Spotlight on…Singapore

A reported grant of $2–3m per show to ensure that Singapore had exclusive Southeast Asia rights for Taylor Swift might not have been welcomed by the governments of Thailand or The Philippines, but the controversial move proved that the city-state’s ruling party has a good understanding of what benefits the live music industry can bring when A-list acts visit.

With a population of just 6m, the island nation punches well above its weight in terms of attracting international tours, and the corporates are on hand to assist, with AEG, Live Nation, and Eventim all having offices there. Elsewhere, promoters who regularly bring live entertainment to the powerhouse republic include Midas Promotions, Primuse, UnUsUaL Entertainment, Lushington Entertainments, Collective Minds, IMC, Symmetry Entertainment, Now/Live, Base, and LAMC.

Primuse is typical of the regional promoters that use Singapore as its base. While the company has Dream Theater and Swan Lake Grand Ballet touring through Singapore, much of its work is outside of the country in markets like Indonesia, Malaysia, and China.

While Live Nation’s 2024 international touring activity in Singapore has seen shows by Coldplay, Laufey, Bruno Mars, Imagine Dragons, LANY, and Conan Gray, incoming tours for the remainder of the year include the likes of Stray Kids, Ben Elton, Olivia Rodrigo, and Dua Lipa. On the Mandopop side, acts like Mayday, AccuseFive, Tarcy Su, Wan Fang, Penny Tai, and Wakin Chou, have visited; as have J-Pop acts Fujii Kaze and Atarasshi Gakko.

“Over the last three years, Singapore has seen a meteoric surge in K-pop concerts”

Ticketmaster Singapore reports, “Over the last three years, Singapore has seen a meteoric surge in K-pop concerts. From 2022 to 2024, the number of events on Ticketmaster has grown by 250%, which proves that Korean pop has never been more in demand.” To that end, Live Nation has promoted shows in 2024 by ShiNee, IVE, ITCY, NCT Dreams, Stray Kids, Amber Liu, and Seventeen.

Following Taylor Swift’s six Eras Tour dates in March, forthcoming promotions by AEG Presents Asia include Fujii Kaze’s Best Of tour in October and three nights of gaming with BLAST Premier World Final Singapore – Counter Strike in November.

However, not every development is positive. Authorities are battling a massive rise in concert ticket scams, with reports that consumers lost at least S$518,000 in the first half of last year. And that figure no doubt rose as Coldplay and Swift shows piqued interest.

Another issue that those who book and promote shows in Singapore know all about is the scarcity of venues in the country. Like most Asian territories, buildings in the 1,000-to-5,000-capacity range are rare, meaning that most international acts below arena level do not visit.

“We’ve got a lot of small venues and one or two larger venues. And in between, there’s really nothing between 5,000 and 6,000 capacity. It’s recognised as a problem, but it’s very hard to deal with, especially in a land-scarce area like Singapore,” observes Steven Woodward at Midas Promotions, who have Singaporean shows by Crash Adams and The Script in the coming months, while Matt Maltese plays the UCC Ho Bee Auditorium at the National University of Singapore on 13 November.”

“We’re not just competing against the Western artists; we’re also competing with K-pop, Japanese, Taiwanese, and other Chinese artists”

“We’re not just competing against the Western artists; we’re also competing with K-pop, Japanese, Taiwanese, and other Chinese artists, due to the multiple cultures here – 70% of Singapore is Chinese,” says Woodward.

However, he notes that the National Stadium’s roof has proved crucial in securing the likes of Coldplay, Taylor Swift, and Ed Sheeran, as it protects events from the changeable Southeast Asian weather.

Other than the 55,000-capacity National Stadium, acts can make use of its sister arena venue, the Singapore Indoor Stadium (15,000-cap), which this year has hosted the likes of NCT Dream, Conan Gray, and Olivia Rodrigo, while in July 2023, it became the home of Hong Kong superstar Jacky Cheung, who sold out a remarkable 11 shows on his 60+ Concert Tour. Other venues used for concerts are Capital Theatre, The Star Theatre, Sands Expo and Convention Centre, The Theatre at Mediacorp, Gateway Theatre, Annexe Studio, and the Esplanade Theatre.

But there’s good news on the horizon. Earlier this year, a replacement venue for the Indoor Stadium was announced as part of government plans that include a S$165m fund to attract and host major events.

“They’ve already got a piece of land set aside, so the current stadium will stay where it is until such time as the new one opens,” reveals Woodward. “[Marina Bay Sands] are also building a new venue as part of their development – a 15,000-capacity indoor venue. But it will be three to five years minimum before those new buildings are available.”

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