NFT Market, NFTs Explained

What is NFT Ticketing: 5 Best NFT Ticketing Platforms

In this article, you’ll get a closer look at how NFTs open the door to another giant sector, the event ticketing industry by eliminating any counterfeiting.

September 19, 2022

The 21st century is the age of technology and digitalization, where Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs) are disrupting several sectors with their innovations. Some big companies like Nike are attaching NFTs to their products, as a way for buyers to identify if they are genuine or not. With CryptoKicks, users can check if a pair of shoes are from Nike.

We know that the traditional ticketing sector is plagued with issues: you may drop a paper-based ticket, they may get wet and ruined, or they may also get lost while traveling. Moreover, event organizers and stakeholders lose money to counterfeiters and do not benefit from resellers that buy a large number of tickets and sell them to others for a high profit.

So, the cheaper, faster, more transparent, secure, and reliable quality of NFT can improve ticket sales by solving the inefficiencies faced by the legacy ticketing industry.

What is NFT Ticketing?

NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) represent unique assets that can encode digital information from music and sports to art and event tickets. These assets are stored on blockchain networks, are secure and transparent, and can be traded on a marketplace. Like other assets, digital tickets may also be minted as NFTs and sold in a marketplace or on an NFT platform that focuses on musical assets.

NFT tickets are your key to accessing specific events as they hold the private access credentials of the user and are unique to the individuals. The NFT ticket holders often get additional benefits such as exclusive merchandise and meet-and-greet. In this way, artists have the chance to get closer to their fanbase due to NFTs.

This technology can work both for traditional offline events and metaverse events. In the case of a metaverse event, the organizer mints a certain number of NFT tickets that allow the users to enjoy the show on the metaverse. The same thing can be done with an offline event.

After buying the NFT, users can use them during the metaverse or traditional events. This NFT will remain in the wallet of the buyer until they decide to resell or transfer it in the future.

Traditional event tickets have many similarities with NFT tickets. Paper tickets are also admissible at an event only for one time, thus they are non-fungible. Also, physical tickets are limited as they are issued according to the capacity of the venue.

We should admit that the traditional ticket system is not very reliable as it goes through multiple distribution channels without much regulation. In the case of NFTs smart contracts help to maintain the resale value of the tickets. Artists can also expand their community by rewarding their loyal fans and giving them some additional perks.

Problems With Traditional Ticketing Systems

Some event organizers are using NFT tickets as they have experienced some issues in the traditional ticketing sector.

1. Hoarding of Tickets

Sometimes resellers buy the tickets in bulk and hoard them, and it becomes impossible for fans to find tickets at the designated ticket points. This drives up the value of the tickets. Thus, the organizers do not benefit from the resale value, and the fans have to spend more to see their favorite artists. While using NFT tickets reduces the chance of resellers hijacking a large number of tickets from fans.

2. Counterfeiting of Tickets

In the case of paper tickets, event organizers and stakeholders may lose money to counterfeiters. There are skilled counterfeiters who forge these tickets and remove the stream of income from the genuine owners. But in the case of an NFT ticket, it is possible to check on the relevant blockchain platform if the ticket was minted by the organizers or a fraudulent party. This will reduce the cases of counterfeit tickets.

3. Inability to Track Data

In the traditional ticketing system, it is difficult for organizers to find out the demography of the attendees and other crucial information, which can then help with planning future events. Whereas it is possible to gather data in the case of NFT tickets.

4. Restricted Revenue Streams

In the case of traditional tickets, event organizers get revenue through the sales of the ticket but do not benefit from the reselling process.

How NFT is Disrupting the Ticketing Industry?

Let’s take a look at NFT’s benefits and find out how NFT is disrupting the ticketing industry.

1. Preventing Fake Tickets and Scams

Blockchain provides a trusted source for both ticket holders and organizers. Thus, when transferring NFTs from the initial sale to resale, all parties can check the legitimacy of an NFT. It is also possible to prevent resale by making NFTs non-transferable. This means that NFTs can’t be sold to someone else.

2. Reduced Costs and Faster Production

Costs associated with selling and minting NFTs are very low when compared to regular tickets. 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. Hundreds of thousands or perhaps millions of NFT tickets can be created and ready for sale in less than a minute.

3. Steady Income

Purchase, resale, and royalty split rules are frequently integrated into programmable NFTs. It allows users to calculate profit sharing percentages and receive the monies they are owed within the NFT code, preventing the percentages from altering over time due to manipulation.

4. New Revenue Opportunities

NFT-based tickets provide unlimited potential for new revenue opportunities. We can, for example, resale NFT tickets as collectibles, offer food and beverage bargains with NFT tickets, and reward fans who accumulate a large number of tickets.

5. Client’s Trust

All of the foregoing advantages of NFTs boost the client’s trust and will have a direct impact on event attendance and, as a result, ticket sales.

5 Best NFT Ticketing Platforms

The following 5 companies are taking the ticketing industry by storm with innovation.

1. YellowHeart

Yellowheart, a blockchain-based NFT marketplace, is 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.

The Yellowheart platform also doubles as an NFT marketplace for collectible NFTs that coincide with upcoming events. This platform has a mobile app and a rapidly growing user base. Their ticketing system is based on the Polygon blockchain and can sell tickets on Facebook, Instagram, Amazon, Snapchat, StubHub, and SeatGeek.

2. GUTS

GUTS has already sold over 600,000 NFT tickets. It is the biggest ticketer in the Netherlands and runs fully on the GET protocol. Ticketing can be easier, safer, and more fun with Guts. GUTS offers digital smart tickets, fraud prevention, reselling, and ticketing for all markets including theatres, concerts, live streams, festivals, and more.

3. Wicket

An Italian NFT ticketing platform WICKET offers digital smart tickets, selling, resale, and analytics. It offers ticketing solutions for all markets like theatres, nightclubs, concerts, festivals, business events, and more.

WICKET aims to eliminate secondary ticketing as there are companies in Italy that resell tickets at prices up to 10 times higher than the original price from organizers. This platform is also built on the GET protocol and its solution leverages dynamic QR codes, online ticketing, and NFT tickets.

4. NFT TiX

NFT TiX is a non-custodial, L1 Ethereum-based but multichain-capable platform, which can seamlessly integrate with any other EVM-compatible chain like Polygon, Arbitrum, BSC, Avalanche, or Fantom. There are no tokenomics involved, all transactions are done either in ETH or fiat (with CC). The NFTTix platform has a user-friendly interface and optimized smart contracts system.

5. Seatlab

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

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. NFT tickets are built on a blockchain network and are easily authenticated. Their immutable nature prevents bad actors from creating or distributing fake tickets.

In addition, the NFT ticketing system allows event organizers and artists to gain more control over their primary and secondary market ticket sales while establishing lasting engagement with fans. Although the NFT space is still in its infancy, with the rate that it’s growing it has the potential to improve the traditional ticketing system and more in the live event space.