Benzinga - A leading ticketing company has had its share of negative news over the last year related to fans not being able to get tickets for top acts. A solution could now be available, and it involves non-fungible tokens.
What Happened: Ticketmaster made headlines for its site crashing due to demand from Taylor Swift tickets and tickets being sold for huge amounts on the resale market.
The Ticketmaster issues around Taylor Swift have prompted lawsuits and callouts by members of Congress.
A new ticketing system recently tested with a rock band could be a way for the company to solve demand issues and make sure that true fans get the best chances of buying tickets.
Ticketmaster, a unit of Live Nation Entertainment (NYSE: LYV), recently partnered with hard rock and metal band Avenged Sevenfold for its upcoming 2023 summer tour.
The band and ticket company partnered on a NFT-token gated feature using the Ethereum (CRYPTO: ETH) blockchain and an existing collection of NFTs, as reported by Decrypt.
Avenged Sevenfold previously launched Deathbats Club, a collection of 10,000 Ethereum NFTs. The NFTs are available on the Coinbase Global (NASDAQ: COIN) NFT marketplace and have a floor price of 0.1469 ETH, or around $264 at the time of writing.
Owners of Deathbats Club NFTs got first access to several Avenged Sevenfold concerts in popular cities New York City and Los Angeles.
Avenged Sevenfold frontman Matt Sanders, known as M Shadows, told Decrypt the token gated ticket launch “went incredible.” Shadows said around 1,000 tickets were bought for the New York and Los Angeles shows using the NFT token gated feature.
Shadows said the purchasing process using the NFTs could lower the competition for tickets and use of bots in the initial process.
Certain sections of upcoming concert dates will be reserved for NFT holders.
Avenged Sevenfold will also launch an NFT-based loyalty program in the future that includes benefits and additional NFTs. The band will utilize NFTs as ways to unlock merchandise, music release and will give out POAPs (proof of attendance protocol) at concerts.
The band is also considering airdropping passes to its top listeners and fans on music streaming platforms like Spotify Technology (NYSE: SPOT).
Related Link: Ticketmaster Diving Deeper Into NFTs, Will Blockhcain Ticketing Catch On?
Why It’s Important: NFTs have served as access passes for numerous items like live events, sporting events and more. Tickets have long been seen as a benefactor of the technology and a way for fans to show loyalty and get rewarded for loyalty.
“Linking to live shows created a unique value, and we developed our token-gating capabilities based on how artists want to connect their community to their concerts,” Ticketmaster’s EVP of Global Music David Marcus told Decrypt.
Ticketmaster now allows any music artist who has their own NFT collection or partners with an NFT community to use the token gated feature for ticket sales or other fan features.
“Avenged Sevenfold used the capability to offer first access to tickets, but there are a variety of ways it can be used by artists in the future from unlocking premier seats to special experiences like sitting in on soundcheck.”
Marcus said that Ticketmaster has minted around 15 million NFTs or digital collectibles using the Flow blockchain (CRYPTO: FLOW) and Polygon (CRYPTO: MATIC).
This includes past partnerships with the National Football League and the recent launch of NFT capabilities for artists.
Ticketmaster processes 500 million tickets per year and may be one of the biggest names to integrate Web3 technology into its existing platforms.
Artists like Taylor Swift looking for a way to reward loyal fans and keep bots from getting the first access to tickets may need to look no further than NFTs and Web3.
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