I got VIP access through an NFT club to see Jack Harlow

• Dancing Seahorse sells NFTs that offer exclusive benefits to music fans.
• I attended Jack Harlow’s recent concert in Brooklyn in a VIP suite hosted by the startup.
• CEO Alex Nahai said he is targeting music fans, not necessarily hardcore crypto believers.

My early impression of Dancing Seahorse, a startup that promises “global access to a range of exclusive experiences” through non-fungible tokens, was that it felt neither Web3 nor particularly exclusive.

The company had invited me to a VIP suite at the Barclays Center in Brooklyn, New York, to see rapper Jack Harlow perform. I had gotten my free ticket through SeatGeek, a certain Web2 company, and stood in line for almost an hour waiting for the doors to open. It turned out that I had been told the wrong time to arrive and Alex Nahai, co-founder and CEO of Dancing Seahorse, had been delayed by a traffic control.

After a quick security check, I finally made it to the suite, which several attendants quickly set about restocking with food and drink: burgers, sushi, brownies, Brooklyn Nets-branded water, Casamigos tequila. Our seats were towards the center and to the right of the stadium, giving a good but not spectacular view of the stage. More VIP guests came in, about 20 of us in all.

Planning and travel mishaps aside, the experience felt pleasant but not extravagant – a far cry from the yacht parties and all-night rages of crypto events in the past. But extravagance wasn’t necessarily the goal, Nahai told me when he arrived.

“We try to make people feel cared for and cared for,” he said. “When I was a kid, Vegas was known for the best service and the lowest prices. And now it’s, like, the highest prices, and it’s definitely not necessarily the best.”

Until five months ago, when he founded Dancing Seahorse, Nahai wasn’t really interested in crypto or Web3, he told me. A lawyer by training, he had worked in music production and A&R for about 18 years, including stints at Interscope and Atlantic Records. He first became interested in NFTs as a potential way to protect intellectual property.

But then he began to think about how the magic he felt in his early days in the music business had disappeared. More than a decade and a half ago, as an intern, he had gotten to stand on stage to watch DJ Calvin Harris perform at Coachella. Today, he said, even top-level music executives wouldn’t have that kind of access.

This is where the Dancing Seahorse comes in. For 2 ETH each, just under $2,500, it will sell 8,888 “premium” NFTs emblazoned with a seahorse that will give their owners access to perks like the Barclays Center suite. The startup also plans to open an exclusive club in Los Angeles, where Nahai lives. In the future, Nahai plans to offer guests the opportunity to rub shoulders with celebrity musicians and get prime seats at top festivals hassle-free.

For free food and drinks, paying more than $2000 seemed like a steep price to me, even in a premium suite. But over the course of a year, the benefits can eventually break even, especially when festival tickets cost hundreds of dollars a pop for general admission.

“The amount of access you get for the 2 ETH is, in my opinion, worth it,” he told me. “As I, as a music lover, would pay it.”

Dancing Seahorse’s goal is in line with a broader industry shift to make NFTs useful in the real world. As the value of most NFTs has fallen, even their enthusiasts recognize that the profile picture is not enough for tokens to have staying power.

“What do you get with a boring monkey?” Nahai said. “They’ve had a yacht party!”

The startup is also selling 444 “legendary” NFTs for $100,000 each to celebrities, investors and other wealthy figures. About 70 of them have been sold so far — their buyers have included rappers Polo G, Iggy Azalea and G Herbo, Nahai said.

Of course, membership clubs have existed long before Web3. I asked Nahai what NFTs brought to the equation. A common argument is that NFTs allow people to recoup the cost of their memberships if they no longer want them, which Nahai echoed. If entry to a Dancing Seahorse event becomes a popular ticket, he added, the NFTs could go up in value, allowing members to make money if they sell them.

It was perhaps no coincidence, then, that Dancing Seahorse’s suite drew quite a crypto-curious crowd. I met two women who worked for Web3 startups. One man, a film producer, had gone to Crypto Bahamas, the conference run by Sam Bankman-Fried, the billionaire founder and CEO of FTX.

But ultimately, Nahai told me, he’s not targeting Web3 diehards.

“I don’t think our business model depends on how the NFT or crypto market does,” he said, “because at the end of the day, you either want to be part of our membership club where you can see these music-related events, or you do not.”