Coachella dips back into NFTs with new partnership
Coachella festival has announced a partnership with NFT marketplace OpenSea to launch a series of unique collections that promise to “usher in a new paradigm in the live event and ticketing industry”.
Coachella Keepsakes will serve as an “all-access pass” to exclusive festival experiences and products, utilising the Avalanche blockchain network to turn “digital assets into real-world benefits”.
Each collection pairs collectible Coachella IP artwork with benefits ranging from access to exclusive festival areas such as the VIP Rose Garden or the new Oasis Lounge, to limited edition merchandise and VIP festival passes.
“Our collaboration with OpenSea begins a new chapter in how we use NFTs to provide unique custom experiences for Coachella in real life and online,” says Sam Schoonover, innovation lead for Coachella.
“We’re moving towards a future where Coachella isn’t just an event you attend, but an experience you can own and shape based on the digital tokens in your possession. We’re enabling this future with OpenSea, a trusted and secure marketplace that helps us safely provide these new opportunities to fans.”
The first collection, titled The VIP Pass + Oasis Lounge Keepsake, launched yesterday (5 March), granting access to a 2024 VIP festival pass and the Oasis Lounge. Priced at $1,499, 1,000 were made available for purchase.
“Our partnership with Coachella represents a significant milestone, uniting the digital with the physical”
Coachella and OpenSea will release the second collection, the Canvas Welcome Box Keepsake, on 25 March, offering benefits including unique merchandise, digital content and access to the Rose Garden VIP area. The third and final drop, introducing an artist collaboration, will then follow in mid-April.
“We are thrilled to embark on this journey with Coachella, a festival that has dominated the cultural zeitgeist for over two decades,” adds Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea. “Since our inception in 2017, we’ve been at the forefront of the NFT revolution, witnessing firsthand the expansion of digital ownership and its evolving utilities.
“Our partnership with Coachella represents a significant milestone, uniting the digital with the physical in ways that promise to enrich the festival experience and usher in a new paradigm in the live event and ticketing industry.”
Coachella previously partnered with global cryptocurrency exchange FTX to auction off 10 lifetime passes as part of an NFT series that sold for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m). The ‘Coachella Keys’ collection granted admission to the 125,000-cap festival in Indio, California every year, along with a unique experience. FTX filed for bankruptcy in 2022.
Lana Del Rey, Tyler, the Creator, Doja Cat and No Doubt will headline Goldenvoice-promoted Coachella’s 2024 edition. The 125,000-cap festival will return across two consecutive weekends (12-14 and 19-21 April) at the Empire Polo Club in Indio, California.
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UV lights ’cause vision issues’ for ApeFest-goers
UV lights are believed to have been the cause of eye pain, vision issues and skin irritation experienced by attendees and staff at this month’s ApeFest in Hong Kong.
The first international edition of the annual NFT festival, held for members of the Bored Ape Yacht Club (BAYC) from 3-5 November, featured attractions such as a live DJ, merchandise and Bored Ape-branded experiences.
Host Yuga Labs began receiving reports of issues shortly after a Saturday night community event.
“These reports were – and continue to be – deeply concerning to us,” says BAYC on X. “We immediately reached out to impacted attendees to learn of their symptoms and to direct our investigation.
“Simultaneously, we commenced an investigation that included a thorough review of inventory records, material logs, and spec sheets (including paint and lighting), interviewing contractors who provided and built ApeFest installations, and conducting testing and on-site inspections.”
“UV-A emitting lights installed in one corner of the event was likely the cause of the reported issues”
The investigation, conducted in collaboration with ApeFest producer Jack Morton Worldwide, concluded “UV-A emitting lights installed in one corner of the event was likely the cause of the reported issues related to attendees’ eyes and skin.”
“We acknowledge that members of the community and general public have suggested a similar conclusion and we appreciate the patience of the community as we gathered evidence to support this determination,” it continues. “We continue to encourage anyone experiencing symptoms to seek medical attention and share these findings with their medical provider.”
