Young & Sick and Goldflyer have announced a “Golden Ticket” Non-Fungible Token (NFT) art fundraiser working with ten of the country’s most iconic independent music venues and NIVA (National Independent Venue Association). Goldflyer is a fundraising initiative put together by Neon Gold Records, Venue Group and All Things Go, in collaboration with NIVA, and the following independent venues: 9:30 Club, Bowery Ballroom, EXIT/IN, First Avenue, The Independent, Mohawk, The Metro, Neumos, Tipitina’s, and The Troubadour.
Starting, Wednesday, April 7 at 5:00 p.m. CT, fans and collectors can place bids to win a series of extremely limited Young & Sick-designed NFT crypto art with a special “Golden Ticket” component, specifically designed for the First Avenue. Each venue’s 1 of 1 NFT piece comes with a “Golden Ticket”, granting them 2 tickets to every show at that venue for a calendar year. Additional details for each venue will be available at the auction launch. Many of the venues have never made a “Golden Ticket” available before, so it is a true once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. In addition to the ten unique Non-Fungible Tokens, aka “1/1 NFTs”, depicting each participating venue, there will also be a series of open edition collectible NFT pieces, available for a limited time, allowing a broader audience to support the cause. The collection has been lovingly brought to life by animator Joe Motion, and Goldflyer will be collaborating with Offsetra on this activation to ensure this is a 100% carbon-neutral drop.
The fundraiser directly benefits the 10 historic institutions as well as the National Independent Venue Foundation, which raises money to assist independent live music venues still struggling due to the ongoing challenges brought by the COVID-19 pandemic. The National Independent Venue Foundation supports a transparent, competitive marketplace serving a diverse and inclusive community of artists, fans, and industry workers.
“The outpouring of support for NIVA and these independent venues has helped us through this devastating time,” said Stephen Sternschein, founding board member and treasurer of NIVA and managing partner of Heard Presents in Austin. “We’re all really excited to meld this new marketplace of NFTs and our fundraising together to help the National Independent Venue Foundation foster this vital aspect of the live music ecosystem.”
“Having been inside most of these venues both as a performer and a fan, I jumped at the chance to get involved with NIVA and these iconic venues as fast as I could. I – like most people – can’t wait to go back to seeing live music, and these legendary venues hold a special place in my heart. I hand-drew these venue interpretations with classic show posters in mind. I hope you love ’em as much as I loved making them. Your help is worth so much. Thank you. x”
Nick, Young & Sick
“After watching Neon Gold artists Young & Sick and The Knocks recoup a year+ of lost touring income in mere minutes on their debut NFT drops, we couldn’t help but think of the incredible opportunity to harness the energy of the space to direct some much-needed relief to the sector of the music industry hardest hit by the pandemic: independent venues. Young & Sick took the concept and ran with it, bringing the vision to life more brilliantly than we could ever have imagined.”
Goldflyer and Neon Gold co-founder, Derek Davies
“We at MakersPlace are incredibly excited to support this independent venues initiative through the innovation of NFTs and a historic partnership with Young & Sick. With the power and passion of both digital art and music, so much can be accomplished and we couldn’t be happier to be part of it all.”
MakersPlace, Greg Harder
This is the first time brick-and-mortar institutions have worked collaboratively with an artist to launch an NFT series. This NFT activation pairs one-of-a-kind NFT artwork with premium, unprecedented, real-world experiences.
With the proceeds benefiting NIVA and these independent venues directly, the “Golden Ticket” NFT auction begins on April 7th at 6:00 p.m. EDT and is open for 48 hours. Preview the NFT art collection on MakersPlace. All of the exclusive independent venue NFTs were created by renowned designer Young & Sick (Nick van Hofwegen); a touring musician and trailblazer in the NFT-space whose debut collection recently grossed over $1,000,000 on Nifty Gateway in March 2021.
Young & Sick aka Nick van Hofwegen is a world-renowned visual artist and musician, behind stunning visuals for artists such as Foster The People and Maroon 5 to Young Thug and Machine Gun Kelly, as well as festivals including Austin City Limits, Outside Lands, and more. As a musician himself his songs have allowed him to grace some of the most iconic stages across the country and around the world, and have found release on such vaunted labels as Capitol Records, Neon Gold, and Atlantic Records.
The auction accepts both credit cards and cryptocurrency and takes place on MakersPlace, the digital art marketplace known for facilitating and co-presenting the record-breaking $69 million Beeple sale with Christie’s. MakersPlace is also home to NFL MVP Patrick Mahomes’ $3.7 million NFT drop, as well as successful music drops with 3LAU and RAC.
The Golden Ticket NFT art auction will be celebrated on the Clubhouse drop-in audio platform with a launch party on April 7 and a closing event on April 9.
