OUR Music Festival: Blockchain-Powered Festival Network To Debut In S.F. With Zedd; Prime Social Group, Paradigm, CAA Agents Providing Muscle

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In what is being called the launch of the first blockchain-powered festival network, Our Music Festival kicks off Oct. 20 at the San Francisco Civic Center Plaza topped by Zedd, with more artists to be announced and goals of changing the way festivals are experienced.

In collaboration with dance music producer 3LAU, blockchain studio SingularDTV and Columbus-based festival promoter Prime Social Group, OMF is setting out to change the festival experience.

“The way festivals work right now: you buy a ticket, you go to an event, you consume that experience, and you don’t get anything else even though you’re providing so much more value in the process,” 3LAU CEO Justin Blau, who is also a producer and musician, told Pollstar. “You get to do it all again next year and usually pay a higher ticket price, that’s how live music has existed.” 

OMF will use blockchain technology to grant a type of “sky mile” that rewards concert attendees for participation and gives them bigger influence in an event, all the way to even potentially helping pick the artist lineup.

“The difference between what we’re doing and any other cryptocurrency project is that we provide real-world-use case for redemption. OMF will provide discounted and early access to tickets, backstage tours, food and beverage, or merch, the possibilities are pretty endless,” Blau said, adding that the OMF festivals will have their own native currency as the network rolls out. 

Also involved in the OMF launch are AM Only founder and Paradigm partner Paul Morris and Paradigm agents Lee Anderson, Sam Hunt, and CAA agents Hunter Williams, Zach Iser and Phil Quist.

Prime Social Group Co-CEO and founder Adam Lynn tells Pollstar the SF show will have one stage and about eight artists, at 12,000 capacity for the one-day event.  He says the Paradigm agents are acting as advisers and helping to expand OMF to to Europe and Asia. The goal is to eventually incorporate the OMF tech into PSG’s own festival brands, including the Breakaway and Prime events that total about 15 events in the United States, as well as others. 

The San Francisco event is a sort of rollout and the organizers stress that all of tech may not be fully functional yet as they build up the user base and collect data. While blockchain has become a tech buzzword that has led to a lot of empty promises and PR opportunities, Blau stresses the implications for the concert business are obvious and user-friendly, with the ability to increase efficiency in ticketing and data collection (publicly) on top of giving fans value with the crypto-currency.