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Singapore said the financial benefits of Taylor Swift’s concerts outweighed the incentives the city-state offered the singer to perform, amid speculation about how much it paid her to secure an exclusive performance in Southeast Asia.
“There has been some speculation online about the size of the grant,” Edwin Tong, Minister for Culture, Community and Youth, told Parliament on Monday. “It is not accurate or as high as speculated, but for reasons of business confidentiality we cannot disclose the specific size of the grant or the conditions of the grant.”
Speculation about the matter gained steam online after Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said Singapore offered subsidies of up to $3 million for each concert in exchange for Swift agreeing not to perform anywhere else in the region for his Eras tour.
Asia News Channel reported last week that the figure was closer to $2-$3 million total for the six programs without specifying where he got the information from.
The economic benefits to Singapore, including additional tourist arrivals and entertainment and retail spending in the island nation, are “significant” and exceed the size of the subsidy, Tong said.Play video
Concert tie-ups have also helped companies like Singapore-based United Overseas Bank Ltd. The lender, which allowed cardholders in the region to purchase pre-sale tickets for popular artists such as Swift and Ed Sheeran, reported 66% increase in credit card fees to a new high of S$382 million ($284 million) in 2023.
Thailand is not the only Southeast Asian nation expressing its discontent. A Filipino legislator reportedly criticized Singapore for its exclusivity agreement and urged the Department of Foreign Affairs to raise the issue with Singapore’s envoy in the country.
“Bitter grapes,” Singapore’s former permanent secretary for foreign affairs wrote on Facebook. mail. “Every time I hear calls for Singapore to be more ‘sensitive’ towards other Southeast Asian countries, it actually means that we should be as inefficient as them.”
“We have to be better, faster and more creative than the competition,” he said.