Singapore has its very own Pandora station, but Singaporeans won't get to listen to it

Singapore just went and dropped a bunch of money on a dedicated Pandora station -- but Singaporeans won't get to listen to it.

Behind the project is the Singapore Tourism Board, which got the Music Society of Singapore (SGMUSO) to curate a playlist 80 tracks from 30 Singaporean artists. It went live on Wednesday on the U.S. streaming music service.

Pandora hasn't been available in Singapore since 2007, when it had to block access to users outside of the U.S. due to licensing issues. The service remains accessible only in the U.S., and Australia and New Zealand now.

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Singapore's tie-up with Pandora is part of a flashy tourism campaign aimed at West Coast millennials. In September, the Singapore Tourism Board got Lyft to wrap a bunch of their cars in custom Singapore-branded art, and surprised a few lucky Lyft riders with an all-expense paid trip to the tropical city-state.

The Pandora project will offer a similar prize. Users will be served audio and display ads pushing the new station, as well as to a contest entry page to win a trip for two to Singapore.

Kershing Goh, regional director for the Americas at the Singapore Tourism Board, told Mashable:

"Through tie-ups with unconventional West Coast brands which share like-minded consumer audiences, we hope to present the authentic voice of Singapore through our artists," she said.

Singapore has been pretty keen on courting Silicon Valley types over to the high-tech city. The government has doled out plenty of startup grants, and made it welcoming for venture capitalists, in hopes of jumpstarting the next Google or Facebook.

The country's also been trying to get Singaporeans living in the Valley to come home and contribute to the tech industry here. So the new radio station may be able to help in that regard -- by triggering some homesickness.