Taylor Swift Gives Her Dancers & Crew $$$ Bonuses In The End Of An Era

Taylor Swift’s generosity toward her crew made headlines back in December 2024, when it was revealed that she gave $197 million in bonuses to those working on the Eras Tour (including $100,000 bonuses to all of the tour’s truck drivers). In The End of an Era, the new Disney+ docuseries about the singer’s record-breaking tour, fans got a behind-the-scenes look at Swift’s process for delivering these bonuses.

In Episode 2 of The End of an Era, which was released on Dec. 12, audiences learn that Swift gave bonuses to every dancer, musician, and crew member after each leg of the tour. Along with their hefty bonuses, Swift’s employees were also given handwritten notes from the singer.

“Bonus day is so important because setting a precedent with the Eras Tour is really important to me, because people who work on the road, if the tour grosses more, they get more,” Swift explained in the doc. “And these people just work so hard, and they are the best at what they do.”

“Every single person on the crew, I’ve handwritten them a note,” she continued. “It took me a couple weeks, but it’s fun to write the notes. It’s fun to think about everyone’s lives that they’re gonna go back to and the time off they’re gonna have and, you know, the kids they haven’t seen because they’ve been away for months. It just... making that worthwhile for them is really... it just feels like Christmas morning when you finally get to say thank you.”

“Bonus day! I love bonus day,” she told her mom, Andrea Swift, showing her the collection of cards (which she personally sealed with a wax seal).

Later in the episode, fans saw Swift give these cards to her dancers. “Everybody has the same message on their card, so I was hoping you could open it. But before you look at yours, I just wanted to say, guys, this leg of this tour has been harder than anything I’ve ever done in a live setting.” (At this point, Swift was celebrating the end of the European leg of the tour, which wrapped up in London on Aug. 20, 2024. Episode 1 of the docuseries highlighted the challenges of this particular leg after learning of terror threats in Vienna, Austria and an attack in Southport, England.) She also credited her dancers with consistently bringing “excitement,” “curiosity,” “endurance,” and “spirit” to their shows.

Kameron Saunders — one of the most recognizable Eras Tour performers, who was in charge of making quippy jokes in “We’re Never Getting Back Together” — read his letter aloud:

Dearest Kam, We’ve traveled the world like we set out to do. We’ve dazzled the crowds, but we’ve missed family too. My full gratitude doesn’t come from a bank, but here’s [bleep] dollars just to say thanks. Love, Taylor.

While the doc did not reveal the exact amount that Swift was giving each of her dancers, the number was disguised with a very long bleep. Soon after, all of the dancers cried together.

In another clip, an Eras Tour production assistant looked shocked after receiving his bonus. “Imma pass out,” he told the person filming.