First Major New York Venue Goes Fully On-Chain: Iconic Music Spot Adopts On-Chain Ticketing Powered by Aptos

Live event ticketing platform KYD Labs and famous New York City music venue Le Poisson Rouge (LPR) have signed a multi-year ticketing partnership to exclusively power all shows and tickets on the Layer 1 Aptos blockchain.

According to the press release, this is the first that “ticketing for a venue of this magnitude” in the USA is brought completely on-chain.

It represents “an unprecedented achievement for a newcomer in ticketing,” it added.

10x Returns on Tickets

The country (and the world) are seeing increasing dissatisfaction with traditional ticketing companies.

LPR plans to change this and transform the US music industry, the announcement said.

It will do so in collaboration with the Aptos blockchain and KYD Labs, which currently serves 500,000 fans.

Through the partnership, LPR will address the major issue of inefficient marketing spending caused by limited access to fan data.

Venues and artists need to be able to connect with fans at scale in order to market effectively.

This can be done only through a transparent and privacy-conscious ticketing platform that provides secure access to fan and event data, the announcement remarked.

Huge congratulations to @KYDNimale and the teams at @KYDLabs @lprnyc for this unprecedented achievement. Iconic venue x iconic partnership 🎵🤝🌐 Excited to continue working alongside you as KYD Labs demonstrates what’s possible in Web3! https://t.co/JHMVfvrq2E — Aptos Labs (@AptosLabs) July 16, 2024

KYD Labs acts as the infrastructure for music venues to turn their ad spending into efficient ticket sales.

It does this through its integrated customer acquisition tools that automate and “put artist and venue data to work,” thus “enriching” paid ad campaigns to drive reach on TikTok, Instagram, and Snapchat through a link in bio ticketing solution.

“This efficient method eliminates the middleman, triples advertising returns, and sells up to twice as many tickets through a direct-to-consumer experience,” it said.

Therefore, according to the announcement, the consolidation enables venues and artists to achieve up to 10x returns on ticket, merchandise, and music ad spend.

This will create a new standard for ticketing solutions in “an industry with lagging incumbents and Web3 ticketing solutions that make little sense outside of the engineering bubble,” the team argued.

That said, KYD Labs’ on-chain architecture will allow LPR to capture 100% of fees on secondary transactions immediately.

Furthermore, it will enable it to eliminate resale, execute loyalty programs, and optimize ticket pricing, booking rates, and fan loyalty experiences.

Shifting Power Back Where It Belongs

LPR was founded by musicians in 2008 in New York City’s iconic Greenwich Village.

Previously known as The Village Gate, with a 60-year legacy, the venue hosted legendary artists such as Jimi Hendrix, Blondie, John Coltrane, and Stevie Wonder.

As LPR, it hosted Christina Aguilera, Fred Again, and Skrillex, among others, as well as residencies by contemporary artists like Jeff Goldblum and Action Bronson.

Per the announcement,

“With capacity configurations of up to 1,000 guests nightly, LPR will be the first venue in US history to onboard hundreds of thousands of new fans on-chain, giving artists visibility into exactly who is attending their shows.”

LPR co-founder David Handler said that, as a musician and independent venue owner, he wants to explore new technologies that can bring “tangible benefits to artists and venues.”

According to Mo Shaikh, CEO and Co-Founder of Aptos Labs, an investor in KYD Labs, “the need for the entertainment and ticketing on-chain use case has never been clearer.”

A major US venue with hundreds of thousands of tickets per year transitioning to on-chain ticketing is a big step forward for blockchain utility. Eventually, ticketing will all be on-chain. Better interoperability, directly connecting event organizers to buyers, easy promotions,… https://t.co/g7GPpiS6ZW — avery.apt 🌐 (@AveryChing) July 16, 2024

Ahmed Nimale, co-founder and CEO of KYD Labs, remarked that fans can’t afford to go to events, while artists and music venues must spend “more than ever” to reach fans.

At the same time, “legacy ticketing companies are holding fan data hostage.” But “in a world where every dollar counts, fans, artists, and venues need that data to survive” and the partnership with Aptos brings the venue a step closer.

That said, KYD is tackling this problem head-on and “shifting back the power where it belongs,” Nimale said.

He added that in this next evolution of live event e-commerce, artists and music venues can become their own ticket masters.