"You snooze, you lose"

Taylor Swift's Eras Tour has toured in Japan, and Australia, before the tour came to Singapore.

The Thai Prime Minister had asked the promoter to bring the tour to Thailand and was told that the Eras Tour would only be coming to Singapore. And that Singapore had an exclusive contract with Swift in this region.  

Our news media asked questions and got a "non-answer". MCCY and STB confirmed that a grant was provided (for what, it was not clear) to Swift's Team, and that there was an understanding that it was an "only-in-Singapore" event, which suggests that it might be an "exclusivity clause"?

But it was not clear if the grant provided was for exclusivity - that the Eras Tour was being paid to tour ONLY in Singapore and not anywhere else in the region, like say Thailand or Philippines or Indonesia.

But look at the locations in this part of the world that the Tour had chosen - Japan and Australia. Developed countries.

Singapore was proactive, going to the US to meet potential acts and performers, and offering them a deal, a package. This was in late 2022 and early 2023. Before Swift had announced the international leg of her Eras Tour. It was only after Singapore was announced as a location for the tour that other regional governments sought the tour to perform in their countries.

Which is probably too late.

Maybe Japan and Australia was in the original plans only. Only when the Singapore team approached the Eras Tour organisers and offered Singapore as a venue with all the infrastructure and logistic support that Singapore can offer along with our world-class facilities that the organisers saw the possibility of performing in Singapore.

“KASM (Kallang Alive Sport Management) initiated the idea (for the tour to come to Singapore) and led the discussions... We were the proactive ‘tip of the spear’ for the Government in these discussions that were had,” said KASM chairman Keith Magnus... “If the vision was to be the premier (entertainment and sports) destination, then we needed to be proactive.”

Regardless, the Thai PM's revelation led to outrage from Singapore's neighbours:

Proactive.

When the Sports Hub was privately run (by Sports Hub Pte Ltd), they were not be able to pro-actively travel to the US to explore possible acts, performances, and events to bring to Singapore. That sort of proactive "marketing" was probably not in their budget or even their business model. 

Only a wholly govt-own agency like KASM, with the implicit endorsement of the govt, would be able to proactively seek out opportunities to exploit and when they find one, be able to loop in other relevant govt agencies and ministries to present a comprehensive offer to Team Taylor Swift. 

And Singapore was the only stop in SE Asia for the Eras tour. 

Did Singapore pay Swift for exclusivity? 

And how much does it cost to get exclusivity? 

Originally, the rumour was that Swift was paid $3m - $4m per show. So for 6 shows in Singapore, Swift would get $18m to $24m. 

Later, Minister Edwin Tong says the figure is not that high. CNA later suggests/guessed that it was $3m-$4m in total. 

So, the question you should be asking then is, would Swift forego other tour stops in SE Asia for $4m? How much would she be foregoing if she skip Manila, or Bangkok, or Jakarta?

Forbes reports that at each stop on The Eras Tour, Swift is personally earning between $10 million and $13 million. Again, that figure is per night. 

Now, maybe that figure, $10m - $13m, was the estimate for her North American tour stops. Maybe in SE Asia, the figure would be lower? Cos we poorer? Say... $5m? Per night? So 3 nights each in Jakarta, Manila, Bangkok would be $45m that Swift is foregoing. For a paltry $4m from Singapore? Even the high estimate of $24m would be just half of what the Tour would earn in just 3 other venues.

Does not make economic sense!

I, therefore, do not believe that Swift was tied to an Exclusivity clause. I believe her original plan was to play Australia and Japan. And that was it. Then Singapore came along and offered "to deliver Asia" to Swift. And the Singapore offer was attractive enough for "Team Taylor" to accept for an initial 3 nights, but those tickets sold so well, they added another 3 nights. 

And there was another non-financial/non-commercial reason for playing in Singapore:

So why didn't Swift want to play in other SE Asian cities like Bangkok, Manila, and Jakarta? 

Who knows?

Her reasons are for her to reveal. 

But I shall look forward to Minister Edwin Tong's reply in Parliament on Monday (4 Mar 2024) for more details.

From: "Taylor Swift’s Singapore show will be her only South-East Asia stop, revealing how super concerts can get political"

The Singapore Tourism Board listed its “strategic location, quality infrastructure, safety, efficiency and diverse cultural offerings” as some of the other reasons why it stands out as a major event location in the region.

Being able to move large amounts of people in an efficient way is a key focus for the Swift tour, given all the sold-out shows.

The ease for fans to get to and from Singapore’s stadium complex contrasts with the traffic gridlock that greeted thousands of people trying to attend Coldplay concerts in Manila and Jakarta.

The Philippines President Ferdinand Marcos Jnr even took a helicopter to one of the Manila shows because the traffic was so bad.

Zachery Rajendran, an integrated events management specialist at Singaporean educational insтιтute Republic Polytechnic, also says a “stable and safe environment” and “cosmopolitan atmosphere” helped put Singapore above neighbouring countries.

Last year a Malaysian music festival was cancelled after two members of British band, The 1975, kissed on stage to make a point about the country’s laws criminalising homoSєxuality.

And in Jakarta, protesters cited Coldplay’s support for LGBT rights to try to have their concert cancelled last year, though it went ahead anyway.

In 2012, religious protesters successfully forced Lady Gaga to cancel a planned Jakarta show due to safety concerns.

[In support of the article above, here's a video:

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