Marc Maron Revealed How Much It Cost Him to Use a Taylor Swift Song in His Comedy Special

The past few years of Taylor Swift's career have allowed her to become one of the biggest artists in the entire world. The singer's Eras Tour sold out massive stadiums across North America, Europe, Latin America, Asia, and Australia. According to Spotify, Taylor was the most-streamed musical artist of 2023. Using anything related to Taylor for other media will surely come at a heavy expense for anyone who dares to ask for the license.

Comedian Marc Maron learned that lesson the hard way. The performer was proud to share his special titled Marc Maron: Panicked with the world, but he needed one of Taylor's songs to add context to a joke. How much did Marc pay to use one of Taylor Swift's songs during his comedy special? Here's what we know about what it costs to allow "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" to become a part of the program.

According to E! News, Marc Maron had to pay $50,000 in order to use less than a minute of Taylor Swift's "Bigger Than the Whole Sky" during his routine. The comedian had written a joke specifically around the chorus of the song, which is why it was crucial for him to include it during Marc Maron: Panicked. The song was produced as a bonus track for Taylor's "Midnights" album. As stated in the Good One Podcast, Marc even wrote a letter explaining why the song was important to him.

The road to obtaining the rights to the song wasn't easy for Marc. This is where Jack Antonoff comes into the picture. The producer and composer is friends with the comedian, and he has been working alongside Taylor for years. Marc called Jack to see if there was an easier way to include the song in his special.

The music producer advised his friend to go through the official channels to get what he wanted, leading Marc to pay $50,000 for the right to use less than a minute of "Bigger Than the Whole Sky." The endeavor cost Marc Maron a lot of effort and money, but he got what he wanted in the end.

If using less than a minute of Taylor Swift's music sounds expensive, performing the songs live comes with a massive amount of money. According to The New York Times, Taylor's Eras Tour earned more than $2 billion at the box office. The money came after 149 shows were announced and performed across the globe.

As if selling thousands of tickets around the world wasn't enough, Taylor and her team thought about turning the tour into a theatrical experience. AMC Theaters obtained the rights to distribute a professionally recorded performance from a tour in theaters around the world. The final product earned $261 million at the global box office, according to Box Office Mojo. This means that the concert film earned more than traditional Hollywood releases from the same year, including Wish and Napoleon.