Ticketmaster Goes Live With NFT-gated Features

New feature piloted by heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold allows artists to grant priority ticket access to NFT holders

March 27, 2023 03:54 pm

OpturaDesign/Shutterstock modified by Blockworks

Ticketmaster has launched a feature that allows artists to grant NFT owners special access to events, marking another use case for the evolving technology powering digital collectibles.

Such “token-gated ticket sales” are compatible with Ethereum-minted tokens stored in digital wallets, including MetaMask or Coinbase, Ticketmaster said in a statement on Monday.

Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold (A7X) first requested the tool as a way to reward holders of its Deathbats Club NFT collection, launched in late 2021. In addition to presale access, rewards can include specific seats or custom travel packages — at the discretion of the artist.

Decrypt first reported the Ticketmaster launch.

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M. Shadows, A7x’s lead singer, outlined his band’s link-up with Ticketmaster in a tweet earlier this month.

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“This new capability allows artists to get special access and rewards to specific fans they want to super serve,” David Marcus, Ticketmaster’s executive vice president of global music, said in a statement. “Artists like Avenged Sevenfold are using Web3 and NFTs to build deeper relationships with their fans, and we’re proud to help foster that connection through live events.”

M. Shadows said in a separate tweet last week that holders of Deathbats NFTs “had the easiest experience I’ve ever seen for buying tickets.”

“Let’s hope more bands follow,” he said on Twitter.

The launch follows Ticketmaster introducing an offering last August that aimed to give sellers on its platform the ability to issue NFTs before, during or after events.

Ticketmaster had already minted more than 5 million NFTs on the Flow blockchain, Dapper Labs said in a blog post at the time. Dapper Labs, the company behind CryptoKitties and NBA Top Shot, created the Flow (FLOW) blockchain in 2019.

Ticketmaster also utilized Flow to distribute more than 70,000 commemorative ticket NFTs at Super Bowl LVI in 2022.

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