Ticketmaster Launches NFT-Gated Ticket Sales with Avenged Sevenfold: A New Era for Concert Access 2024

NFT-Gated: Within Web3 communities, NFTs have been utilized as access passes for virtual spaces and live events, offering perks to holders. Now, ticketing giant Ticketmaster may bring token-gating to a much broader audience with the launch of a feature that allows artists to offer exclusive access to concert and event tickets for eligible NFT owners.

Ticketmaster announced today that its Ethereum NFT token-gating feature is live for artists. This feature was developed in collaboration with the popular metal band Avenged Sevenfold, which has its own Deathbats Club NFT collection and tested the token-gating feature before the full rollout.

In Avenged Sevenfold’s case, owners of the 10,000 Deathbats Club Ethereum NFTs were offered early access to purchase tickets for the band’s upcoming New York City and Los Angeles shows in June. Frontman Matt Sanders, also known as M. Shadows, reported that approximately 1,000 tickets were sold between the two events using the NFT-gating feature.

“It went unbelievable,” Sanders informed Decrypt of the

ticketing trial.

Throughout the purchasing process, Sanders explained, Ticketmaster will prompt users to connect their wallets to verify ownership of one of the eligible NFTs. After that, the procedure is essentially the same as usual, but with less competition for the limited number of tickets.

“It’s standard procedure after that,” he noted, “except without the 1,000-person queue and without scalpers and bots swooping in and grabbing everything immediately.”

As a @DeathbatsClub holder, I was able to secure two tickets in Section 1 (LA, Kia Forum) for $250, which included a $25 service fee per ticket.

Those same two tickets are now priced around $755 in total, including a $61 service fee per ticket.

I can’t speak for everyone, but for me… Tweet

— EvryDayBetter (☀️,☀️)| bgonzo.eth/sol (@bgonzo00) March 26, 2023

Recently, Avenged Sevenfold announced the first North American leg of its “Life is But a Dream…” tour, featuring another 13 shows in cities like Chicago, Montreal, Minneapolis, and beyond. For all 13 shows, Deathbats Club NFT holders will have access to an exclusive presale running until Tuesday afternoon, with certain sections of each venue reserved for club members.

Ticketmaster developed the feature in collaboration with the band and its Web3 team, Bitflips, which specializes in artist-centric NFT projects. Sanders told Decrypt that he first connected with David Marcus, Ticketmaster’s EVP of Global Music, at last year’s NFT LA conference, and this led to the creation of the token-gating feature.

“Linking to live events creates unique value, and we developed our token-gating features based on how artists want to connect their community to their concerts,” Marcus told Decrypt.

He added that Ticketmaster has minted nearly 15 million digital collectibles tied to events, including NFL games, via the Flow blockchain and Ethereum scaling network Polygon. The token-gating feature is now available to any artist with their own NFT collection or who has partnered with an NFT team, and it can unlock various benefits for fans as well.

“Avenged Sevenfold used the feature to offer first access to tickets, but there are many ways it can be used by artists in the future, from unlocking premier seats to exclusive experiences like sitting in on soundchecks,” Marcus said. “It’s really a blank slate for the artist to decide.”

The Deathbats Membership costs have surged in recent weeks as Avenged Sevenfold initiated the ticketing trial and also held an alternate reality game (ARG) tied to the release of their new album, which included an NFT mint.

According to data from NFTgo, the floor price—or the price of the cheapest-listed NFT on the market—has more than doubled in the past month, reaching an all-time high of 0.17 ETH ($300).

To Deathbats &past

Sanders is deeply immersed in Web3. In addition to launching the band’s own NFT collection in December 2021, he also owns high-value CryptoPunks and Bored Ape Yacht Club NFTs, among others.

He told Decrypt that he “still dabbles with being degen,” but the club was ultimately started with the vision of creating a stronger connection between fans and the band.

Beyond creating a tokenized community of like-minded fans, Sanders envisioned NFTs as pivotal for reimagining fan engagement and loyalty rewards. However, this vision could only work at scale if major, entrenched firms were involved—companies like Spotify, which has been experimenting with token-gating options, and certainly Ticketmaster.

“Something I always told people is that we needed other players to get involved,” Sanders said. “But you’re dealing with all these legacy companies with outdated code competing with new code and things that need to break, so you’ve kind of gotta take things slowly.”

Even with 10,000 NFTs, Deathbats Club is a relatively small membership for a band as popular as Avenged Sevenfold, which has sold over 8 million albums and plays arena-sized venues like Madison Square Garden and the Kia Forum. Additionally, not every die-hard fan is willing to spend $300 or more on a digital membership pass.

“Question for fans NOT in the @DeathbatsClub: If I could find a way to get the best concert tickets into the hands of REAL fans at the best prices, but it involves downloading a digital wallet (for free), would you be open to that?”

M. Shadows (@shadows_eth) March 23, 2023

That’s why the band will soon launch an NFT-based loyalty program on Polygon, allowing fans to connect wallets and claim a free ticket pass. This pass will grant fans access to certain NFT-gated presales and other potential perks, but anyone (including scalpers) can grab the free “Tier 1” pass. It’s just a starting point, however.

Sanders mentioned that the band will provide numerous ways for fans to unlock additional NFTs that can enhance the pass for even more exclusive access and benefits.

Avenged Sevenfold will link claimable NFTs to merchandise, as mentioned in the tweet above, as well as CDs and vinyl releases. They will also distribute POAPs—digital ticket stubs—at concerts.

It also plans to airdrop passes to top listeners on Spotify, for example. The goal is to reward the band’s most dedicated fans for their existing support, rather than asking them to purchase anything additional.

“I think it’s a pretty cool thing that scanning those things actually means something,” Sanders said of tokenized merch and event POAPs. “That proves that you’re very dedicated or involved with the band. And I think these are the people we should be making sure get tickets.”

However, Sanders and the band have faced resistance from some fans regarding their NFT experiments, and he acknowledges that not everyone will be interested in participating.

Rather than argue with detractors—“I tried that, but there’s no winning,” he admitted—the band simply aims to demonstrate “by example” that the feature offers real benefits worth getting a crypto wallet for.

“We’re looking to make it simple for them,” he said. “My whole point is that the more wallets we can get to people, the more things we can do for free, and the more people will understand it.”

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