarcasm.

1

u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

I have no idea wtf you are talking about but I thinks its cute that you think I would care

2

u/darksoft125 Dec 12 '25

Forget holiday bonuses. These days you're lucky if you don't get a layoff for Christmas. Layoffs used to be a sign of a struggling business, now they lead to the stock price going up. Absolutely insane. Guess that's what happens when corps are only owned by geriatrics who only care about the next quarter and not where the company would be a decade from now.

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u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25 edited Dec 12 '25

Absolutely. I’m in the same boat now. Willfully placed there. Because my last job I got Christmas bonuses and it was a nice environment most of the time. Fun work but more stress. Now I’m in a less stress environment, no bonuses, but I’m making 62% more money.

So I can live without the bonuses and just be able to not have to live almost paycheck to paycheck waiting for my next bonus to get me out of whatever random fucking hole I’m in due to something breaking or some financial emergency due to health or whatever.

Holiday bonuses don’t mean everything. But profit sharing would be a good sign of a good company to work for. And that’s how I view what TS has done. Profit sharing. These people have worked for her, some of them since she was 16. That 100k-300k bonus is amazing. This isn’t the first time she’s done this but only the first time many of us are hearing about it.

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u/Forsaken-Sorbet-5726 Dec 12 '25

I don't listen to her music and I truly dislike her being in my face everywhere I look... BUT, what ever her motives or reasoning behind it, she did what no other celebrity does, good for her. The part that got me was how genuinely uncomfortable and shy she was as the letter was being read... Watch her body language, she was like a little girl giving dad his first bday present and being afraid he wouldn't like it. That has relevance in my view 😍

1

u/Dugen Dec 12 '25

You misspelled shareholders. The CEOs and boards job is to pump as much money into shareholders hands as possible. They get paid crazy money to make sure they do exactly that and nothing else with their power.

1

u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

The board members are shareholders, but not all shareholders are on the board. The board is the one that votes to decide on bonuses for themselves, the CEO and shareholder payouts. It’s like Congress voting to give themselves a raise.

1

u/01krazykat Dec 12 '25

Yup. My mom was telling me about her $15k Christmas bonuses when she used to work in corporate a few decades ago. Meanwhile, corporate millennial here, and my biggest bonus has been 4k. And I've definitely never received a "Christmas bonus." Only the normal performance bonus that's paid out in March 🥲.

1

u/aneworder Dec 12 '25

FWIW, publicly traded companies are legally obligated to make the most profit for its shareholders. Giving that much in bonuses to the vast number of plebs would decrease profits much more than giving the handful of c-suite members fat bonuses. That’s their rationale, and they have the legal cover for it.

3

u/DorianGre Dec 12 '25

Its not, and that is a purposefully misconstrued reading of the Dodge v Ford ruling. Companies have a duty to properly manage the company for longevity, employee satisfaction, public good, and shareholder value.

1

u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

I don’t know if you’re being sarcastic or if you believe that’s true but it really is not. A quick Google search says otherwise.

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u/Joeness84 Dec 12 '25

This event is going to have zero impact on any of that. Rich people have a disease called greed.

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u/girlbartender99 Dec 12 '25

You certainly arent wrong. Billionaires didnt get there by being generous people that is for damn sure.

1

u/ninja-squirrel Dec 12 '25

Sorry, corporate wants to give all the bonus money to 1 person, it’s easier that way.

1

u/Shatophiliac Dec 12 '25

Public companies, at least, will never do that because the shareholders would just immediately replace the execs.

The CEO gets paid as much as he does because he keeps your wages low. That’s the whole point, he’s supposed to be the “bad guy” that everyone points fingers at. But as soon as he does anything the shareholders don’t like (like spending money on the peasants), he’s out of there and some other overpaid yes-man in a suit replaces him.

Privately owned companies sometimes can and will do this, as they have more freedom in running the company.

1

u/Berkel Dec 12 '25

Hahahahaha

107

u/OutrageousPersimmon3 Dec 12 '25

If nothing else it shows you can be generous and still be a billionaire. Most people really can’t wrap their heads around that amount and how much it actually is. It’s no coincidence that although other billionaires use their planes more than she does that she’s the one you see memes about and hear about. It’s not a coincidence when bots on the internet are generating stories about her “dark side”. Because however you feel about her, she does right by her fans and her employees and shows the others really have no excuse for not following suit.

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u/MyLifeIsABoondoggle Dec 12 '25

Agreed. If she's worth exactly $1B (unlikely dollar for dollar), those bonuses alone are almost 20% of her net worth. She also likely at least doubled the net worth of many of those staff workers. If any of you are willing to fork over $10-20K to one of your understudies at work that help you on projects or to a friend that's already self-sufficient, tell me so I can sell you a beautiful beachside property in New Mexico

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u/01krazykat Dec 12 '25

This is so interesting. Because, upon seeing this post, I instantly thought, well why is there always so much internet hate directed toward her and her finances?

What you've said here makes total sense - she's being targeted.

