Ticketmaster Tests NFT Ticket Presales
Ticketmaster now allows event organizers or vendors to make a sale available primarily or exclusively to owners of a specific NFT.
US ticket giant Ticketmaster announced that the Ethereum NFT token-gating feature is live for artists, and it was developed in partnership with popular metal band Avenged Sevenfold. Owing to the feature, fans who are members of the Death Bats Club will be enabled to use NFTs to secure privileged access to tickets and reserved seating without needing to queue.
The band’s followers had the opportunity to first use the functionality to buy tickets for shows organised at New York’s Madison Square Garden and The Forum in Los Angeles before the general public access. About 1,000 total tickets were purchased between the two shows with the NFT-gating feature.
During the purchasing process, Ticketmaster will prompt users to connect a wallet to verify ownership of one of the eligible NFTs. After that, it’s effectively the same buying process as usual, but with less competition fighting for a small pool of tickets. The token-gating feature is now available to any artist with its own NFT collection or that has partnered with an NFT community, and the functionality can unlock other benefits for fans, as well.
Since I am a @DeathbatsClub holder, I was able to get two tickets in Section 1 (LA, Kia Forum) for $250 which included a $25 service fee/ticket.
— EvryDayBetter (☀️,☀️)| bgonzo.eth/sol (@bgonzo00) March 26, 2023
Those same two (2) tickets are now close to $755 total which includes $61 service fee/ticket.
I can’t speak for eveyone but for me… pic.twitter.com/BjtHcOVobQ
Death Bats Club prices have shot up in recent weeks as Avenged Sevenfold began the ticketing trial and also held an alternate reality game tied to its new album reveal that included an NFT mint.
Ticketmaster joined the web-olution in November 2021 when it tested integrating NFTs with Polygon, but switched the Flow last September. The company has been handing out NFTs as part of its deals with certain artists ever since, but this is the biggest move so far.
Web 3.0 fan club models, like the Death Bats Club, have emerged as a resilient use-case for blockchain technology, even as the hype around NFT trading has died away. Artists like The Chainsmokers and Steve Aoki have found token-gated communities to be a way to engage more closely with their biggest fans and deliver exclusive perks and content. For instance, The Chainsmokers have a Discord community that is only open to NFT holders, where they regularly talk directly with their fans and offer meet-and-greet exclusives. We continue to observe.
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