In 2005, two Belgian brothers set out to create Tomorrowland, an electronic music festival. 10,000 attendees vibed out to the first installment. Now, in its 16th year, Tomorrowland is one of the largest electronic music festivals in the world. Tickets sold out in mere minutes. In 2022, its annual summer festival topped with 600,000 attendees. But that’s not all — recently, Tomorrowland was officially recognized by the United Nations’ (UN) Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon, as a symbol of global unity and community. The realms of their community also touch online and in metaversal spaces, besides the massive music events hosted around the world.
From pioneering the first cashless music festival to exploring a completely custom-made social media network, Tomorrowland is a leading innovator in the music festival space. During covid, they developed online music festivals with over 1 million concurrent viewers. In line with their vision of crafting the greatest music and community experience, Tomorrowland explores a new technology with Magic Eden: NFTs. The Tomorrowland collectible drops on Magic Eden Launchpad on July 15th, 2022.
We caught up with Tomorrowland to talk about their interest in web3, digital collectible and how they see music festivals adapting to the new wave:
ME: What sparked Tomorrowland’s interest in Web3?
T: The level of consistent fandom and engagement within web3 communities is inspiring to us. We love that web3 and NFT projects give the biggest fans a true sense of ownership and permanence over what they love. We were looking to build something to deeply engage our superfans and give thems things they’ve been asking for for years, and the affordances of web3 technology let us pursue this.
ME: Tell us about your drop, the Medallion of Memoria (assemble it by collecting all 3 of Tomorrowland’s collections). What utility can superfans expect?
T: The Medallion of Memoria grants perpetual access to weekly exclusive giveaways and secret shows at all Tomorrowland events. Holders also get guaranteed access to tickets for all future Tomorrowland events, forever. Never worry about securing tickets, ever again. With events selling out in minutes, this utility has never been offered by Tomorrowland before. Finally, holders have the option to burn their Medallion in exchange for a full weekend ticket to the next Tomorrowland. A full breakdown of the NFT utility and art is available at nft.tomorrowland.com.
ME: How do you think NFTs will impact the music industry? What does it mean for musicians and fans?
T: NFTs are the ultimate expression of a fandom since it creates a sense of true ownership over the artist and their work. NFTs will develop into the high quality, high value engagement channel for fandom and the IP they love. We will see NFT ticketing, NFT memorabilia, onsite transactions in crypto, physical-digital integrations between concert visuals and NFTs in both flat-screen and AR experiences, and more as the space develops.
Ultimately, higher quality, higher value experiences have more persistence to them. The experience shouldn’t end just because the in-person festival event is over, it should continue to grow online on platforms beyond the event. The same applies to NFTs, audiences demand quality and value, and the platform or content that can serve quality and value first, wins.
Live Today, Love Tomorrow, Unite Forever. Launchpad mint happens today!