Lakefest has partnered with MetaFests, to be the first UK festival to enhance the experience for all attendees with full scale NFT collectibles and technologies for 2023.
We sensed that something new was in the air as we visited Lakefest’s sublimely picturesque Eastnor Castle site earlier this month, and now we know that the festival owners have appointed MetaFests to harness emerging NFT and blockchain opportunities for the festival, which celebrated its 10th edition at Eastnor Castle on 11-14 August, 2022. NFT ticketing and merchandising technology will enable all fans at the 2023 edition to enjoy a more immersive, connected festival experience and create new revenue streams for the event.
Lee Martin, Lakefest’s Founder and Director, comments:
“We’re proud to be the UK’s first festival to use NFT technology at full scale with innovative, trusted partners. It will allow more effective connections with our audience, offering enhanced value to visitors, partners and artists, in addition to streamlining operations and harnessing new revenue streams, with reduced costs. This is in-line with our future plans, with an increased capacity of 20,000 next year.
“Our visitors are comfortable with new technology, having gone fully cashless four years ago, so this is the next logical step in our evolution. NFT tech offers us greater control over our event’s future, to grow to its fullest potential and offer maximum value to our visitors, who have supported us so brilliantly through our first decade.”
All Lakefest ticketholders will be offered a free NFT wallet containing a digital collectable to recognise and reward their attendance, with something of genuine value that can be traded amongst collectors long after the festival has finished. This also establishes a year-round direct communication platform for ongoing engagement with all attendees, which creates additional revenue opportunities for the event.
Steve Jenner, MetaFests’ Founder and CEO says:
“We’re thrilled to be working with Lakefest on this next chapter of their journey. It’s a testament to the visionary spirit of the UK festival industry that an independent, family-run event, leads the digital evolution of our market. Harnessing new NFT superpowers will make a real difference to their financial profitability and growth going forward.
“We are excited preparing to support the industry into a new Web3 age of greater stability and progress.”
The NFT wallet becomes the fan’s digital interface with the event, allowing them to purchase, win, earn and/or be gifted additional collectible assets, digital merchandise and premium memberships as NFTs, before, during and after Lakefest, as well as taking part in immersive experiences on-site.
Thanks to the traceability of the blockchain, fans’ attendance and loyalty can be recognised and rewarded in ways never before possible. Digital NFT collectables in the form of images, video and audio content can supplement ticket sales or heighten engagement during a live event, while NFT access passes can be sent to ticket holders unlocking restricted areas within the venue when scanned.
Event-goers can also use them to redeem on-site perks such as VIP upgrades, merchandise, food, drink, or meet-and-greets.
Exclusive content captured at the 2022 edition of Lakefest, headlined by UB40, The Manic Street Preachers, Leftfield and Supergrass, will be delivered to NFT wallet holders as digital collectables, along with regular prize draw competitions in advance of the event to win signed guitars, setlists and posters. The festival will be inviting artists at the 2023 edition to collaborate on NFT concepts too.
