Philippines now a go-to stop for artists, affirms Live Nation PH boss
MANILA, Philippines — Live Nation Philippines (LNPH) managing director Rhiza Pascua is confident that Philippines has established itself as a must-visit stop for international artists on tour.
The executive elaborated as much to Philstar.com in an exclusive interview earlier this month, noting how her team is capable of gauging an artist's popularity.
She first explained that the head office of Live Nation Entertainment in Los Angeles reaches out to artists to make them exclusive to the promoter whenever they tour a new album.
Live Nation will offer a price for exclusivity and regardless of how much higher local promoters offer for an artist to perform in a given country, it will be turned down because of the existing contract with Live Nation.
This is the case for big names like Coldplay, Lady Gaga, Bruno Mars, Harry Styles, Madonna, U2, and BTS, many of which Pascua has brought to the Philippines under LNPH or its predecessor Music Management International.
The main office calls her to ask if a particular artist is popular in the Philippines, and if the answer is yes, the country would be a tour stop. A host country will be temporarily skipped if the artist is not known.
Serving as the backdrop for these is an in-house data analytics program she has been using since 2018, when she was in business school.
For the most part, there is not much convincing needed to ask artists to include the Philippines in tours — the data speaks for itself. Cases differ for particular artists, especially some whom Pascua mentioned are "too lazy" to go from one city to another.
Related: Live Nation Philippines head Rhiza Pascua reflects on country's concert culture
The executive reiterated, though, that the Philippines definitely established itself as a go-to tour stop because she gets calls all the time.
Pascua admitted that she had to turn down opportunities due to an artist's low marketability, such as inquiries that feature country and Latin music artists.
There are also cases where Pascua would decline hosting two artists in a row but accept a third one "kasi nakakahiya na, kahit alam nang malulugi."
"Sometimes, but very rare, do I make a mistake. May pulso na ako eh," she pointed out, both for cases where she expected shows to sell but did not or she was surprised an artist drew more sales than expected.
An example of the latter was the concert of Indonesian artist Niki, where Pascua initially agreed to one day, but in the end, the artist held three concerts. The third show was held almost a month later because there was no large venue available.
Niki held back-to-back shows last February 2025 at the Mall of Asia Arena, continued her "Buzz" tour around Asia, then returned to the Philippines on March 1 to perform at the Araneta Coliseum.
Pascua tried to recall if Niki's case qualified as a rare occurrence where LNPH "saved" another country where ticket sales were not doing well.
She explained that Live Nation would be dealt penalties if the promoter cannot deliver on the number of promised shows to an artist, so instead of canceling, Live Nation will try to move a show to another country where an artist has a certified draw.
"Alam nila malakas dito. Pinasa nila sa akin 'yung burden pero hindi naman naging burden, naging okay naman si Niki," Pascua ended. "Um-oo na nga ako sa second show, third show binigay rin sa akin! Weird 'yun kasi magastos eh."
RELATED: Give BTS a standout welcome for their return, asks Live Nation Philippines boss
- Latest
- Trending
