Asian Countries Fighting Over Taylor Swift? 'Eras Tour' Concert Causes Bad Blood Between Philippines, Singapore

Taylor Swift's "Eras Tour" may be causing bad blood in Southeast Asia.

A lawmaker in the Philippines called out Singapore this week over its alleged exclusivity deal with Swift that prevents her from taking her record-breaking tour elsewhere in the region.

Ahead of Swift's six "Eras Tour" shows in Singapore, which kicked off Saturday, Phillippines Rep. Joey Salceda asked his country's Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) to protest the alleged exclusivity terms.

Salceda said brokering the purported deal "isn't what good neighbors do ... [as it] was at the expense of neighboring countries, which could not attract their own foreign concertgoers and whose fans had to go to Singapore," the Philippine Inquirer reported.

"I don't think we should just let things like this pass," the congressman added.

Despite having huge fanbases across the region, Singapore is the only Asian country Swift is hosting her "Eras Tour" apart from Japan.

The Philippines' Quezon City was once ranked among the top five global cities listening to Swift on Spotify.

Reports of the alleged deal first surfaced last month after Thai Prime Minister Srettha Thavisin said concert promoter AEG told him the Singaporean government offered Swift's camp grants of up to $3 million per show in exchange for not playing in other Southeast Asian countries.

"[AEG] didn't tell me the exact figure but they said the Singapore government offers subsidies of between $2 million and $3 million. But the Singaporean government is clever. They told [organizers] not to hold any other shows in [Southeast] Asia," Thavisin claimed during an event in Bangkok, according to The Guardian.

Swift's "Eras Tour" reportedly led to a spike of up to 30% in demand for Singaporean hotels and airlines, according to Salceda.

The congressman cited an economist as saying that Singapore's arrangement with Swift likely "caused an increase in industry revenues by $60 million."

According to the lawmaker, this suggested that Singapore's subsidies "produced 30 times more in economic activity."

The U.S. leg of Swift's tour was estimated to have generated $4.6 billion for the country's economy, according to data from the research company QuestionPro obtained by Fortune.

Salceda said the Phillippines should "officially register" its opposition to Singapore's purported exclusivity terms.

He explained that it "runs contrary" to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), a 10-member diplomatic group whose members include the Philippines and Singapore.

The congressman acknowledged that the Philippines should be more active when it comes to pursuing large-scale concerts.

Officials in Singapore confirmed that the "Eras Tour" received support from the government in the form of a grant but did not provide a specific figure.

The Singapore Tourism Board (STB) and the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY) said in a statement to The Straits Times that more than 300,000 tickets were sold for Swift's tour, and many fans from other countries were flying in just to see her.

Some experts previously pointed out that exclusive arrangements for tours are unusual.

James Walton, sports business group leader at Deloitte Asia Pacific, told The Straits Times that "most acts want to reach their entire fan base as much as possible, and so tour as many locations as possible."

The Singapore leg of the "Eras Tour" kicked off this weekend, with Swift performing the first three of her six sold-out shows at the 55,000-seat National Stadium from Saturday to Monday.

Swift will perform the other three Singapore shows on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday.

In December 2023, Pollstar named Swift's "Eras Tour" the highest-grossing music tour in history and the first to gross over $1 billion in ticket sales.

The tour also helped Swift achieve billionaire status last year, with a Bloomberg analysis putting her net worth at $1.1 billion.