Non-fungible tokens are entering the ticketing world. After the revolution NFTs have brought into the art world, other segments now start to see the advantages NFTs can have for their business. Giving out tickets over the blockchain not only provides transparency to buyers and sellers but also makes the ticketing process safer.
Non-fungible tokens are used to safely track ownership of digital assets over the blockchain. I think everyone, including me, had some form of bad experience in the past buying tickets for an event. Secondary sales of tickets are often shady and bound to certain risks. Many of these issues can now be solved using NFTs.
From paper tickets that served as a memory, to digital QR-Codes and now back to making tickets collectibles: Here are 6 advantages NFTs can bring to event organizers and attendees:
1. No more fake or double tickets
People who tried to buy tickets on secondary marketplaces now the problem:
Ticket exchanges are often intransparent and offer a lack of customer support. Many fans lose money buying fake tickets, they get charged hidden fees or suddenly have a standing place instead of a seat. Using the power of the blockchain these intransparancies can be eliminated, building customer trust and more happy fans at the concert.
2. Earn royalties from secondary sales
Much like in the art sector, royalties are a way for the original creator of an NFT to earn a commision on secondary sales. The way it works is to mint a royalty percentage into all tickets that are issued. If the original buyer of the ticket now resells it, the event organizer will automatically earn the predefined commision - even though he had nothing to do with the secondary sale. This is one big advantage over traditional ticket sales as organizers have no control over the secondary market and miss out on a lot of potential money.
3. Offering additional revenue streams
Tickets can be used for much more than just the entrance to the event. As all tickets are stored transparently on the blockchain, organizers have a chance of using this to their advantage to generate more profit. They could for example host ticket lotteries or give fans that own certain types or amounts of tickets with rewards. Tickets can also be given out in a bundle for example including NFTs from sponsors.
In general all transactions of the given out tickets can be analyzed including wallet addresses, number of transactions, prices etc. Analyzing this data on the blockchain is much more convenient and the knowledge can be used for future ticket sales or marketing purposes.
4. Using tickets as collectibles
Next to the personal value of an old ticket, they can serve as collectibles even years after the event was hosted. By combining this fact with the two prior points I made, event organizers can earn royalties of events even after the event is long over.
One idea I could think of is a “Showcase” challenge that the NFT collectible project “NBA Top Shots” is hosting regularly. In the context of the ticketing world, organizers could create challenges you can win by owning certain event tickets. Fans can then showcase their tickets and take part in the challenge, boosting secondary sales and for example rewarding the winner with a VIP ticket to an upcoming event.
5. Reduced cost for creating tickets
This point is probably one of the most interesting ones for event organizers to look into. Depending on the website and the blockchain they are using, the cost of minting a ticket is negligible. The website nft.kred for example offers a pay-as-you-go per ticket price and monthly subscription plans leaving the price for a ticket between $0.01 - $0.05.
This cost is only for minting the ticket to the blockchain. Additional fees will be charged for transfering the ticket to the customer, however these fees can potentially also be charged to the customer and should be relatively low too depending on the blockchain and network utilization.
In general the majority of the sales revenue will be given out to the actual organizer and not be lost in commision to websites like Eventbrite.
6. Quick setup
Setting up NFT Event tickets is easy and can be done within minutes. Artwork, event description, expiry date and royalties can all be programmed into the ticket and distributed right after minting the ticket.
Conclusion
Using NFTs for event tickets offer great benefits to organizers and fans, improving the process before and after the event. With NFTs, shady third party resellers are cut out of the deal and instead the organizer can earn royalties on the secondary market. Fans can feel safe about the legitimacy of their tickets and even have the chance to sell the piece of memory after the event is over.
Offering all those benefits NFT tickets are already a big thing, but if they will fully take over the ticket market in the future - that remains to be seen.