The ticket industry has come a long way from flashing a piece of paper to get into an event. Case in point: Coachella’s new partnership with leading NFT marketplace OpenSea. Today (March 5), the companies announced Coachella Keepsakes, a series of three NFT collections that serve as passes to “some of the festival’s most exclusive experiences and products,” per a press release.
The first of them is The VIP Pass + Oasis Lounge Keepsake, which launched today and will be available for purchase until April 1 (although only 1,000 will be made available). This asset will offer access to a 2024 VIP Festival Pass and the Oasis Lounge, a new offering described as “a serene space offering exclusive bar benefits with limited complimentary drinks, a shaded lounge, and more.”
The second collection, the Canvas Welcome Box Keepsake, launches March 25 and “will offer varying levels of utility, including unique merchandise, digital content, and access to the Rose Garden VIP area, among other benefits.” The final drop lands in mid-April and “will introduce an artist collaboration, promising yet another layer of exclusive benefits for Coachella attendees,” with more details to be unveiled later this month. More information about the NFT collections is available here.
Sam Schoonover, Innovation Lead for Coachella, says, “Our collaboration with OpenSea begins a new chapter in how we use NFTs to provide unique custom experiences for Coachella in real life and online. We’re moving towards 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. We’re enabling this future with OpenSea, a trusted and secure marketplace that helps us safely provide these new opportunities to fans.”
Devin Finzer, CEO of OpenSea, also says, “We are thrilled to embark on this journey with Coachella, a festival that has dominated the cultural zeitgeist for over two decades. Since our inception in 2017, we’ve been at the forefront of the NFT revolution, witnessing firsthand the expansion of digital ownership and its evolving utilities. 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.”