NFTs Have Entered the Chat

A year ago we might have looked at the music industry and tech industry as two very different entities, but twelve months and a million live streams later it has been made pretty clear that there’s nowhere to go but up — and the question everyone is asking is — are NFTs the future of music festival ticketing? 

Let’s start with the basics, what in the world are NFTs and why should you care? Short for non-fungible token, NFTs, similar to bitcoin, are used to exchange for purchases on the internet. They represent a certificate of authenticity, making every purchase unique. As of February, they have doubled their total volume in USD, taking the world by storm and changing the way everyday interactions and purchases are happening. Things like art, trading cards, and yes, even concert tickets, are being sold with NFTs. 

On Wednesday, March 3rd, Kings of Leon made history by announcing their eighth album, When Your See Yourself, will be sold — you guessed it — by NFTs. For $50 you can purchase your unique digital copy of the album, making this one of the most intimate album releases since the rise of Apple Music and Spotify. 

Digital art is also reaping the benefits of NFT interactions. Canadian musician Grimes recently put some of her artwork up for sale using NFTs. Her series of 10 artworks, some one-of-a-kind and others with thousands of copies — sold for over $6 million in one day. One of her artworks titled ‘Death of the Old’ was among one of the highest-priced pieces sold as a video: showcasing flying cherubs, a cross, a sword, and glowing light that’s set to an original song by her. 

For artists who have a more tech-savvy audience, NFTs are a genius way to create a new revenue stream, especially why we are still functioning in the tour-less music industry state. Working independently from streaming platforms, album sales, and ticketing platforms, NFTs allow for the artist to keep 100% of the profits, limiting the need for third-party sellers. 

Cryptocurrency can also be a great way to connect artists with their fans. For example, Post Malone teamed up with the social money platform Fyooz to launch a celebrity beer pong league. “We’re working hard to bring the entertainment business and the crypto community together at Fyooz,” says Dre London, Post Malone’s manager. “The different types of entertainment, experiences, and innovative NFTs we’re working on can help drive mass adoption and evolve the live entertainment business at the same time.”

So what’s the catch? Copyright is a huge potential issue with using NFTs, even for artists. For example, if a record label owns all of a musician’s song rights and merchandise, it could be illegal for an artist to independently sell via NFTs. However they can be a great way to sell other things to your audience, autographs being a great example. 

So the real question is what does the future look like? Will Ideaison pivot to selling our Retrospekt tickets via NFTS or is it merely a phase? When you get down to it, the real discussion is about ownership and rights. And since you can only show ownership to other people that can read blockchain data, we may never understand what the real hype is about or what the future holds. But what we do know is nothing is impossible, and in 2021 nothing is shocking anymore.