Introduction to Zayn’s Innovative Tour
The music star Zayn’s staircase to the Sky Tour, his first solo tour since leaving One Direction in 2015, was launched in the USA in October and was completed in March. This tour was unique in its approach to engage superfans, including the use of a "Zayn VIP key". The manager of the musician and the team from Uta Music utilized Fan3 ticketing technology to create innovative experiences for super-care Zayn fans, avoiding online ticket flashes.
The Role of Fan3 in the Tour
Fan3, co-founded by CEO Ross Taylor, is a fan community platform that aims to create a new entertainment ecosystem. This ecosystem rewards both the creators and the fans, focusing on building a direct connection between them. Zayn and his teams from Uta and Zenkai Management concentrated on an approach that resembles a fan club experience, using the next generation of FAN3 to rationalize access to ticket tickets and enhance the journey of superfans before the live shows.
The Zayn VIP Key Experience
With the so-called “Zayn VIP key”, superfans were given exclusive early access, priority discounts, and a deeper connection with the artist. This helped increase the excitement for his comeback. The technology provided exclusive first access to tickets through mobile item pocket passes, an approach used for a tour for the first time. Fan3 also enabled Zayn’s team to collect valuable first-time fan data and offer custom-made experiences in a new way.
Security and Anti-Scalping Measures
FAN3 added an additional security level via Ticketmaster, AXS, and Eventim, preventing scalpers from summarizing tickets for resale on third-party providers. This ensured that tickets ended up in the hands of real fans rather than being resold at inflated prices.
The Success of the Zayn VIP Key
The innovative partnership between Zayn and FAN3 led to positive results, with over 22 sold-out venues in the USA, Great Britain, and Mexico. During the VIP key sales, a total of 78,291 tickets were sold, with 343,377 VIP keys being claimed by fans in 211 countries. Notably, only 2.5 percent of the tickets sold were listed on secondary ticket sites, indicating the effectiveness of the anti-scalping measures.
Insights from the Team
"Zayn wanted this tour to feel different – more personal, more deliberate and closer to the fans," explains his manager Nicola Carson from Zenkai Management. "We recognized a unique opportunity that met with this vision: a way to create a fan club-like experience and build a community without asking the fans to pay for access." Eddie Clemens, head of tour marketing at Uta, praises the partnership, saying it has set a new gold standard for how artists and their teams can approach technologies to bring fans closer to their favorite artists while ensuring tickets end up in the right hands.
A Win-Win Situation
Ross Taylor praises Zayn for putting his fans first and utilizing his company’s pioneering technology to tackle a huge problem in the music industry: getting real tickets into the hands of real fans. The results of the partnership are described as a win-win situation for both fans and the star, with Fan3 helping Zayn to understand and own his data while ensuring his tickets end up with the people who matter most – the fans, without bots, scalpers, or fraud.
