Here’s the kicker: most bands don’t even know who’s actually showing up to their shows (awkward, right?). But thanks to IYK’s tech wizardry, DISTURB>RED now has a VIP list that’d make Taylor Swift’s Eras Tour team jealous. Fans got instant upgrades, secret merch, and backstage peeks – all by waving their phones at NFC tags or scanning QR codes like they’re cracking a secret rock ‘n’ roll code.
THE NERDY DETAILS:
- 37% of fans tapped/scanned something (because who doesn’t love a good QR code at a metal show?)
- 87% were NEW fans – a.k.a. 96,480 people who can now get spammed with DISTURBED merch emails for life
- 85,716 venue check-ins (that’s a lot of bathroom breaks tracked)
- 39,976 merch items claimed (RIP, tour buses carrying all those hoodies)
Tour dates? Oh, we’ve got ‘em:
- North American leg ended May 17 in Vegas (because what happens in Vegas… gets added to a CRM)
- European chaos starts Sept. 28 in Copenhagen. Bring your Viking helmets and NFC-enabled battle axes.
“This isn’t just tech – it’s a fandom revolution,” says Myles Grosovsky of Q Prime (the folks who manage these rock legends). “Now we can spot a superfan in the wild and hit them with a free T-shirt before they’ve even spilled their first beer.”
Meanwhile, IYK – the tech brains behind this – also work with BLACKPINK’s Jennie and Chance the Rapper. Their next move? Probably embedding NFC chips into drumsticks. You heard it here first.
P.S. If you’re one of the 110,897 fans now in DISTURBED’s database: congrats! Your data will be cherished forever… or at least until the next tour drops.