More than 2,200 people from 60 countries attended the third annual festival, which was the first to be staged outside New York.
“Community is the heart of Yuga and the purpose of ApeFest is to bring the community together IRL,” adds the BAYC. “We are saddened that this incident has detracted from the experience of ApeFest attendees. Along with Jack Morton, we are committed to supporting the recovery of anyone affected.”
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NFTs with utilities – more than a ticket?
ComeTogether provides NFTs with utilities: ticketing, music, collectibles and memberships. Launched in 2019, its solution has supported more than 400 live events, in Greece, the UK and Spain and it is currently also entering the UAE market. Here, it spells out how to engage fans, reward loyalty, build your brand and increase revenue
The world of ticketing has moved at a fast pace. We’ve gone from paper tickets to basic digital tickets to blockchain tickets with dynamic QR codes that ensure validity and protect from ticket scams and scalpers.
Although this technology is more secure, we’ve lost the days of saving your paper tickets from all of your favorite concerts as a future remembrance. Did you know that NFT tickets can be retained as a collectible? NFT tickets give attendees something special to take home with them.
At the simplest level, NFT tickets can be retained as a collectible, but that’s only the beginning. Let’s consider the benefits of NFTs with utilities for everyone involved in live music events.
Event organisers can develop new revenue streams
Event organisers
Event organisers have the opportunity to create different experiences for their attendees. Digital collectibles can be used to access VIP locations or exclusive content such as digital art, video highlights from the event, music tracks, video clips and interviews. They can also be used to acquire physical things during the event such as merchandise, food & beverage, etc., all enabled by a single NFT ticket.
Beyond an awesome experience, event organisers can develop new revenue streams:
● upsell access to visual collectibles (ie event memories)
● add sponsorships to collectibles (ie sponsor logo)
● social media NFT sharing by fans increases organic marketing and boosts your brand
● earn royalties on every ticket/collectible resale
Event attendees
NFT collectibles take a ticket from boring to exciting. There’s something to keep for the future that brings the experience to life whenever an attendee wants to re-live the event.
Attendees can receive special offers and rewards for being loyal fans. They can even monetise their event collectibles by reselling them at a later date on the secondary market. But most importantly, they can now “flex” them to their network.
A very recent development that is taking them mainstream, is that Instagram now enables posting your NFTs on your profile. Luckily, ComeTogether is building on Polygon, which is a blockchain network that Instagram uses, so we are interoperable.
“The owners of the NFTs not only got a special experience during the initial sale – exclusive access to a new track, but are also part of a select community for the future”
Artists and record labels
Music NFTs provide an opportunity to build a community with fans to communicate with them pre-and post-event to announce upcoming performances and share new music. This is not only about building their brand and rewarding fan loyalty, there’s a monetary benefit to music NFTs. Artists can receive payment for NFT music sales as they happen, as opposed to waiting months for payment from a streaming platform.
ComeTogether worked with Hawk Greco, 5x diamond artist (IFPI), to develop a music NFT granting access to an exclusive discord channel to interact with him directly and offer discounts for his physical merchandise.
“The owners of the NFTs not only got a special experience during the initial sale – exclusive access to a new track, but are also part of a select community for the future,” shares Hawk.
NFT memberships are another way to engage and reward fans. They are currently gaining traction with festivals, venues and artist fan clubs.
Want to learn more
Let’s meet at the ILMC!
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Coachella NFTs inaccessible after FTX collapse
Purchasers of Coachella are currently unable to access their tokens in the wake of the collapse of global cryptocurrency exchange FTX.
FTX filed for bankruptcy last week, with “king of crypto” Sam Bankman-Fried also stepping down as CEO.
Coachella partnered with the platform earlier this year to auction off 10 lifetime passes as part of a non-fungible token (NFT) series that sold for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m). The ‘Coachella Keys’ collection grants admission to the 125,000-cap festival in Indio, California every year, along with a unique experience.
