Entering Bat Country<\/strong><\/h2>\nBefore there were Deathbat NFTs, there were CryptoPunks. M. Shadows \u2014 who was already getting into crypto in 2016 \u2014 started hearing about the retro-flavored PFPs in early 2020, about two and a half years after the collection launched. And by early 2021, the singer was ready to have one of his own. After he purchased his first Punk, the Bored Ape Yacht Club swung into the NFT space, and he minted those too.<\/p>\n
\u201cI saw what happened with [the Apes] and the utility that they brought,\u201d he shared. \u201cThen we started putting the pieces together: Anyone with an audience should probably be using the blockchain and connecting their fans and the community and building it that way.\u201d<\/p>\n
Since the launch of the first 10,000 Apes, the project has shown how NFTs can not only bring a community together (having an Ape as your social media avatar is an easy identifier and <\/em>a major flex), but also give collectors ownership (those who hold Apes own the commercial rights for their specific NFTs). There\u2019s also what feels like rewards galore, ranging from airdropped \u201cserums\u201d that mutate an Ape, to entry to coveted exclusive events such as the BAYC Warehouse Party during NFT.NYC in November, which featured performers The Strokes, Beck, Lil Baby and more.<\/p>\nSeeing what BAYC accomplished inspired Avenged Sevenfold. \u201cWe were like, \u2018Wow, they kind of created this out of thin air. We have 20 years of audience building, so this will be easier for us than it is for them in a way,\u201d said Shadows. \u201cWhat we have to do is be really respectful of what this is and don\u2019t just ruin it. Take what NFTs are doing right and then take our audience and take them into that world.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cSo we created the Deathbats Club, which is every single thing that [fans] want from us, which is our time, our energy,\u201d he noted. \u201cAllowing them to build on it \u2014 which will eventually be a decentralized platform for us \u2014 building out The Sandbox, building out the experience, building the community. And the only way we can do that is with tokens.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Value of Connection<\/strong><\/h2>\nOne of the first things M. Shadows and Syn did? Boot up a Discord for the band, which currently boasts more than 32,000 members. The purpose of it was to help fans explore the NFT space and the band\u2019s upcoming project by educating them, and also to share their art.<\/p>\n
\u201cSo it started becoming, \u2018Oh, you understand the ecosystem; you understand the community,\u201d explained Shadows of their Discord discussions. \u201cWe\u2019re not selling you a piece of art \u2014 we\u2019re selling you an experience. It happened slowly, but it was inevitable. I think it\u2019s inevitable that everyone\u2019s going to do this.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI think the band\u2019s really excited about the utility of everything,\u201d Syn added of the Deathbats Club project. \u201cWe\u2019re really excited to have the deeper connection with our fanbase, and that\u2019s what we sit around and ideate the most about \u2014 what can we provide them: free meet-and-greets, or things that are more creative, like exclusive listening parties, or guitar lessons, or tips and advice on the business.\u201d<\/p>\n
With this much value-add behind their NFTs, M. Shadows emphasized that he really doesn\u2019t want the collection falling into the hands of people who just want to make a quick buck, and so, he\u2019s intent on helping fans understand the NFT space and what holding one of A7X\u2019s tokens means. \u201cWe want our fans to get it first, get them educated on it, get them into the space, and get them at the base level the cheapest price to get in on, instead of, they find out a year from now and the floor is 5 ETH. So our biggest thing is education.\u201d<\/p>\n
As it turns out, there was some learning to be done on both sides.<\/p>\n
Getting Schooled<\/strong><\/h2>\nThe band launched in 1999, long before NFTs were even an idea. So it\u2019s no surprise that despite 20-plus years of building an enviable fanbase, not all of A7X\u2019s followers have quite wrapped their heads around non-fungibles and what the band is about to release.<\/p>\n
To help the group grasp how much of the NFT space their fans understand and what their appetite might be for Avenged Sevenfold NFTs, the guys launched their first collection, Into the Ether, in May for free. The drop of 101 tokens featured art done by painter Cam Rackam, as well as previously unreleased music.\u00a0<\/p>\n
\u201cWe wanted to see where the fanbase was based on education and what they would think about it,\u201d shared Shadows, explaining that the band added some code to the NFTs so that they could see how many fans actually had NFTs in their wallets. That number? An underwhelming 17. \u201cSo it was an eye opener to us that, OK, there\u2019s a lot of people that are new to this space that are not collectors and they don\u2019t know what this is. So we airdropped the 17 that had NFTs, because we wanted to make sure they were in hands that wouldn\u2019t lose their seed phrase.\u201d<\/p>\n
