Rapper Post Malone’s concert streaming service, AUX Live, will begin minting Fyooz-based non-fungible tokens (NFTs) that blend the line between art and experience.
The collaboration, Malone’s second in the NFT space, is set to take off on March 18 with a series of NFTs meant to memorialize concert experiences. In a world where attending concerts in person is still out of the question for many, Malone and his manager Dre London are hoping NFTs can bring some of the magic back.
The resulting token structure operates much like a colorful artistic Super Bowl ticket of past years, said Alex Shultz of Fyooz. It’s a collectible piece of artwork that also grants its holders access to an exclusive event.
Such perks might involve getting “backstage” or “flying” with Malone to the venue or even playing virtual beer pong with him; once COVID lapses, perhaps even in person. Holders can use their tokens for access now and then perhaps trade them later.
Built atop Fyooz’s social token system, the experiential NFTs add a crypto streak to one-year-old AUX Live, a Netflix-like streaming platform specific to live concerts.
London said AUX Live will also begin accepting payment in Fyooz’s token for fans outside of the U.S. (Shultz was hopeful the company can soon add the U.S. to that list. He’s waiting for input from token-skeptical securities regulators on the matter.)
Earlier this month, rock band Kings of Leon trotted out “golden tickets” as part of its NFT album release. The latest from Malone represents an escalation of sorts in the fan-engagement arms race among tech-savvy musicians.
Only last month Malone and Dre launched their first NFT crossover event with the suds-soaked “Celebrity World Pong League.” There, as here, the rapper partnered with Fyooz to bring an experiential crypto offering to fans. Holders of the NFTs minted in that event were given the chance at playing pong against the rapper.
London said the Pong NFT event, which launched right at the start of the current NFT mania, outperformed his expectations in terms of community engagement and uptake. He said it laid the foundation for the act to develop the far more robust program debuting now.
London told CoinDesk it’s only the beginning of a partnership that he said will span multiple Post Malone concerts and perhaps branch off into different acts, too. The only difference from a few months ago when he first heard of NFTs: the medium is exploding far faster than he ever anticipated.