According to Billboard, anyone who kept their NFT on FTX is currently unable to access them.
“We’re actively working on solutions and are confident we’ll be able to protect the interests of Coachella’s NFT holders”
“We’re actively working on solutions and are confident we’ll be able to protect the interests of Coachella’s NFT holders,” says Coachella innovation lead Sam Schoonover.
FTX – which also partnered with Belgium’s Tomorrowland – owes its 50 largest creditors almost $3.1 billion (€3bn), according to a court filing.
Decrypt reports that users in Coachella’s Discord server are unable to transfer their NFTs out from their FTX wallets, with others saying their NFTs held in their self-custody wallets aren’t displaying artwork.
The publication notes that, unlike many marketplaces, FTX NFTs was a custodial platform, meaning it held purchased NFTs for buyers unless they opted to transfer it to an external wallet.
“Our priority is getting Coachella NFTs off of FTX, which appears to be disabled at the moment”
Writing on the festival’s Discord server last Friday, a Coachella server administrator said: “Like many of you, we have been watching the news unfold online over the past few days and are shocked by the outcome.
“We do not currently have any lines of communication with the FTX team. We have assembled an internal team to come up with solutions based on the tools we have access to. Our priority is getting Coachella NFTs off of FTX, which appears to be disabled at the moment.”
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Firefly Festival teams with Web3 brand Autograph
AEG Presents’ Firefly Music Festival has partnered with Autograph – the Web3 brand co-founded by NFL great Tom Brady – on its first ever NFT collection.
As part of the deal, brokered by AEG Global Partnerships, all wristband-holders will have the opportunity to redeem one of five NFTs, granting them a range of perks, including a dedicated entry lane and on-site experiences. Additionally, all festival-goers will have the opportunity to experience Autograph’s on-site activation.
“After very successful activations at Hangout and Electric Forest, we are thrilled to welcome Firefly Festival-goers into the Autograph community,” says Dillon Rosenblatt, CEO and co-founder of Autograph.
“In addition to providing many music fans with their first ever NFTs, we’re offering real-world benefits with each Firefly Lumina. We’re glad Autograph can play a role in deepening Firefly attendees’ festival experiences and provide fans with a digital souvenir to commemorate their weekend.”
“Offering fans new and exclusive ways to enjoy their favourite performances, while also giving them an Autograph NFT to take home, is a no-brainer”
The East Coast’s largest camping festival, the 50,000-cap Firefly Music Festival takes place from 22-25 September in Dover, Delaware with headliners Halsey, My Chemical Romance, Green Day and Dua Lipa.
“We are always looking for ways to give our Firefly attendees and avid music lovers the best experience while they are with us for four days at The Woodlands,” says Stephanie Mezzano, VP and festival director of Firefly Music Festival. “Offering fans new and exclusive ways to enjoy their favourite performances, while also giving them an Autograph NFT to take home, is a no-brainer.”
AEG announced a multi-year partnership with Autograph back in March, launching at that month’s BUKU Music + Art Project in New Orleans. Autograph will also work on similar activations for AEG Presents brands such as Electric Forest and Hangout Music Festival.
Earlier this year, AEG’s Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival auctioned 10 lifetime passes to the event as part of a series of NFTs, which saw 10 Coachella lifetime passes sold for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m).
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Primavera secures NFT partnership with crypto firm
Primavera Sound Festival has formed a strategic partnership with crypto platform Binance ahead of its impending European editions.
Kicking off tomorrow, the festival’s 20th anniversary Barcelona event will take place in an expanded format across two weekends from 2-4 and 9-11 June, while its Porto spin-off will be held from 9-12 June.
As part of its link-up with Binance, ticket holders at both events can claim an exclusive Proof of Attendance Protocol (POAP) NFT Mystery Box. The POAP NFT will provide access to the activities and giveaways available at the Binance booths, situated across both locations, as well additional perks in the future.
Binance has also created additional exclusive NFT (non-fungible token) collections for Primavera Sound 2021 ticket holders who didn’t request a refund and are attending this year.
