Resale royalties, instant payouts and no fraud: Talking NFT with Exit’s Dušan Kovačević

Pollstar caught up with Exit founder and CEO Dušan Kovačević to ask some questions about the festival’s new NFT partnership launched this year. He broke down the ways NFT tickets outperform regular tickets and what you can expect from the new €10,000 ultra VIP offer.

See: Exit Festival expands NFT offer

Pollstar: Can you break down the benefits of an NFT ticket for ticket buyers, who are unfamiliar with blockchain and digital assets?
Dušan Kovačević: There are many different advantages of an NFT ticket. The first and most obvious is that you get a digital piece of art, making you a “forever owner”, and with this digital asset, festival goers get access to the event. They get a direct purchase without an intermediary, with reasonable prices, solutions against fraud, resale and secondary markets, which is not always possible with regular tickets.

But this is only the beginning of the story. Exit’s philosophy for NFT and Metaverse is to experience digital worlds only to enhance all that is extraordinary about festivals in real life, so that people can truly taste the best of both worlds. That’s why our NFT collections and tickets open doors to some incredible real-life festival experiences that few have encountered so far. Exclusives can include access to the stage and backstage area, hanging out with global stars, secret parties in hidden locations and many other surprises, including the possibility of music superstars playing digitally at their private party!

What are the benefits for the festival organizer? Also does it offer any new customer data previous tickets didn’t?
No one can fake NFT tickets, it is mathematically impossible. The process is transparent and the fees are minimal. There are security measures in place to prevent scalping and other abuse. Whoever sells the ticket receives a lifetime royalty on resale, which is not possible with regular tickets. NFT tickets are unique, collectible, perfect for nostalgics. Payments are made immediately, via smart contracts.

You have already introduced NFT tickets a year ago and you have also won the Innovation award at the 2022 UK festival Awards. What were the most important lessons from the first year?
Last year we took an important step towards the rather unknown merging of technology and festivals, and along the way we discovered a myriad of new possibilities that we hadn’t yet discovered. We were the first festival along Coachella to create NFT collections and the first to introduce NFT tickets.

We have created three NFT collections in collaboration with global music stars and celebrities, all of which sold out in record time. We partnered with NFT-TiX to create and sell NFT tickets, enabling the purchase of VIP Gold and VIP Infinite Experience tickets on this decentralized ticketing platform, and for this project we have won the Innovation Award at the UK Festival Awards.

So the biggest takeaway is that we should keep exploring as we are obviously doing something right!

Watch: EXIT Festival launches NFT collection with Maceo Plex

The latest VIP offer for €10,000 sounds like a pretty high price. Can you break down what users get for their money, to put it into perspective?
These passes will give fans a unique ultra VIP festival experience. It starts with a luxury airport transfer, accommodation in a historic five-star hotel, located by the fortress where the festival is held, and a personal host on the ground. It gives access to the most prestigious VIP gold, diamond and platinum zones, stage passes, entrance to the Infinite Lounge with drinks and food. The cherry on top is the opportunity to hang out with some of your favorite music stars. Last, but definitely not least: 50% of the ticket price goes to humanitarian causes.

What are some of these humanitarian causes?
We have partnered with the world’s number one tennis player, Novak Đjoković and his foundation, for the common goal of building more kindergartens across Serbia. €5,000 from each of these exclusive NFT tickets will go towards reaching this goal. We plan to add more causes each year and let ticket buyers choose which cause they want to support.

Video interview with EXIT Festival founder and CEO Dušan Kovačević: “What happened exceeded my wildest expectations”

What other highlights/new additions/changes to Exit in 2023 would you like to highlight?
Last year we organized and held 26 events in 10 different countries, with more than 500,000 participants in total, becoming one of the largest independent festival organizations in the world. It was truly a year to remember, and this time we want to go one step further.

Our season this year has already started and we look forward to taking over one of the leading technology gatherings in Europe, TMRW CONF [in Belgrade]together with Paul Kalkbrenner, who will play the Belgrade Arena, one of the largest indoor arenas on the continent.

The highlight will of course be our flagship Exit festival, three times winner of the award for best large festival at the European Festival Awards. Apart from some of the biggest global music stars, audiences will be able to experience our first-class VR festival zone, which we first presented at Expo 2020.

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