Coachella To Launch NFT Marketplace In Partnership with FTX

After a two-year break due to the coronavirus pandemic, the well-anticipated Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival is looking to return in April this year. Coachella has launched a set of non-fungible tokens that provides on-site benefits and VIP entry to the event as part of efforts to mark this return.

Coachella has formed a multi-year relationship with FTX US, a US-regulated cryptocurrency exchange, to provide these NFTs and create Coachella's NFT marketplace. This new collaboration aims to develop crypto-based experiences at the famous festival.

The NFT VIP entrance permits will go on sale on February 4th and will begin with the launch of Coachella's NFT marketplace and the release of Coachella Collectibles, the inaugural NFT series.

Coachella is offering the Coachella Collectibles collections in three sets. The first set, dubbed the Coachella Keys Collection, consists of just ten tokens, each of which grants lifelong festival entrance and additional VIP perks, including physical products and digital collectables, all of which can be authenticated using blockchain technology. The features offered via these keys will evolve and grow from year to year.

In a statement, Coachella Innovation Lead Sam Schoonover noted: "Only blockchain technology can give us the unique ability to offer tradeable lifetime passes to Coachella for the first time." "As the metaverse continues to develop, we will create more opportunities for fans to have fun and interact with each other and their favorite artists both online and offline," he added.

The other two sets are limited-edition NFT collections for fans. The Desert Reflections Collection consists of 1,000 tokens available at $180 each. One of 10 digital copies of a Coachella poster will be sent to buyers of this collection. They can also exchange the tokens for photobooks containing photos from the festival.

The third collection, Sights and Sounds Collection, consists of 10,000 tokens that offer soundscapes from the Polo Fields.

The NFT collections will be minted on Solana, and the marketplace will be built using FTX's Solana-based NFT marketplace that will allow users to create, buy, sell, auction and verify Solana based NFTs.

Solana is recognized for being an eco-friendly blockchain with cheaper costs than Ethereum since it uses both a proof-of-stake and a proof-of-history method.

Although Warner Music announced last week that it was planning to host metaverse concerts in an Ethereum based game known as The Sandbox, the collaboration between Coachella and FTX is the first time a major festival will be using NFTs as real-world passes. It's also the first time Coachella has ever offered lifetime passes.