For the first time, Primavera attendees will be able to pay with crypto around the festival site
For the first time, Primavera attendees will be able to pay with crypto around the festival site, with 50 point-of-sale terminals accepting Binance Pay. First-time users will instantly receive a five BUSD airdrop upon making their first payment.
Earlier this year, AEG’s Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival auctioned 10 lifetime passes to the event as part of a series of NFTs, which saw 10 Coachella lifetime passes sold for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m). Serbia’s Exit Festival also signalled its entrance into the metaverse with its own line of NFTs, while AEG Presents announced a multi-year partnership with Web3 firm Autograph.
Artists lined up to perform at Primavera this year include Lorde, Dua Lipa, Megan Thee Stallion, The Strokes, Tyler, the Creator, Pavement, Tame Impala, Massive Attack, Gorillaz, The National, Charli XCX, Beck and Jorja Smith.
Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds will also perform during the first weekend, as will Caribou, Kim Gordon, Jamie xx, Fontaines DC, Earl Sweatshirt, Parquet Courts, Beach House, Disclosure, Idles, King Krule and Slowthai.
It has already been confirmed that the 2023 instalment of Primavera Sound will be held in two different Spanish cities across two weekends.
Next year’s festival will take place at its usual location of Parc Del Fòrum, Barcelona, on the first weekend (1–3 June). On the second weekend (8–10 June), the festival will take place in the Ciudad de Rock (City of Rock) in Arganda del Rey, Madrid, for the first time ever.
Primavera Sound recently expanded internationally with sister events in Los Angeles, Chile, Argentina and Brazil.
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Montreux Jazz Fest reveals NFT artwork collection
Montreux Jazz Festival’s media subsidiary has revealed details of its first NFT artwork collection.
Montreux Media Ventures has partnered with green Web3 company OneOf on the collection, which will feature the works of Montreux Jazz Festival alumni artists, who have designed previous versions of the festival poster.
The NFT collections include London-based designer Camille Walala and French artist Greg Guillemin. Versions of each artist’s artwork will be made available for NFT purchase from 29 April via OneOf’s platform, including a free version of Camille Walala’s 2022 poster design, with unlimited editions claimable before this year’s festival closes on 16 July. The design for Walala’s poster was unveiled last year to mark the 56th edition of the event.
“NFTs will offer us the opportunity to support and collaborate more closely with artists in a more sustainable way”
“Innovation has always been at the heart of the Montreux Jazz Festival,” says Nick Bonard, CEO of Montreux Media Ventures. “We are very excited that this new partnership with OneOf will bring Web3 technology to the heart of the festival, as NFTs will offer us the opportunity to support and collaborate more closely with artists in a more sustainable way.”
Montreux Jazz Festival returns to the Lake Geneva shoreline this summer from 1-16 July. For its 50th anniversary in 2016, Guillemin was invited by the festival to create 60 pop-art interpretive portraits of the musicians who played that year. This year, he has reprised that style for the NFT artwork collection, presenting five portraits of artists from this year’s line-up including Diana Ross, John Legend, Arlo Parks, Ashnikko and Woodkid.
Each of Guillemin’s five NFTs are priced at $20 and will be limited to 500 editions.
Montreux Media Ventures has partnered with OneOf to deliver the environmentally sustainable NFT art collection for fans. Minted on the Tezos blockchain, a Montreux Jazz Festival NFT created by the OneOf’s platform is said to use two million times less energy than other proof-of-work networks. OneOf has recently partnered with the Grammy Awards, iHeart Media, and Warner Music Group.
“The Montreux Jazz Festival has a special place in my heart as my all-time favourite live music experience,” says Adam Fell, co-founder of Oneof and president of Quincy Jones Productions, “We are honoured to be their partner in reaching even more music fans bringing cutting edge web3 technology to this iconic festival, sharing the beautiful festival artwork that Camille and Greg created for this season as NFTs for the first time.”
