Heavy metal band Avenged Sevenfold, with millions of albums sold and a significant global following, is indisputably the largest music act exploring the Web3 space today. The band, led by frontman Matt Sanders (a.k.a. M. Shadows), has embraced the world of non-fungible tokens (NFTs) by launching its own NFT-based club and collaborating with ticketing giant Ticketmaster to introduce token-gated ticket sales.
The band’s original Deathbats Club, a collection of 10,000 Ethereum NFTs featuring unique bat illustrations, was designed to be the “connective tissue” for broader plans. Launched in December 2021, the Deathbats Club offers members access to exclusive merchandise, ticket giveaways, and a dedicated online community. Sanders believes that for the true value of these tokens to be realized, major players such as Ticketmaster, Spotify, and Shopify need to come onboard.
The heavy metal band isn’t only focusing on its existing NFT collector base of around 5,300 unique Deathbats Club members, but also wants all fans to join in on the fun. The band has expanded its Web3 efforts through free NFT mints and passes that provide tokenized utility to anyone who engages with them. For instance, Avenged Sevenfold held a large-scale alternate reality game (ARG), as part of which fans minted over 900,000 free NFTs on the Ethereum scaling network, Polygon.
More recently, the band launched TicketPass, a free-to-claim Polygon NFT that lets fans gain access to token-gated sales. Sanders envisions these efforts not as a way to force fans to buy NFTs or handle cryptocurrency, but as a bonus feature that can provide exclusive opportunities and strengthen fans’ connection to the band.
However, this forward-thinking approach is not without its challenges. Sanders has mentioned that interest from other artists in launching similar programs waned as NFT sales and prices dropped last year. To create a better ticket-buying system for fans, more artists will need to take the leap and bet on this new technology, taking matters into their own hands.
In conclusion, while Avenged Sevenfold recognizes the potential for disruption in the music industry via Web3 and NFTs, convincing other artists to take the risk and invest in this technology might be an uphill battle. The overall success of such initiatives may ultimately depend on how well these technologies are integrated into fans’ experiences without excessive barriers or requirements.
Source: Decrypt
