The Coachella Valley Music & Arts Festival has announced its collaboration with OpenSea to release NFT collectibles that will serve as access passes to this year’s event in Indio, California, scheduled for April. This marks the second time Coachella has ventured into the realm of NFT passes, following a previous collaboration with FTX that faced challenges after the exchange’s collapse in 2022.
The NFT collectibles will be released in three separate collections on the OpenSea marketplace, starting on Tuesday, March 7, at 1pm ET. The first collection, named “VIP Pass + Oasis Lounge Keepsake,” will consist of 1,000 NFTs. Minted on the Avalanche blockchain, these NFTs will include a VIP Festival Pass for the 2023 event, along with access to the Oasis Lounge, offering complimentary drinks and other amenities.
Subsequent collections will include the “Canvas Welcome Box Keepsake,” set to be minted on March 25, and a third collection with an artist collaboration, slated for mid-April. Details on pricing, tiers, and benefits for these collections will be revealed in the coming weeks.
Sam Schoonover, Coachella’s Innovation Lead, expressed excitement about the collaboration with OpenSea, highlighting the opportunity to provide unique experiences to festival attendees through NFTs.
“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,” said Schoonover. “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.”
Coachella’s previous foray into NFT passes occurred in February 2022, when it auctioned 10 lifetime festival passes on the Solana blockchain in partnership with FTX. However, following FTX’s collapse later that year, access to many of these NFTs became compromised. Schoonover assured that efforts have been made to honor the benefits for buyers of the original Solana NFTs.
In light of the interest generated by the previous NFT campaign, Coachella aims to offer NFTs with festival benefits again this year, this time with OpenSea as a trusted partner. Schoonover emphasized the security and safety provided by OpenSea’s platform, including a new wallet solution allowing buyers to self-custody their NFTs after purchase.