This week we are delighted to announce the launch of our NFT ticketing platform, Ticketsphere.
Ticketsphere operates like a standard e-commerce site but brings the security and transparency offered by blockchain technologies to ticketing.
How can NFT tickets resolve existing issues in the industry?
Today the ticketing industry is vulnerable to fraudulent tickets and ticket scalping, which prices fans out of events and delivers no return to artists. At the core of fraudulent ticketing is the buyer’s inability to verify legitimacy. Today the most common ticket fraud is purchase scams — where people sell tickets that often don’t exist on sites like Facebook
However, tickets on the blockchain can prevent both flaws while delivering more value to fans, artists and organisers. NFT ticketing leverages blockchain technologies, which means that anyone can see the history of a ticket and determine its provenance and authenticity. This eliminates the re-sale of duplicated, used or counterfeited tickets.
Another issue facing the industry is touting, which is especially common for oversubscribed events like concerts. Touting or scalping is when someone purchases lots of tickets to sell for profit. Last year the secondary market was valued at $2.6bn and is on track to surpass $5.9bn by 2031.
Fans and artists are paying the price — both of which don’t see any of the lost income. With NFT tickets, one can build self-executing rules. These rules may include setting a price ceiling for resale – removing the incentive to tout and resell or could even have royalties built in. For every resell above the original sale price, the artist gets a percentage.
How can NFT tickets make the industry more exciting?
Besides from resolving existing issues – NFT ticketing and Ticketsphere promises new and exciting ways to interact with events through tickets. NFT tickets can be programmed in a way that confers certain privileges to the owners, a bit like a VIP pass or loyalty card. At their core, they strengthen and enable new ways for the fan/artist relationship to unfold.
Where is Ticketsphere in this?
The benefits of NFT tickets are undeniable – evidenced by their uptake in high calibre events like the Formula 1 or Coachella. However, for many, they are inaccessible. Therefore, we have designed Ticketsphere to be as user-friendly as any other web2 ticketing website. Despite being hosted on the blockchain, users can buy tickets with credit/debit cards.
Ticketsphere is now live on the app store – get it here!