Hello Ronnie, Sorry for the delay have been sick with this insane cold over the holidays and dealing with music was pretty much the last thing on my mind.

Taylor was one of the thousands upon thousands of young male and female artists that come to town monthly trying to do this. But there was something different about her and I can only give you my perceptions. They come from meeting her and knowing people who worked with her from the beginning.

She had an instinctive way of writing that was amazingly developed for a person of her age. She didn't talk in sophomoric terms, had very engaging melodies and even when she did songs from a somber perspective (break up songs which are endemic in 13-22 year old girls) she did it with a positive "I'm moving on" spin that was quite different from the way most others would approach it.

She was a very polite, very attentive girl that listened when most others her age would talk about themselves. She was humble and very well mannered. And she worked ALL THE TIME at her craft. She was signed to Sony because of enormous work she was doing in other parts of the countries, performing at Shopping Malls, and doing the early days of MYSPACE, and FACEBOOK. She built an enormous following BEFORE she was signed to any record deal.

She was taken around to all the publishers, and turned down. But she continued to write with people and build relationships all the time doing things OUTSIDE of Nashville that increased her fan base. Her songs, brought more and more people to her "BRAND" and she expanded the demographic of the fan base.

Where country music was usually an "older format", age 25-42, 70% female, she expanded her audience demographic to 13-55, 70% female. She did the same thing with "younger people" that Garth Brooks did to "rock energy in shows" 20 years before.

Her Father and several other investors put a company around her and her music. They hired one of the top record people in the town, Scott Borchetta, and gave him a raise to leave the company he worked with, Universal.

In every stage of her career, she allowed her audience to grow with her. And while you can "fool some of the people, some of the time" she didn't. She was the "real deal." She was a very instinctive writer, well beyond her years. She also was (and is) a consumate business person, designing her videos, her tours, her employees. Her label became the biggest label in Nashville and she became a cash cow. And international celebrity.

Basically she connected with her audience and has never stopped. Her songs have always made them feel "she is writing about them." The downfall of almost all writers and artists are not understanding their audiences and only writing about themselves. She didn't do that.

She is an industry in music the same way Steven Spielberg, and George Lucas are in the movie industry. She has gotten plenty of detractors over the years and of course, older guy writers always complain, because it is NOT THEIR TYPE OF MUSIC,but who cares because THEY DON'T PAY FOR MUSIC. And those same people hated Elvis and the Beatles when they came out too.

All of this is really pretty simple.
You develop a product that resonates with the public.
You always stay interactive with that public. It is about THEM, NOT YOU.
You increase that audience to a point where they actually PAY FOR WHAT YOU DO.
You incestantly market your product and expand your audience.
You build alliances with the centers for that product.
You deal with WHAT IS, not WHAT IF'S.
You keep your dreams injected with REALITY. Don't be who you are not.
You keep your costs managable, and understand the industry you are involved in.
You repeat.

If you break it down to that, it is not quite as overwhelming.
MAB