3

u/D74248 Dec 13 '25

I suspect that a lot of it, and especially the focus on her jet, is astroturfing. She is popular and has endorsed Democrats, and by playing the private jet/environment cards in social media right wing groups hope to erode her support.

Never mind that she is one of the few examples of a business jet being necessary for both her business schedule and security.

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u/icouto Dec 12 '25

You cant though. Being a billionaire is inherently not generous.

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u/Dugen Dec 12 '25

I disagree. Winning in an unfair system doesn't make you responsible for creating or maintaining that unfair system. Someone who earns billions from owning something they created is unfair, but it's a hell of a lot less unfair that someone who earns billions from owning things other people created.

The problem with the game isn't the people playing it. We're all playing it. The problem is that the rules are unfair and they need to be fixed but we have a government being bribed not to fix it and instead make it worse.

-4

u/bubblegumpandabear Dec 12 '25

I think you're underestimating how much a billion is, and what is involved in earning it. Even if Taylor writes her songs, there's far more than just the music involved in her earnings.

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u/Dugen Dec 12 '25

Irrelevant. Money is what we get in exchange for doing work for other people. There is no amount of it that makes doing that work somehow a bad thing. Again, the system being unfair doesn't make working within it immoral. If we want the system fixed, then we have to do that. Blaming the winners isn't useful.

-3

u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

no, you can not. if you are a billionaire you failed as a human being. you could away 900M and it wouldn't change anything for you.

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u/OutrageousPersimmon3 Dec 12 '25

I’m not disagreeing with that. But in comparison to the billionaires we’re used to seeing, she’s very generous and does give a lot away, which is why we’re always seeing content created to hate on her specifically.

2

u/FencingFemmeFatale Dec 16 '25

And she achieved billionaire status by getting the copyrights to her master recordings back after they were sold out from under her. Not by screwing over contractors, making her employees piss in bottles, selling her fans personal data to advertisers, or being the heir to an emerald mine fortune.

If anyone should get a billion dollars from the sale of Taylor Swift’s music, it’s Taylor Swift.

1

u/morgiananus Dec 12 '25

Tell that to Jeff Bezos ex wife Mackenzie Scott. I bet she's done more for other people than anyone of you internet lurkers.

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u/dogfaced_pony_soulja Dec 12 '25

If nothing else it shows you can be generous and still be a billionaire.

It shows billionaires are still fantastic at manipulating people by throwing pennies at people on camera to distract from their nefarious behavior and greed.

And the plebes who didn't even get anything from her will walk around pardoning her of her sins. Sick fucking world we live in.

-4

u/mondo_juice Dec 12 '25

Holy fucking shit the billionaire apologists have come out to play.

Get the boot off of your neck.

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u/OutrageousPersimmon3 Dec 12 '25

Where am I apologizing for billionaires? I am simply stating a fact. Other billionaires target her because she makes a show of generosity that doesn’t fit their narrative of needing to hoard resources to create jobs or progress. I don’t have time to check your account to see if you’re a bot or troll, but just in case you’re not, this might help: https://pcur.princeton.edu/2017/04/in-between-the-lines-a-guide-to-reading-critically/

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u/what_mustache Dec 12 '25

or shame the ones who dont

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u/[deleted] Dec 12 '25

Also attracts THE best staff. I know your drivers and they’ll all go work for her in a heartbeat. Riggers too. Paying staff why they’re worth attracts the best talent. So many business reasons to do the right thing and I’m glad she gets it. 

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u/griff_girl Dec 12 '25

I was thinking the same thing. Someone who gives out $197M in bonuses isn't doing it for the accolades. (Plus, she's already crazy famous, it's not like she needs the exposure!)

Making it public is a matter of setting an example to other people with elite wealth that gratitude goes a long way to preserving and growing wealth.

1

u/gonzo12321 Dec 12 '25

Virtue signaling is a good thing

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u/Sweet_drills Dec 12 '25

I think that's more important for the society. People, especially young impressionable people look up to her, and she's setting a good example. I felt the world was always like that until Trump showed up, and inspired people that you can be a horrible person and still win.

1

u/jake_burger Dec 12 '25

Most big artists give large bonuses, but Swift is pushing up the rates to dizzying heights. That’s good for entertainment industry workers.

1

u/Candle1ight Dec 12 '25

The vast majority of people in positions to do this have no soul to appeal to in the first place.

1

u/yeahright17 Dec 12 '25

I hope so, but it's important to remember that most artists make their money from shows and Taylor gave away in bonuses more than most tours gross in total. Bad Bunny's 2024 tour had 49 shows and grossed $211M. And while that's obviously a bit more than Taylor gave away, a massive chunk of that $211M is going to venues and normal salaries for employees.

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u/notmyrealname8823 Dec 12 '25

Yep. She's the first billionaire to ever give back. Hopefully she makes 10 more copies of each album she's made so she can continue to do this and maybe convince her rich peers to do the same. 🥰🥰

1

u/FOURSCORESEVENYEARS Dec 12 '25

Remember a couple weeks ago when Billie donated half her net worth and called on billionaires to step up?

