NFT Tickets : Enabling Disruption For Event Ticketing Industry

NFT tickets are digital assets that hold access credentials and unique perks offered at your events. These assets can make the subject of further transactions, allowing you to easily generate new revenue streams for yourself and your community.

Do you remember old-school tickets that people used to collect? Each ticket was unique, reviving memories, whether it was an EDM night in Goa, the IPL in Mumbai, or a music festival in Manali.

There’s no doubt digitization had streamlined ticketing, but it seems boring with a simple QR code without any story behind it. Digital tickets cannot be keepsakes, which people want to keep and have to reminisce.

Currently, the ticketing system can’t help people reflect on special moments from past events. NFTs have arrived to make tickets more functional and memorable.

You may lose a paper-based ticket; they may get wet and ruined. Also, it’s inconvenient to travel with a paper-based ticket because it may get lost. Moreover, organizers do not get enough security with paper-based tickets—they can be easily faked. QR codes looked like a good answer for organizers, but they’re not that effective for guests purchasing them.

With NFTs, you don’t need to compromise. The technology benefits both organizers and guests. But let’s first discuss some of the problems that exist in traditional event ticketing.

• What are the problems with the traditional ticketing system?
• How does NFT work for Ticketing?
• What are the benefits of NFT ticketing?
• What opportunities does NFT ticketing provide to guests?
• What opportunities does NFT Ticketing provide to organizers?

What are the problems with the traditional ticketing system?

Black marketing of tickets

Fraud has plagued the ticketing industry, forcing fans to pay higher prices while presenting security threats for event organizers. Through misuse of technology, ticketing bots cause chaos, enabling those online to purchase tickets in bulk and sell them on secondary markets at high prices.

Lack of exchange protocol

It is impossible to track customers or exchange data beyond the boundaries of a supplier. The lack of exchange protocol enables fraud on the secondary market. When a ticket is sold again on the secondary market, it no longer belongs to the buyer whose details the event organizer has. Therefore, event organizers do not know who is at their event. Because tickets are issued in a way that does not allow for exchanges on the secondary market, there is no ability to change the name of the ticket holder nor control how many times the ticket will change hands.

Customer Trust

One of the major concerns for guests is whether they have paid for a real ticket or a fake one. Sometimes, customers buy fake tickets on websites posing as legitimate authorized ticketing agents. This leads to lost funds and massive disappointment.

How does NFT work for Ticketing?

NFTs are unique digital tokens stored on a blockchain. Once they are created on the blockchain, they can be sold to customers digitally. Customers then store NFTs in a secure wallet that they can access on any device.

In the ticketing system, event organizers can mint the required number of NFT tickets on their choice of a blockchain platform. They can code the NFTs to set a sale price or run the sale as an auction where people can bid for tickets.

A buyer purchases NFT-based tickets directly from the ticketing company. On receiving payment, a smart contract triggers and a ticketing database sends an NFT ticket to the buyer.

The ticketing company requests to upload the ticket on the IPFS. Hash is calculated by IPFS, and tickets get stored on the database. NFT tickets are created and uploaded to the requested NFT marketplace.

Ticket owners can also resell NFT tickets on the NFT marketplace. The ticket is stored in a smart contract. Once a buyer buys the ticket from the ticket owner, the smart contract triggers, and the payment is sent to the seller automatically.

What are the benefits of NFT ticketing?

NFTs have the potential to enhance the ticketing experience for both ticket buyers and organizers. Let’s see how.

Preventing fake tickets and scams

Blockchain provides a trusted source for both ticket holders and organizers. The transfer of NFTs from the initial sale to resale is stored on the blockchain immutably so that all parties can prove the ticket’s authenticity. In cases where the resale of tickets is forbidden, NFTs can be developed as nontransferable, not to be moved to another buyer.

Reduce costs

Costs associated with selling and minting NFTs are negligible compared to the traditional ticketing system. You can produce an unforgeable ticket for less production cost, and customers and organizers can validate the authenticity of every ticket on the chain and track the history of ownership.

Quick production

An NFT can be minted and ready to sell in less than a minute.

Perpetual revenue

Because programmable NFTs can have built-in rules for merchandise, content, resale, and royalty splits, it means that the organizer can analyze profit sharing percentages for future resale or creative content on secondary markets and receive funds knowing the tickets are unalterable within the NFT’s coding.

