How NFTs and blockchain are revolutionizing global event ticketing
Events are an inherent part of our DNA. Whether watching Liverpool in the Champions League Final or supporting a friend’s rising band, events play a significant role throughout our lives and are everlasting memories. Heck, we are living through a global pandemic and are still attending or itching to attend our favorite events, restrictions or not.
If events play such a crucial role in our lives, then why are we so complacent with a monopolized, skewed, and corrupt ticketing industry?
At some point, we’ve all probably met someone who was ripped off on a ticket, was sold a fake one, or complained about the insanely high fees. We are living in a world where creators attain minimal profits from events while their fans are paying ridiculously high fees to secure admission. All of this topped off with limited connections between creators and fans, while industry dictators enable scalping and fraud amongst a long list of other issues.
From a traditional industry perspective, there are various smaller ticketing companies and solutions. In fact, traditional offerings are quite saturated in today’s market. While some of these smaller players offer more competitive pricing and lower fees, they lack ease-of-use, marketplaces, ticketing security, controlled resale, and ultimately only offer the basics, not meeting a certain level of needs today’s creators and attendees have:
The Web3 Revolution…
Web3 has finally arrived and it will change our lives whether we like it or not. With over USD 27B pumped into Web3 so far, most of that in 2021 alone, it is affecting almost every major industry. According to Wired, Web3 refers to a decentralized ecosystem based on the blockchain. Platforms and apps built on the blockchain do not require a central entity controlling them behind the scenes, rather active users will gain ownership stakes by helping develop, maintain, and participate in the ecosystem. In a nutshell, Web3 is the next phase of the internet, decentralized and powered by different blockchains such as Solana, Ethereum, and Algorand.
“NFTs are just jpegs.”
“I can just take a screenshot.”
“All that money for a picture?”
I’m sure we have all heard one of these quotes regarding NFTs over the last several months. NFTs are not just pieces of art or a picture, they provide real-life technical value backed by reputable blockchain technology. Although, the current media frenzy and craze around NFTs is failing to provide some of these key benefits, ones that the global events industry can highly benefit from ASAP. Issues surrounding the current NFT environment such as scams, high prices, and usability should not deter you from their value when implemented correctly.
NFTs are actually extremely cheap to create (depending on the blockchain used) and have tremendous benefits. They should not be exclusive nor expensive, but rather be as efficiently priced value-added technology. We are on a mission to demonstrate these value-added benefits and give you actual insights into how NFTs can sustainably and responsibly revolutionize event ticketing.
Web3 + NFTs = Sustainable Event Ticketing
Blockchain technology has opened the gates to a crucial opportunity we’ve all been waiting for: the liberation of event ticketing from monopolization. Tickets can now be minted, sold, and used as non-fungible tokens. These NFT tickets can have special features embedded into them such as exclusive event access, perks, beverage deals, and whatever the creator wants to include.
Next, let’s discuss some of the immediate benefits NFT event tickets provide if implemented properly:
- Perpetual Royalties for Creators: Whenever an NFT ticket is resold, a percentage of the revenue returns to the original creator. This percentage typically hovers around 10% but is up to the creator’s discretion to set the percentage when minting their tickets.
- Ticketing Security: NFTs are powered by blockchain technology, meaning they ensure ticket ownership traceability every step of the way, deter scalpers/bots from scooping up tickets and reselling them for insane fees, provide a secure way to resell tickets at reasonable rates, and secure ticket transferability between users.
- Personalized Fan Experience: Fans can now interact with their favorite musician, sports team, venues, etc. like never before. Their event tickets become unique digital collectibles embedded with a variety of special benefits, enhancing the connection between creator and fan beyond only the event and art. From a creator's perspective, they can send fans airdrops, special messages, discounts, and a variety of other incentives to enhance the overall experience.
- Secondary Market Control: Blockchain ticketing enables increased control of the secondary market into event creators’ hands. From having the power to enable or disable resale for their tickets, to set a ceiling on secondary prices, the secondary market can now provide fair opportunities for all.
- Increased Profits, Lower Fees: As long as NFT event tickets are minted on a cost-efficient and sustainable blockchain like #SOLANA, they can be sold for prices that make actual sense. Essentially, this lowers costs for creators and results in more efficient ticket pricing for fans. As a result, the doors open for creators of all sizes to take advantage of digital ticketing and not just large names. No more giving away your profits and no more charging your fans crazy high fees. Whether you are a large industry name or a college band performing house shows, NFT tickets welcome and support you.
- Sustainable Alternative: Who needs mass-produced, unsustainable merchandise anymore? If your merch line is sustainable, then fine, but what if you could provide a sustainable alternative? We understand physical merchandise may not be fully replaced, nor are we saying it should, but at least creators can now have different options with NFT tickets!
Time to Wake Up!
Do not tolerate outdated, traditional, and archaic ticketing companies anymore. The technology is here and ready to revolutionize the industry for the best! There are various NFT ticketing companies leading the revolution, and we are glad to be one of them.
