Asia News: Summer Sonic Reveal; Singapore: Taylor Swift

JAPAN

First Summer Sonic Artists Revealed

Japan’s Creativeman Productions revealed its first set of artists who will perform at this year’s Summer Sonic festival, which will take place simultaneously in Tokyo and Osaka the weekend of Aug. 17-18.

Leading the charge are Måneskin and Bring Me The Horizon, thus returning SS to
its roots as chiefly a showcase for foreign hard rock. Other international acts announced
include Aurora, Major Lazer (Tokyo only), OneRepublic, Underworld (Osaka only), Belle
& Sebastian, Bleachers, Greta Van Fleet, Jon Batiste, Laufey, Madison Beer, Nothing But Thieves, PinkPantheress, Tyla and Yves Tumor.

Summer Sonic will also have a new version in Bangkok this year during the weekend of Aug. 24-25. No lineup has been announced yet.

SINGAPORE

Carousell Suspends Taylor Swift Tix Sales

Singapore-based online ticket marketplace Carousell has suspended sales of tickets to Taylor Swift’s upcoming shows in Singapore in March due to fears that they may be scams.

Swift’s global “Eras Tour” has been plagued by ticket scams in almost every market, according to AsiaOne, and Carousell decided it won’t take any chances, especially since concert ticket scams have been on the increase in Singapore since the end of the pandemic.

What this means in practical terms is that users of the site “will no longer be able to create new listings for ‘Eras Tour’ tickets.”

The ban will cover all markets in which Carousell operates: Singapore, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines and Taiwan.

Of all these markets, Swift will be performing in Singapore only, but already many fans from Southeast Asia are planning to fly in for one or more of the six concerts scheduled March 2-4 and 7-9. In addition, the company will also remove existing listings on the platform for Swift tickets.

The company insists that the ban applies only to “Eras Tour” tickets.

How The ‘Eras Tour’ Came Together

More details have emerged on how Singapore arranged for the only Taylor Swift concerts in Southeast Asia during her current world tour.

According to the Straits Times, a team flew from Singapore to Los Angeles in early 2023 to meet with “leaders from the sports and entertainment world” just as Swift was about to start her U.S. tour.

At the time no international venues had been booked, and “a few months later” this team, in league with concert promoter AEG, promised Swift’s team that they would “deliver Asia” to her, “thus setting in motion a deal for an unprecedented six-day run of concerts at the National Stadium of Singapore.” It would be the singer’s only stop in Southeast Asia.

The Straits Times reports it was Kallang Alive Sport Management (KASM) that came up with the idea for the tour to visit Singapore and that led to discussions with the government.

KASM chairman Keith Magnus told the Times, “Once the discussion had progressed and we saw the opportunity of holding an only-in-Singapore event, we then thought it made sense to take a whole-of-government approach.” KASM was established in 2022 by the government to manage the Singapore Sports Hub in Kallang.

Magnus said that the agreement involved an “understanding” that Singapore would be the only Southeast Asia stop for the tour because “that’s how it was branded.”

When the deal was first revealed by Thailand Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin at a business conference several weeks ago, Srettha said that AEG told him the Singapore government offered the Swift team up to $3 million per show if they agreed not to hold concerts in any other Southeast Asia country. The Singapore Tourism Board and culture ministry said they supported the concerts with a “grant,” but did not say how much the grant was worth.

Though Singapore may not be able to gain the same level of exclusivity for major international artists in the future, the deal shows that anyone planning to tour the area must include Singapore if they want to reach as many Asian fans as possible.