New revenue opportunities

NFT-based tickets act as programmable money, providing unlimited potential for new revenue opportunities, for example, the resale of NFT tickets as collectibles, using NFT tickets to provide food and drink deals, and rewarding fans who have gathered many event tickets.

What opportunities does NFT ticketing provide to guests?

• They receive perks and incentives from event organizers.
• They can sell tickets for upcoming events that they cannot attend.
• They can sell rare tickets that collectors desire.
• They can store tickets safely to keep memories alive.
• They can engage in an event organizer’s community.

What opportunities does NFT Ticketing provide to organizers?

• They can create art-like tickets representing the story of an event so that people will want to collect them.
• They can prove the authenticity of each ticket and verify the owner.
• They earn a piece of the profit when a ticket owner resells the NFT ticket.
• They can access potential data to make subsequent events better.
• They can distribute NFT tickets easily via email or SMS.

Who are the top 5 NFT ticketing companies to look out for?

1. YellowHeart – NFTs for the music industry
2. GUTS – over 600k tickets sold
3. WICKET – ticketed milano wine festival
4. ITIX – 2m tickets year soon to go NFT
5. Seatlab – upcoming NFT ticketing marketplace

1. YellowHeart

Yellowheart is an NFT marketplace focused on providing ticketing solutions for the music and entertainment industry. They have already worked with iconic brands like Kings of Leon, Maroon 5, and XXXtentacion.

Tickets for sale on the YellowHeart marketplace

The Yellowheart platform also doubles as an NFT marketplace for collectible NFTs that coincide with upcoming events. They have a mobile app and a rapidly growing user base.

Their ticketing system is based on the Polygon blockchain and already has solutions in place to sell tickets on Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Snapchat, StubHub, and SeatGeek.

2. GUTS

GUTS runs fully on the GET protocol and has sold over 600,000 NFT tickets. They are currently the biggest ticketer in the Netherlands and expanding.

GUTS NFT ticketing platform

Guts believe ticketing can be easier, safer, and more fun. The company aims to disrupt the ticketing industry by proving how unfair and insane the mainstream business practices of the ticketing industry are.

GUTS offers digital smart tickets, fraud prevention, reselling, and ticketing for all markets including theatres, concerts, live streams, festivals, and more.

3. Wicket

WICKET is an Italian NFT ticketing platform that offers digital smart tickets, selling & resale, and analytics. They offer ticketing solutions for all markets like theatres, nightclubs, concerts, festivals, business events, and more.

WICKET NFT ticketing

WICKET aims to eliminate secondary ticketing from the Italian market by selling verifiable NFT tickets. Companies in Italy resell tickets at prices up to 10 times higher than the original price from organizers.

Their solution leverages dynamic QR codes, online ticketing, NFT tickets, and is also built on the GET protocol.

4. ITIX

ITIX is a Netherlands-based company focused on providing solutions for performing arts organizations like theatres, cinemas, and museums. They sell over 2 million tickets per year and are integrating with the GET protocol to be able to sell NFT ticketing solutions.

ITIX NFT ticketing

ITIX already has the infrastructure to deliver a fully digital ticketing solution, switching to NFT ticketing is the next step in their offering.

5. Seatlab

Seatlab is an NFT marketplace that will soon be launching. Their solution aims to take on the secondary ticket marketplace to allow resale with royalties to allow increased revenue for organizers.

Seatlab NFT marketplace

They will also offer NFT collectibles through airdrops and their marketplace.

The company previously launched Seatedly, an online ticketing solution that sold 1,000+ tickets today and had over 100 clients. Their new solution is based on the NEAR blockchain.

Conclusion

Live events space is one of the industries that could be disrupted by NFTs completely. It is an industry that ticketing companies and concert promoters should keep an eye on for potential opportunities and emerging tech to make live events better than before.

NFT is an emerging technology trend that is disrupting almost every industry, including ticketing. NFTs for ticketing bring transparency to the ticketing platform and assure the secondary buyer that they are getting a valid ticket to the event they are excited about.

If you are ready to leverage the benefits of NFTs in ticketing for your next event then let's explore synergies and talk business.