Midas Promotions took Christina Perri to the Coliseum, Hard Rock Hotel in Singapore in February 2015
SINGAPORE Language: English, Malay, Mandarin, Tamil Population (millions): 5.6 Currency: Singapore Dollar (SGD) GDP/Capita (US$): 62,400 Music Revenue/Capita (US$): 2.4 Internet Users (millions): 4.1 Active Smartphones (millions): 6.8 Active Tablets (millions): N/A
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he city-state of Singapore covers just 718 square kilometres, but is the fourth-largest financial centre worldwide and a major regional urban hub, with 5.6million residents. Strict, safe and ultra-modern, it has a highly developed live business, though its ticketing arrangements aren’t the world’s most competitive.
Primary Ticketing
Having launched in 1991 out of the Singapore Indoor Stadium, SISTIC is the biggest ticketing company, with a market share of at least 60-70%, and a stated 90% coverage of Singaporean events, including concerts, theatre productions, family attractions and sporting events. Owned jointly by the Singapore Sports Council and waterfront venue The Esplanade, it sells tickets through its website, hotline and mobile app, and also licenses STiX, a web-based and customeroriented ticketing solution, outside Singapore. Rivals include Japaneseowned platform PeaTix and APACTik (formerly Sports Hub Tix), the in-house ticketing service of the Singapore Sports Hub venue.
Secondary Ticketing
Scalping is technically illegal in Singapore, although it isn’t hard to find tickets for resale through eBay and similar marketplaces. That said, the practice has not become commercialised.
Distribution of Sales
Singapore is an enthusiastic adopter of e-commerce and ranks highest in the world for smartphone penetration, with nine out of ten people having access to such a device. Nonetheless, only 38% of Singaporeans make online purchases with their devices – lower than their South-East Asian counterparts, giving mobile transactions plenty
of room for growth [source: Deloitte]. SISTIC sells online – its site receives 4m visits a month – and also via mobile and through 47 local, authorised, point-of-sale agents.
International/Domestic Splits & Genres
Concerts tripled in Singapore between 2003 and 2013, according to the National Arts Council of Singapore. Western music is popular – Elton John recently announced a pair of shows in December, while Maroon 5, Muse, Robbie Williams and Taylor Swift are all expected between September and November 2015. Chinese, Malay and Indian music also find a substantial market, along with homegrown stars such as Stefanie Sun and JJ Lin. There is also a small but significant metal scene and an enthusiastic dance crowd, though EDM gathering Future Music Festival Asia was denied a public entertainment licence in March due to official disapproval at potential drug abuse, following six deaths last year at the festival’s Malaysian edition.
Cultural Analysis
Singapore Sports Hub’s exclusive ticketing contract, beginning at the end of last year, has caused a degree of controversy amid suggestions of monopolistic practices. SISTIC itself has been on the other end of similar complaints in the past, and was hit by a SGD$989,000 (€658,000) fine in 2010 for squeezing out smaller players such as Tickets.com, Gatecrash and Global Ticket Network by striking exclusive contracts with a majority of venue operators. Its appeal was denied in 2012, though its fine was reduced to SGD$769,000 (€511,000).
Taxes and Charges
SISTIC collects a booking fee of between SGD$1 per ticket (€0.67) and SGD$4 (€2.63) per ticket, depending on the ticket price.●
INTERNATIONAL TICKETING YEARBOOK 2015
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