Over the past year, music NFTs have maintained popularity within niche Web3 communities, but practical applications of NFTs for the general public have, for the most part, stalled.
On Monday, Ticketmaster debuted an NFT-gated ticket pre-sale for Avenged Sevenfold’s upcoming tour.[1] The offer was made available to the metal band’s fanclub, the Deathbats Club. Owners of the 10,000 Deathbats Club Ethereum NFTs were offered early access to buy tickets to the band’s upcoming New York City and Los Angeles arena shows in June. About 1,000 (or 10%) of the tickets were purchased using the NFT-gating feature.
For many within the Web3 community, this is a step in the right direction. It’s an application of blockchain technology that rewards the band’s most devout superfans with priority access and the best prices. Furthermore, it prevents these superfans from having to compete with scalpers and bots or having to wait in long queues.
In the future, this will also provide artists with more flexibility, allowing them to cater to their fans in different geographic locations. If an artist goes on tour, there is a good chance that they will pass through both LiveNation/Ticketmaster venues and AEG venues (not to mention venues owned by smaller, independent promoters).[2] With NFT pre-sales, this allows for interoperability between all venues, making sure that the pre-sale reaches all fans who are seeking tickets, regardless of which promoter is running the show. Artists have little choice in what ticketing companies run their shows, so this puts a bit more power into the hands of artists.
With enough momentum, there is the potential for NFT pre-sales (or NFT tickets) to introduce a broader audience to blockchain technology, demystifying the purpose of the technology. If Avenged Sevenfold fans receive a much better ticket purchasing experience from buying a pre-sale NFT, then they will likely be more inclined to do it for other artists as well.
Yet many people still have doubts, especially considering Ticketmaster’s rocky track record over the past few years. After a botched rollout of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sale, Swifties (and others) have renewed their scrutiny of Ticketmaster, highlighting the monopolistic reach of the company. With more than 80% market share of ticketing for live concerts, it has become increasingly difficult to argue against that logic.[3]
Barring any significant changes in legislation, Ticketmaster has no incentive to stop scalpers because they make too much money from them in the secondary market. Not only do they earn revenue from scalpers during the initial purchase of tickets, but they also charge a service fee for tickets resold by private parties on their platform. It’s hard to imagine a world in which Ticketmaster will prioritize a better fan experience (i.e. making sure fans get tickets first) over maximizing revenue (i.e. making sure all tickets are sold, regardless of whether fans or scalpers purchase them).
There’s also the question of whether scalpers and ticket brokers will simply start purchasing fan club memberships in order to get priority access to ticket sales. In the case of Avenged Sevenfold, if I were a ticket broker, what’s stopping me from purchasing the Deathbats Club NFTs in order to get access to the pre-sale NFTs?
And finally, the technical roadblocks of Web3 adoption for a broader audience still remain. In order to purchase the Avenged Sevenfold tickets, you needed to have purchased the Deathbats Club NFT, held that NFT in your wallet, connected your wallet to the pre-sale site, and finally purchased your ticket. For a majority of people, purchasing an NFT and holding that NFT in a wallet are still completely unfamiliar concepts.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite the obstacles that exist, this experiment should be seen for what it is: a practical application of blockchain technology that rewarded superfans. In the minds of many, the reputation of NFTs and Web3 has been tarnished by rugpulls and scams. This at least provides people with a clear use case that can be easily understood: purchase the NFT and get first access to tickets. No scams, no speculation—just a band trying to do right by their fans.
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Over the past year, music NFTs have maintained popularity within niche Web3 communities, but practical applications of NFTs for the general public have, for the most part, stalled.
On Monday, Ticketmaster debuted an NFT-gated ticket pre-sale for Avenged Sevenfold’s upcoming tour.[1] The offer was made available to the metal band’s fanclub, the Deathbats Club. Owners of the 10,000 Deathbats Club Ethereum NFTs were offered early access to buy tickets to the band’s upcoming New York City and Los Angeles arena shows in June. About 1,000 (or 10%) of the tickets were purchased using the NFT-gating feature.
For many within the Web3 community, this is a step in the right direction. It’s an application of blockchain technology that rewards the band’s most devout superfans with priority access and the best prices. Furthermore, it prevents these superfans from having to compete with scalpers and bots or having to wait in long queues.
In the future, this will also provide artists with more flexibility, allowing them to cater to their fans in different geographic locations. If an artist goes on tour, there is a good chance that they will pass through both LiveNation/Ticketmaster venues and AEG venues (not to mention venues owned by smaller, independent promoters).[2] With NFT pre-sales, this allows for interoperability between all venues, making sure that the pre-sale reaches all fans who are seeking tickets, regardless of which promoter is running the show. Artists have little choice in what ticketing companies run their shows, so this puts a bit more power into the hands of artists.
With enough momentum, there is the potential for NFT pre-sales (or NFT tickets) to introduce a broader audience to blockchain technology, demystifying the purpose of the technology. If Avenged Sevenfold fans receive a much better ticket purchasing experience from buying a pre-sale NFT, then they will likely be more inclined to do it for other artists as well.
Yet many people still have doubts, especially considering Ticketmaster’s rocky track record over the past few years. After a botched rollout of the Taylor Swift Eras Tour ticket sale, Swifties (and others) have renewed their scrutiny of Ticketmaster, highlighting the monopolistic reach of the company. With more than 80% market share of ticketing for live concerts, it has become increasingly difficult to argue against that logic.[3]
Barring any significant changes in legislation, Ticketmaster has no incentive to stop scalpers because they make too much money from them in the secondary market. Not only do they earn revenue from scalpers during the initial purchase of tickets, but they also charge a service fee for tickets resold by private parties on their platform. It’s hard to imagine a world in which Ticketmaster will prioritize a better fan experience (i.e. making sure fans get tickets first) over maximizing revenue (i.e. making sure all tickets are sold, regardless of whether fans or scalpers purchase them).
There’s also the question of whether scalpers and ticket brokers will simply start purchasing fan club memberships in order to get priority access to ticket sales. In the case of Avenged Sevenfold, if I were a ticket broker, what’s stopping me from purchasing the Deathbats Club NFTs in order to get access to the pre-sale NFTs?
And finally, the technical roadblocks of Web3 adoption for a broader audience still remain. In order to purchase the Avenged Sevenfold tickets, you needed to have purchased the Deathbats Club NFT, held that NFT in your wallet, connected your wallet to the pre-sale site, and finally purchased your ticket. For a majority of people, purchasing an NFT and holding that NFT in a wallet are still completely unfamiliar concepts.
But it’s not all doom and gloom. Despite the obstacles that exist, this experiment should be seen for what it is: a practical application of blockchain technology that rewarded superfans. In the minds of many, the reputation of NFTs and Web3 has been tarnished by rugpulls and scams. This at least provides people with a clear use case that can be easily understood: purchase the NFT and get first access to tickets. No scams, no speculation—just a band trying to do right by their fans.