Montreux Media Ventures aims to create a long-term, sustainable model around NFTs. Starting with the event’s posters and artwork, the project will then move on to include experiential packages and eventually a financing tool for young emerging artists.
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Two Coachella lifetime pass NFTs fetch $250k each
Ten Coachella lifetime passes auctioned off as part of a non-fungible token (NFT) series have sold for a combined $1.5 million (€1.3m).
The ‘Coachella Keys’ collection grants admission to the 125,000-cap festival in Indio, California every year, along with a unique experience, and fetched a total of $1,474,000.
Two of the packages were sold more than $250,000 each. The Infinity Key NFT, which guarantees front-of-house views for one act, culinary experiences and private transportation, went for $270,000 and the Key to the Safari, which includes a luxury air-conditioned tent, raised $256,000. Elsewhere, the Key to the Dinner in the Garden, which also offers a professionally cooked meal in the Rose Garden, was snapped up for $140,000.
The NFTs, which can be bought, sold and traded, were issued on Solana’s blockchain. Resale prices for individual packages on Coachella’s marketplace have now reached up to $500,000.
Two other NFT collections: Sights and Sounds, comprising 10 digital collectibles “made up of iconic festival photos and never heard before soundscapes from the Polo fields”, and Desert Reflections, offering one of 10 digital renditions of an iconic Coachella poster, were limited to 10,000 and 1,000, respectively. Both sold out within hours, reports The Press-Enterprise.
“One year ago, NFTs were just starting to take off. Can you imagine where we might find ourselves two years from now?”
“One year ago, NFTs were just starting to take off,” Sam Schoonover, innovation lead for Coachella, told the publication. “Can you imagine where we might find ourselves two years from now?”
Coachella, which partnered with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the venture, says a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Give Directly, Lideres Campesinas, & Find Food Bank, while a royalty will support the creators involved.
Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Ye (aka Kanye West) are to headline the Goldenvoice-promoted festival’s first in-person event since 2019, which will run across two weekends (15–17 and 22–24 April) at the Empire Polo Club. General sale tickets cost $449-$549, with VIP passes priced between $929 and $1,119.
Goldenvoice has announced vaccine passes and facemasks will no longer be required for this year’s Coachella and Stagecoach festivals.
A tweet from Stagecoach’s Twitter account reads: “As we prepare to spend an incredible weekend in the desert together we are announcing that there will be no vaccination, testing or masking requirements at Stagecoach 2022, in accordance with local guidelines.”
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Serbia’s Exit festival launches NFT series
Hot on the heels of Coachella joining the non-fungible token revolution, Serbia’s Exit Festival has signalled its entrance into the metaverse with its own line of NFTs.
Exit’s first NFT collection is being created in collaboration with “major music stars of today” and trading platform SolSea on the Solana blockchain. The NFTs will be available in the SolSea virtual store in a few weeks.
Most of the tokens will be made for use in the “multiverse” – an “exciting and innovative 3D web reality”, which the festival is involved in the development of.
“In cooperation with the world’s leading IT companies, we are developing a community that will place artists and creatives at the epicentre of events through various platforms,” it says in a statement. “This will give fans and those about to become fans unprecedented experiences and ways to interact and communicate.
“The festival’s NFT collection will be multidimensional, as it will feature a specially created live experience”
“In line with Exit’s philosophy that live experiences are irreplaceable, the festival’s NFT collection will be multidimensional, as it will feature a specially created live experience in addition to cutting-edge digital art. This will bring with it many exciting surprises relating to the EXIT festival and its music stars, which few have had the opportunity to experience so far.”
Exit is also offering an exclusive limited NFT series as a gift to those who are the first to sign up to its new Discord digital community, launched today, which you can join here.
“These will be distributed only on this occasion and provide owners with exclusive content and other benefits, as well as a special status within Exit’s digital community,” it adds.
