Ticketmaster is integrating NFTs with its usual ticket sales system. The pilot starts with Avenged Sevenfold’s upcoming tour, but will other artists follow suit?

Two weeks ago, Ticketmaster teamed up with Avenged Sevenfold to bring NFT-gated tickets to fans of the heavy metal band. Yesterday, the ticket company announced it would be making the NFT tickets feature available to artists on a wider scale.

If you’re reading this and don’t really have a clue what any of this means, don’t worry. We’ll walk you through what all this means, and why, as a fan of music, you should care about it!

How did Ticketmaster & Avenged Sevenfold team up?

Last week, Avenged Sevenfold revealed that members of its exclusive NFT fan club, the Deathbats Club, could access presale tickets via Ticketmaster. This began with a couple of shows in LA and New York City. Fans who were also NFT holders could beat long queues, ticket scalpers and bots to secure a ticket. The idea is also that these holders can access the best prices, before dynamic pricing kicks in for general sale.

Yesterday, the band announced the first leg of its Life Is But a Dream Tour, including another 13 shows. Any holders of one of the 10,000 Deathbats Club NFTs will have exclusive presale access. This started yesterday, and runs until this afternoon.

A7X NFT holders can access presale tickets by connecting their crypto wallets to their Ticketmaster accounts. Working with the band’s web3 team, BitFlips, Ticketmaster has developed this feature in partnership with blockchain network, Ethereum.

Will more artists use NFT tickets?

There’s nothing quite as frustrating as thinking you’ve got through queues and secured tickets to see your favourite artists, only for the system to crash. Or, constantly refreshing the ticket sales page, then seeing that the price has nearly doubled.

Ticketmaster is making it possible for artists with their own NFT collections to offer NFT-gated presale tickets to their fans. This collaboration with Avenged Sevenfold is just Ticketmaster’s first step towards commonplace NFT ticket integration.

The company’s executive VP of Global Music, David Marcus, said in a statement to Billboard: “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.” Marcus went on to explain that other perks can be offered to fans, “from unlocking premier seats to special experiences like sitting in on soundcheck.”

NFT ticketing also adds an extra layer of security, compared to traditional ticketing. The unique and immutable nature of a non-fungible token makes it much more difficult to forge. Since these tokens are highly verifiable, it would be challenging for someone to try and sell fakes.

With all this considered, we could begin to see more artists and bands make use of Ticketmaster’s NFT tickets, as web3 and music intertwine further.

What can NFT tickets actually do for you?

We’ve briefly touched upon some of the benefits of NFT tickets. Here, we’re spelling out exactly who you, as a music fan, should be interested in NFT tickets.

Fraud-proof

Since NFTs live on the blockchain, they are much more secure than traditional digital tickets. At their core, NFTs provide authenticity and proof of ownership for digital assets. Blockchains are immutable ledgers, so the previous transactions and owners are publicly visible.

Loyalty is rewarded

When you buy NFT tickets, your wallet details are made known to the promoters/artist. This means that your loyalty can be rewarded after you purchase a ticket. Exciting digital assets, such as exclusive music videos or artwork, can be sent directly to your wallet. These are known as NFT airdrops.

Interactive experiences

NFT airdrops can be triggered if fans participate in on-site elements or activities. Holders of NFT tickets can unlock secret VIP areas, or access an augmented reality experience throughout the event space, enhancing their experience of the show.

Get first access

As mentioned previously, NFT tickets enable fans to access presale tickets, beating long and painful queues. Alongside this, holders can nab tickets at the best prices, and have a pick of the seats or positions.

Beat ticket scalping

With smart contracts built in, the creators of NFT tickets can incorporate rules and conditions. These dictate certain things, like how many tickets one person can buy, if they can resell it and, if so, what percentage of the resale price goes to the original creator.

Maximum prices for resale can also be set, ensuring tickets don’t reach unattainable and eye-watering prices. This way, there is far greater control over the resale market, protecting fans from being forced into overpaying for tickets.

NFT tickets can save fans money on seeing their favourite artists, whilst providing a host of other benefits. However, money does need to be initially spent on an NFT in order to access these better-priced tickets, in most cases.

Having said this, M Shadows, lead singer of Avenged Sevenfold, is already looking into solutions that enable fans to access free ticket passes so long as they have a wallet.

We will have to wait to see if other artists get involved with NFTs in this way. As time ticks on, it appears the music industry is adopting more and more web3 practices. Perhaps we won’t need to wait that long at all.