SINGAPORE – In Singapore, people never expected that an American blonde in a sequinned dress would annoy their neighbours – it is usually the visit of a controversial political leader that triggers unhappiness in the region. 

Now that pop star Taylor Swift and her six-night exclusive The Eras Tour in Singapore has come and gone, in the spirit of constant improvement, let’s take stock of the wins and losses, and what can be done better the next time a stadium act rolls into town.

Lesson 1: Desperate fans will do desperate things

Scamming – the selling of fake or non-existent tickets – is easier to fight compared with scalping, so let’s start there.

One idea is to let resellers operate under supervision.

Reseller stands could be set up outside the National Stadium, opened days before the start of the shows.

Supervised reselling will protect two kinds of fans: The panicky ticketless ones who might fall prey to cheats, and sellers who for genuine reasons cannot attend the show. Ticket validating machines can be placed near the booth to see if the resold tickets are genuine.

E-commerce scams, mostly involving the Swift concerts, have claimed over 1,000 victims, according to the police. 

Singapore set up licensed moneylenders to give borrowers an alternative to loan sharks. Monitored reselling follows the same idea.

Lesson 2: Fight scalping – not because it is easy, but because it is hard

House flippers, ticket scalpers, resellers who pick the shelves clean of Swatch and Barbie collectibles – what they do is technically not a crime, but they deserve every ounce of public disdain they get. 

This has been suggested before, but one way to fight those who use automation to buy tickets in bulk is to use automation against them. Some might already be in use, such as captchas (“select all the fire hydrants in the picture”) and the blocking of IP addresses with suspicious activity. 

Others have suggested using phone-based innovations such as secure ticketing apps tied to user identity and other kinds of authentication to make profiteering tricky enough that it would not be worth the effort. 

But even if someone comes up with foolproof anti-scalping technology, whether it is adopted depends on the goodwill of major ticket sales companies such as Ticketmaster. The companies have to sink money into a fan-protection mechanism from which they will see no profit.

Carousell, to its credit, did the right thing by blocking ticket listings in Singapore and five countries in the region in February, before the Swift frenzy made fans do regrettable things on its site. Goodness knows how much grief the suspension prevented.

Making an effort to protect fans, even if the methods will not always work, matters: It legitimises the position of Singapore as a safe place to host concerts.

Apple was making a mint from its Apple-only Lightning port, then European officials forced it to adopt the universal USB-C port by the end of 2024.

What was once thought to be impossible was suddenly doable after the application of the stick. Perhaps that is the only way for companies to take anti-profiteering measures seriously.

Lesson 3: Singapore is a magnet city, so act accordingly 

Singapore clinched the Swift concerts through the actions of officials from the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth (MCCY), as well as representatives from Sport Singapore and Kallang Alive Sport Management (KASM).

Now that everyone knows this – even if the facts came to light through a convoluted series of events – people should relax and accept the role of concert heavyweight. 

It starts with acting like a gracious winner. Fans coming from overseas should have a fun, easy time. Hotels, theme parks, malls and restaurants can create themed events, even without the star’s official blessing.

One example: Swifties were invited to a free sing-along at Jewel Changi Airport on March 1 as a way to welcome the singer and celebrate with her fans. More than 1,000 people showed up at the event organised by the Changi Airport Group.

The sing-along was not officially endorsed by Swift’s tour. It shows that with imaginative thinking, tie-ins are possible without incurring the wrath of lawyers. 

How about a ticket lottery for regional fans? The gift can come with a statement that it has been sponsored by Singapore as a way to say thank you – because it is only through combined South-east Asian numbers that the nation, despite its relatively small population, can make a megastar concert happen.