Last year’s 20th anniversary edition of Exit, held in a 17th-century fortress in Novi Sad, attracted 42,000 festival-goers from more than 70 countries on the opening day alone. It returns from 7-10 July with artists such as Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds.
Earlier this week, Coachella announced it was auctioning off 10 lifetime passes to the event as part of an NFT series. The ‘Coachella Keys’ collection grants admission to the 125,000-capacity festival in Indio, California US every year, along with other benefits. The auction begins on Friday, 4 February at 10am Pacific time (7pm CET) and will last for one week.
New York’s Governor’s Ball festival also offered NFTs through a partnership with Coinbase for its 10th anniversary edition in 2021
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Coachella to auction lifetime pass NFTs
Coachella Valley Arts & Music Festival is to auction 10 lifetime passes to the event as part of a series of non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The ‘Coachella Keys’ collection grants admission to the 125,000-capacity festival in Indio, California every April. Each of the 10 passes will also offer a unique experience, such as the best views of the Coachella Stage, lifetime Safari camping, or a dinner prepared by a professional chef in the Rose Garden.
The auction begins on Friday, 4 February at 10am Pacific time (7pm CET) and will last for one week.
The launch includes two other NFT collections: Sights and Sounds and Desert Reflections. Sights and Sounds comprises 10 digital collectibles “made up of iconic festival photos and never heard before soundscapes from the Polo fields”. Priced $60 each, the run is limited to 10,000. Desert Reflections, meanwhile, offers one of 10 digital renditions of an iconic Coachella poster, with 1,000 available at $180.
Coachella, which has partnered with the cryptocurrency exchange FTX on the venture, says a portion of the proceeds will be donated to Give Directly, Lideres Campesinas, & Find Food Bank, while a royalty will support the creators involved. The NFTs, which can be bought, sold and traded, will be issued on Solana’s blockchain.
“Blockchain technology can give us the unique ability to offer tradable lifetime passes to Coachella”
“We’ve all seen how NFTs enable true ownership of art and media on the internet,” says Sam Schoonover, innovation lead for Coachella. “We wanted to take it one step further and use NFTs to enable ownership of experiences in the real world, too.
“Only blockchain technology can give us the unique ability to offer tradable lifetime passes to Coachella for the first time ever. We’re excited about building new utility and community for our fans with NFTs, and in FTX we found the partner that we trust to provide us with infrastructure and support to help us usher in this new frontier.”
Harry Styles, Billie Eilish and Ye (aka Kanye West) are to headline the Goldenvoice-promoted festival’s first in-person event since 2019, which will run across two weekends (15–17 and 22–24 April) at the Empire Polo Club. General sale tickets cost $449-$549, with VIP passes priced between $929 and $1,119.
Coachella is far from the first music institution to embrace the NFT boom. New York’s Governor’s Ball festival offered NFTs through a partnership with Coinbase for its 10th anniversary edition in 2021, while Live Nation announced a collaboration with artists to launch digital collectable NFT ticket stubs mirroring the unique section, row, and seat of each ticket purchased for select shows.
Last year, Dutch DJ Don Diablo sold what is thought to be the first-ever full-length concert NFT for cryptocurrency to the value of $1.2 million. The hour-long show, Destination Hexagonia, was created exclusively for the auction and sold within four minutes for 600 Ethereum (the second-largest cryptocurrency on the blockchain) on the SuperRare marketplace.
In addition, Kings of Leon generated more than $2m from a collection of non-fungible tokens the band put up for sale through blockchain technology company YellowHeart. The NFT Yourself sale included the band’s 2021 When You See Yourself album as an NFT, as well as an auction of six different ‘Golden Tickets’, which gave each successful bidder four front-row seats to one show of every Kings of Leon headlining tour for life.
The US rockers also teamed up with the Elon Musk-founded SpaceX to become the first act to send an NFT into space.
And on a related note, AEG’s Staples Center in Los Angeles was renamed the Crypto.com Arena as part of a new 20-year naming rights deal with the Singapore-based cryptocurrency platform, reportedly worth $700m.
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