Thrash-metal band Megadeth community likens Web3 to a ‘virtual mosh pit’ – in all the right ways

Over the past year, artists, musicians, and creators have continued to embrace the Web3 space's new tools to connect with their communities and gain more autonomy over their work.

From Justin Bieber's 2015 hit track “Company” becoming a fan royalty-sharing NFT to Michael Jackson releasing his long-lost demo version of “Big Boy” as digital vinyl on the blockchain.

Another big moment came at the end of the year when American metal band Megadeth launched a new NFT collection, aiming to strengthen the community through physical and digital reality.

Megadeth is known as one of the “Big Four” American metal bands, along with Metallica, Anthrax, and The Killers. The band has millions of fans and followers worldwide, including their online community.

Cointelegraph spoke to members of the Megadeth Digital team – Isabelle Caballero, Jillian Valentin and Alex Virut – who are working to take the community to the Web3 space. According to Valentin, the band's frontman Dave Mustaine was the “driving force” behind the band's entry into Web3.

“He always keeps up with the times and wants to make sure that every piece of history is reinforced. He did this in the early days of the Internet by having a website when everyone was against it.”

To promote one of their upcoming albums in the mid-90s, the band did something no other band had done at the time – created the first official website for a band.

The idea for the website is “to be a virtual city called Megadeth Arizona in cyberspace, where fans can gather in an online community to chat with each other and get information about Megadeth, including news about their upcoming album, listen to samples, and information about their record and tour dates.”

This idea behind the website parallels the vision for many in the Web3 space, but now it has new tools to enhance those capabilities.

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Caballero says, “Dave always wants to incorporate the digital side of his life into his fans… If he finds out about something that he thinks his fans will benefit from, he wants to take it and run with it.

“The biggest thing here for us is building the ultimate community that can last a lifetime beyond the lifetime of the band. [fans] They feel like they're part of something bigger than a fan club – like they have their own family.

All three said their Web3 initiatives were successful in converting older generations of fans who “didn't even know what a wallet was” to engage with Web3. “It's amazing to see,” Valentin said.

Megadeth's digital team said they have seen fans come together in online spaces to give back and help each other.

“When you donate ETH, when you donate NFTs, we have people teaching each other how to be a part of this and that's what we want.”

Caballero went on to liken the place to a mush pit.

“We always bring the virtual mosh pit,” she said. “I don't know if you've ever actually seen a mosh pit, but it looks really intense and powerful. It's full of angst and lots of entry. But if something happens, someone is there to pick you up, stop and hold your hand, pull you out of it, or roll you back and make sure you're okay. He said.

This is the vision of the team and the entire community as they complete this new era of digital spaces with Web3, she said.

“We will be with you in the middle of the chaos. We teach you, we do the work. But if you fall by the wayside, you are confused. We'll hold your hand, we'll take you, and we'll do it together.

The band says their new collection, which dropped at the end of December, is still just the beginning of what they plan to do to bring the metal community forward.

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