Ticketmaster trials NFT-gated pre-sales for Avenged Sevenfold tour
Ticketmaster has announced that it has teamed up with metal band Avenged Sevenfold to offer fans NFT-gated pre-sale tickets for the band’s tour.
- READ MORE: Avenged Sevenfold – ‘The Stage’ review
Avenged Sevenfold – which has its own NFT community fan club, the Deathbats Club – partnered with Ticketmaster to integrate its fan club into the system, which will reportedly give fans priority access to tickets and increased levels of security, including the absence of bots and scalpers.
A full list of Avenged Sevenfold’s North American tour dates can be found below. Get your tickets here.
We are pleased to announce the first leg of our Life Is But A Dream… North American Tour • July 18th to August 7th • with special guest @aof_official. @DeathbatsClub members can unlock exclusive early access to request tickets now through Tuesday at 12.00 PT. pic.twitter.com/wP1U2VRJpC
— Avenged Sevenfold (@TheOfficialA7X) March 27, 2023
In a statement to BillboardAvenged Sevenfold frontman M. Shadows said the partnership and NFT gate process are instrumental in “ensuring fans get the best tickets at the best prices without bots, scalpers and long waits.”
By linking a user’s crypto wallet to their Ticketmaster account, fans will gain an extra layer of security through crypto verification.
Deathbats Club NFT holders will have an exclusive pre-sale running from now until Tuesday afternoon for all of Avenged Sevenfold’s currently announced tour dates, with certain sections reserved in each venue for club members.
The metal band’s NFT-enabled partnership with Ticketmaster is just the first step in the ticketing platform’s plans for further NFT integration. “Avenged Sevenfold used the opportunity to offer early access to tickets, but there are a number of ways it could be used by artists in the future,” Ticketmaster executive VP of Global Music David Marcus said in a statement to Billboard. “From unlocking premium seats to special experiences like sitting in on sound check.”
Avenged Sevenfold’s ‘Life Is But A Dream…’ North American tour dates are:
July:
18 – Camden, NJ
19 – Mansfield, MA
21 – Quèbec City, QC
22 – Montreal, QC
24 – Ottawa, ON
26 – Clarkson, MI
28 – Tinley Park, IL
29 – Minneapolis, MN
31 – Winnipeg, MB
August:
02 – Saskatoon, SK
04 – Edmonton, AB
05 – Calgary, AB
07 – Vancouver, BC
This development comes after Ticketmaster’s latest controversy with The Cure earlier this month. Earlier this month, frontman Robert Smith revealed he had spoken to the ticketing system to offer small refunds to fans who had bought tickets.
Before the tickets went on sale, Smith said in a statement to fans that the band chose Ticketmaster as their ticketing partner as they hoped they would be able to provide fans with affordable tickets that were not “immediately and horribly distorted by resale” and the platform would be able to combat scalpers and try “to get tickets into the hands of fans at a fair price”.