Six months later, the band\u2019s first batch of NFTs has increased its floor price from 0 to 3 ETH on OpenSea, the biggest marketplace for digital collectibles. What\u2019s more, the band even got a CryptoPunk in exchange for Into the Ether #101. \u201cWe actually traded the highest one for a CryptoPunk \u2014 a guy wanted it, we said it\u2019s not for sale, and he traded us a CryptoPunk for it,\u201d said M. Shadows of how A7X snagged Punk #1432 in August. \u201cSo yeah, the band has a CryptoPunk now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The singer said that the trade solidified the idea for their next drop, a larger collection with utility. \u201cThe 101 stand alone because they\u2019re the first one, and people simply aren\u2019t willing to sell them, which is kind of cool, but there\u2019s no liquidity,\u201d he explained. \u201cSo it\u2019s like we need a bigger collection where people can get in at a lower price and be a part of this community.\u201d<\/p>\n
The education wasn\u2019t all on the band side, though, and the community is playing a part. Syn shared that the group has been working on getting their fans into the Discord channel to learn about NFTs. \u201cYou can get unbelievable amounts of information and knowledge there,\u201d he pointed out. \u201cIt\u2019s a really helpful community.\u201d<\/p>\n
M. Shadows also shared that the group has been shooting educational videos to help fans get into the NFT space, and they\u2019ll be released leading up to the drop of Deathbats Club.<\/p>\n
\n
Avenged Sevenfold<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/div>\nKeeping It Personal<\/strong><\/h2>\nThere\u2019s a reason the band chose to do 10,000 tokens for the Deathbats Club despite having a much bigger fanbase. \u201cWe just wanted to keep the digital scarcity thing,\u201d M. Shadows explained. \u201cWe can superserve 10,000 people. It\u2019s not going to be as personal if it\u2019s 20,000 to 30,000.\u201d<\/p>\n
What\u2019s more, A7X has seen how the 10,000 number has worked so well for other incredibly successful projects, ones that the singer and guitarist have in their wallets. \u201cI think 10,000 worked really well for the Apes, for the Punks and the Cool Cats and all that. We\u2019re going to start there and see if this gets out of hand, and if we need more,\u201d M. Shadows said. \u201cBut we don\u2019t want to devalue the 10,000! We have a lot of thinking to do.\u201d<\/p>\n
Maybe so, but he and Syn made it clear that the band has already put a considerable amount of thought into the project to get it just right \u2014 for the group, the fans, and the NFT space. \u201cA7X being a band, we have to go, \u2018What do NFTs mean to us\u2019 and fully step into that,\u201d M. Shadows said, adding that they\u2019re already planning ahead.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe just want to be well planned out because I\u2019ve seen a lot of projects drop and they\u2019re like, \u2018Oh, I guess we\u2019re gonna buy some land and Sandbox, and then I guess \u2026,\u2019\u201d the frontman shared. \u201cWe\u2019ve been building in Sandbox for six months; we\u2019re gonna have stuff ready. When three months after our thing drops, we\u2019re gonna be like, \u2018Hey, want your avatars with Sandbox, and here\u2019s the land. It\u2019s already done.\u2019 We\u2019re gonna have things built out.\u201d<\/p>\n
Flying Into the Future<\/strong><\/h2>\nAvenged Sevenfold may have big plans for their NFT project, but they also have huge hopes.<\/p>\n
\u201cWorld domination!\u201d Syn cracked.<\/p>\n
But even better, a booming community. \u201cI\u2019m always looking a year or two out: of this community that is completely thriving, they\u2019re completely happy with owning their token, they\u2019re completely building out their gambling in the casino in The Sandbox, they\u2019re having parties, they\u2019re doing virtual hangs,\u201d envisioned M. Shadows. \u201cWe show up and do poker nights or hang out with them, then we go to shows and we can interact with these people in real life and have parties and fly people out.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThink about a community just based around all of these records that we\u2019ve written,\u201d he added. \u201cHopefully, it becomes bigger than the music, to where you can take that out and they still want to be part of that community. That\u2019s my biggest hope.\u201d<\/p>\n
Avenged Sevenfold will announce a drop date for the Deathbats Club in their Discord, where you can also get more information about the project.<\/p>\n
<\/h3>\n Images courtesy of Avenged Sevenfold.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Avenged Sevenfold are taking their fans into the metaverse on the wings of Deathbats. The heavy metal band announced early in November that they\u2019re launching their own NFT project \u2014 the Deathbats Club \u2014 in December on AvengedSevenfold.io at a starting price of between .06-.08 ETH. The collection is meant to not only build upon […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":8357,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"nf_dc_page":"","om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[46],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-8355","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-music"],"yoast_head":"\n
How Avenged Sevenfold Is Reinventing the Fan Club With Deathbats Club NFTs | NFT & Crypto News<\/title>\n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n \n \n \n\t \n\t \n\t \n