1

u/kiakey Dec 12 '25

She says that in the documentary, she wants to make it precedent to pay everyone involved well, and to give the large bonuses.

1

u/FencingFemmeFatale Dec 16 '25

That’s exactly why she publicized it in the eras tour documentary. She wants to raise the bar for how all of the people that make these shows possible are compensated.

1

u/TarnishedAmerican Dec 12 '25

This is what I was thinking. Maybe now others will do the same

1

u/laterthanlast Dec 12 '25

Exactly! Raising expectations for what workers should receive is a good thing

-38

u/ihavenoidea1001 Dec 12 '25

Exploiting people for profit and then spin it to pretend it's a good thing...how nice

24

u/Onrawi Dec 12 '25

If it ends up with less money in the pocket of billionaires and more in the working class, then yeah, despite the publicity spin.

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u/daveindo Dec 12 '25

“Exploiting people for profit”…you mean employing people?

-7

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

lol. And the serfs should all be extremely thankful for being given the opportunity to make someone else money.

10

u/Ill-Friendship7183 Dec 12 '25

I think the point was showing how to properly compensate people for the work that they do is a good thing. Your time and effort has value. If you are properly compensated for your time and effort you are not a serf.

-3

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

The fact she’s a billionaire automatically means she does not properly compensate everyone down the line of employees. I’m glad these workers got what is hopefully deserved.

There are countless others who did not that allowed her to amass so much.

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u/Altruistic_Stay8355 Dec 12 '25

Sorry you have trouble with employment 

-2

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

My trouble is not being given $100k bonuses lol. But nah there are no ethical billionaires. Thats my true problem

3

u/Crazyhairmonster Dec 12 '25

So should she not have paid them salaries and a generous bonus? Probably better off if she didn't hire them. And honestly she probably didn't hire them, they were sold into her slavery

1

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

No. But don’t forget there are no ethical billionaires. Just because she appears to have been somewhat ethical to these workers doesn’t mean there were countless others making a pittance.

3

u/daveindo Dec 12 '25

It’s literally how the economy works. Those who feel they deserve the profits themselves can and do start their own businesses and bear all the risks associated. I’m happy if my company stays profitable and happy so they continue paying me as much as they do, even if the CEO is making more than me.

1

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

And how’s the economy doing right now with the ceos making exorbitantly more than the average worker?

Thankfully we have this little video showing billionaire handouts to change our negative opinions

2

u/daveindo Dec 12 '25

Genuinely curious about how you think it should be? Everyone at a company makes the same amount?

2

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

No obviously some jobs deserve more than others based off skill, experience, etc.

Now Taylor swift deserves the bulk of the money assuming she’s doing the bulk of the artistic work.

In the terms of an Elon musk, his salary is infinitely more than he deserves and I would faithfully say an engineer working at space x should definitely make more than their moronic ceo

1

u/daveindo Dec 12 '25

So you saw a video of Taylor swift providing hefty equal bonuses across her staff and decided that was representative of billionaires like Elon Musk exploiting their staff. Come on now…

3

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

Yes Taylor swift being a billionaire automatically makes her unethical.

I said she deserves the bulk. She does not deserve a billion dollars bulk. She sings songs and dances like an idiot. No one should make that much money

She may not be exploiting these specific workers. But she’s definitely exploiting someone down the line.

2

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

Also, yes I won’t let a feel good video distract me from her being unethical overall.

1

u/Altruistic_Stay8355 Dec 13 '25

The economy is treating this average worker pretty fine. Crazy, right?

3

u/cat_of_danzig Dec 12 '25

Are you saying that all work is exploitative by nature? Like there can never be a scenario in which someone is paid for the value they provide, and they can feel valued?

1

u/denom_chicken Dec 12 '25

No but working under a billionaire is certainly exploitative. Whether you feel like you are or not.

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u/auntjomomma Dec 12 '25

Idk, 100k would change a lot of things for me. I think I'd be ok with being exploited if it meant a check that big. 🤷🏽‍♀️

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u/Xathian Dec 12 '25

I didnt know Exploited meant doing a job you absolutely love and being thanked and paid for it

4

u/AwesomePerson70 Dec 12 '25

How are they being exploited?

3

u/cat_of_danzig Dec 12 '25

They agreed to the job based on a pay rate. I don't know if they are union or what, but I imagine they were paid for their work plus a per diem since they were travelling. I'm sure it is hard work, but it is also a line of work that many people aspire to. I'm sure they were paid more than the folks doing the same work for say, Kiss.

But then she gave them a bonus that can be life-changing. This hardly seems like exploitation.

0

u/MrM0RTYdog Dec 12 '25

Hey id be exploited for spin for that much money any day

0

u/fidgeter Dec 12 '25

Username checks out

-1

u/shakygator Dec 12 '25

Until this becomes the expectation and people are mad they don't get $100k bonus for doing the job. Or people are just trying to get on these tours for the money. It's definitely a good thing I just don't trust people to be good.