The popular music and arts festival Coachella announced a new collaboration with the nonfungible token (NFT) marketplace OpenSea to launch digital keepsakes that will have real-world utility at the event.
On March 5, the Coachella Valley Music and Arts Festival revealed that its 2024 edition of the festival will have three unique NFT collections serving as all-access passes to some of the festival’s most exclusive on-site experiences and merchandise.
Coachella is one of the largest music festivals in the world, with upward of 645,000 people attending. It is known for its diverse music acts featuring newcomers and superstars alike, along with many celebrity attendees.
Over the years, the festival has become a major fixture in pop culture and the music industry and is a highly sought-after event for advertisers. This partnership with OpenSea is a move that brings both NFTs and the greater idea of Web3 utility and innovation into the mainstream for direct use.
Sam Schoonover, the innovation lead for Coachella, called the collaboration a “new chapter” in how the event can use NFTs to create customer user experiences both in real life and digitally. He said:
“We’re moving toward 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.”
The NFT collections will be hosted on the Avalanche blockchain network and released over three subsequent drops that pair collectible Coachella intellectual property artwork with perks, including access to exclusive areas, limited edition Coachella merchandise and VIP festival passes.
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The first drop takes place on March 5, with only 1,000 available NFTs granting holders a VIP Pass, access to the Oasis Lounge and an “Oasis Lounge Keepsake,” with the other two on March 25 and mid-April.
Devin Finzer, the CEO of OpenSea, commented on the partnership and what it could mean for the space:
“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.”
This partnership comes as OpenSea continues to weather a rocky NFT market, with February 2024 accounting for a three-year low in NFT sales, with only 199,000 being sold.
The platform is known for being a dominant player in the Web3 scene. However, over the last few years, it has been subject to “vampire attacks,” through which other platforms have tried to lure its users and liquidity through incentives such as lower fees.
In December 2023, the OKX NFT Marketplace topped both OpenSea and Blur — its top competitors — in daily trading volume.
OpenSea’s CEO said in an interview at the beginning of the year that it is “open-minded” to the idea of being acquired by another company, given the climate of the current NFT market.
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