PM Lee answers how SG got Taylor Swift to Singapore. Notice he says "negotiated an arrangement" (0:07) for Swift to perform in Singapore. "And to make Singapore her only stop" (0:10). At about 0:40 PM Lee says "we can't say, 'you will come here only on condition that you will go other places'". Note how uneasy he seems.
So, did Singapore make Swift sign an exclusive arrangement?
Singapore Math is well-known. So let's do the math.
Forbes has estimated that Swift will personally earn US$10m - US$13m PER SHOW. And this checks out with the shows in Singapore. The National Stadium can hold 55,000 people. For ease of computation, say 50,000. IF the average ticket price is (equivalent to) US$200, each show's takings will be 50,000X 200 = US$10m. So it matches Forbes estimates.
If the Eras tour goes to Bangkok or Manila, and does 3 shows at each location, Swift would be on track to make about $30m at each venue (using Forbes low estimate). So assuming the plan originally was to tour in two other cities for 3 nights each, Swift would have made US$60 million. But Singapore came along, and offered her US$4 (or less) for an exclusivity clause, and Swift or her business manager snatched the offer as soon as Singapore made it?
What sort of idiot managers does she have? Since when is getting $4m to forego $60m a GOOD DEAL?
Because, IMHO, this "exclusivity clause" is a fiction. There is NO exclusivity clause.
(Note: The "source" of this story about an exclusivity clause is the Thai PM. Who claimed that he got the news from AEG, Swift's promoter. I suspect there was something lost in translation,)
If Singapore wanted Swift exclusively, it would NOT have cost just $4m. or even $24m (6 shows in SG X $4m). Team Taylor would have told Singapore, "We are planning to go to 3 cities/4 cities/5 cities in SE Asia, and you will need to compensate us for NOT going to those cities at $10m per show." And maybe Team Singapore would bargain it down to $7m or $6m per show. And for 3 cities, at 3 shows at each city, the "compensation" would be $54m (9 shows X $6m). Or $90m for 5 cities.
No. I suspect Eras Tour was going to completely bypass SE Asia. They had NO PLANS to play in ANY city in SE Asia. Why? That's for Swift's people to answer.
I suspect when KASM spoke to the promoter in early 2023, KASM found out that Eras was NOT coming to SE Asia. The plan was to perform in Australia and Japan. Fans in SE Asia can travel to Australia or Japan to catch the concerts. These places are not that far.
So KASM called in reinforcements and the big guns (ok, slightly "bigger guns") - STB. And STB offered a grant if Eras would come to Singapore - $4m. (PM Lee has shared, video above, that the fund was from a tourism promotion fund post-COVID.)
I am sure the promoter had to control himself/herself and try NOT to laugh. $4m? That's how much they spend just for breakfast!
But Singapore brought more than just money to the table and offered a complete package of administrative and logistic support. They made it EASY for Eras to come to Singapore. And in the words of Keith Magnus (?), "they offered to bring Asia to Taylor Swift".
Maybe Singapore's naive earnestness sold the proposal. Maybe Swift took pity on them. Maybe Swift has fond memories of Singapore. Maybe Team Singapore promoted Singapore's infrastructure, connectedness and world class facilities, and the promoter realised that they had overlooked Singapore when they dismissed all of SE Asia as backward and underdeveloped. Maybe, maybe, maybe.
(And maybe, when the Thai PM asked AEG to bring the Eras Tour to Thailand, AEG tried to explain how Team Singapore had approached them even before the tour started, and before they announced the cities they were touring in, and offered logistical and administrative support, and also $4m, and that Eras had no plans to tour in other SE Asian city.
And maybe the Thai PM could speak English, or maybe there was a translator, and somehow, the easiest bit got translated - Singapore offered money, Eras won't tour other SE Asian cities - and the Thai PM put two data points together, and came up with the idea that SG signed an exclusive deal with Swift. Who knows?)
So it was NOT that Singapore was not a good neighbour or a good member of ASEAN. Singapore brought Asia to Taylor Swift and brought the Eras Tour to Singapore. And SE Asia.
Otherwise, Swifties would have to travel to Japan or Australia to catch the concert.
In the video above, at 0:40, PM Lee says that we cannot force Swift to perform in other cities as a condition of performing in Singapore, or dictate where else she might perform. Which suggests that Singapore negotiated for her to come to Singapore, and only Singapore, because we have no right to make arrangements for other cities.
(I find it interesting that our Ministers used the phrase "Only-in-Singapore" instead of "Singapore exclusively", or "an exclusive agreement". Edwin Tong, the minister who led the delegation to LA, is a lawyer. So he would be very careful with his words, and variation in phrasing could mean different things. )
In another video, PM Lee hints, "if we had not made such an arrangement, would she have come to someplace else in SE Asia? Maybe. Maybe not." Which hints that Eras had originally planned to skip SE Asia, or had no firm plans to tour in SE Asia. Until Team Singapore approached them.
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