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Ticketing 101: An Introduction to NFTs

Despite being one of the oldest industries in the world, ticketing is constantly evolving with new technologies. NFTs have the potential to revolutionize the ticketing industry, but like all new technologies, they come with risks. Ticketing has been around for a long time, but it is constantly evolving with new technologies. To weigh the advantages and disadvantages before implementing NFTs into their ticketing operations, event organizers will have to think carefully about them. Event organizers will be able to create tickets and validate their authenticity using HapPhi.

Written by
June 15, 2022


The New Ticketing Paradigm is an exciting time for the live events industry. New technologies are making it easier than ever for event-goers to buy tickets, share and resell tickets, and even earn rewards for attending events. Non-transferable virtual tokens or non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a type of digital token that can only be used once, meaning they can’t be sold or transferred from one user to another like traditional cryptocurrency tokens such as ETH or ERC20. NFTs are perfect for use in the ticketing space because of their ability to uniquely identify users and securely track ownership throughout the token’s life cycle. Since most traditional blockchain platforms like Ethereum are not ideal for the tracking and ownership of individual items like tickets, there have been several companies creating solutions built on top of other blockchains that are better suited to handle these types of assets in a secure way.Here is an overview of NFTs, what problems they solve in the ticketing space, and some examples of how they’re being used in real-world scenarios today.

What are Non-Fungible Tokens (NFTs)?

Non-fungible tokens (NFTs) are a specific type of token in the blockchain space. They are unique tokens that can’t be exchanged or swapped for other tokens. This means that each token is special in its own way and serves a unique purpose. NFTs are useful for the ticketing space because they allow event organizers to issue unique tickets for each individual event-goer. This helps organizers prevent ticket scalping and makes it easier for attendees to transfer or resell their tickets on secondary markets. When thinking about NFTs, it’s helpful to think about collectible items. For example, each limited-edition, signed copy of Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone is unique and special. They aren’t fungible because they each have a different ISBN number, a special edition cover, and can’t be exchanged for other copies. ## Why are NFTs Important for Ticketing?

NFTs make it easier for event-goers to buy, sell, and track ownership of their tickets. This is important for a few different reasons: - Preventing Ticket Scalping - - This is a big problem in the ticketing space with huge consequences for event organizers. Studies have found that ticket reselling is growing into a $9 billion industry that accounts for approximately 50% of all ticket sales. This is bad news for event organizers because they make much less revenue from resold tickets. NFTs can make it much harder for scalpers to profit from reselling tickets because they can only be used once and can’t be exchanged or transferred. This can make it easier for event organizers to sell out their events and make more revenue. - Easier Resale of Tickets - - Another issue with traditional online ticketing is the difficulty in reselling tickets. It’s hard to track how many times a physical ticket has been resold, which makes it more difficult for event organizers to keep accurate attendance numbers. With NFTs, reselling tickets is easier because each ticket is essentially a unique token that can be tracked. - Improved Attendee Experience - - NFTs also make life easier for event-goers, who can resell their tickets on secondary markets more easily and track their tickets from purchase to arrival. This can help increase brand awareness and event attendance by making it easier for people to attend events they might have otherwise missed. However, this only works if event organizers implement the right event ticketing features using blockchain technology. ## How Are NFTs Being Used in Real Life?

Token-as-a-Service (TaaS) has been working on developing a blockchain solution specifically designed for the ticketing space. They’ve created a blockchain called TAAS that is optimized for the tracking and ownership of individual items like tickets.

Here are a few real-world examples of how this blockchain is being used in the ticketing space: - Ticketing Giant AXS Switches to Blockchain - - AEG and Live Nation, two of the world’s biggest ticketing companies, recently partnered with AXS, a ticketing company that operates in the U.S., Canada, the U.K., and Australia. AXS is the first ticketing company to partner with TaaS, and it plans to migrate all of its operations to the TAAS blockchain. - Blockchain Ticketing Platform EventChain - - TaaS partnered with EventChain, a blockchain-based ticketing platform that operates in the ticketing space. With this partnership, EventChain has migrated its ticketing operations to the TaaS blockchain and will start exclusively issuing NFTs. - NFT Ticketing Platform Get Your Guide - - Get Your Guide is a popular online travel guide that lets people sell their tickets for tours and event organized by Get Your Guide on blockchain-based marketplaces like EventChain. When Get Your Guide switched their ticketing operations to the TaaS blockchain, they began issuing NFTs as well. - NFTs for Real Estate - - NFTs are not just for the ticketing space. Several real estate companies are switching to NFTs for ticketing and ownership of assets like property deeds and home ownership certificates. Real estate is a massive industry, and the adoption of NFTs in this sector could have big implications for the blockchain space. ## Pros of Using NFTs in the Live Events Space

  • Preventing Ticket Scalping - - As we mentioned before, scalping is a big problem in the ticketing space. It’s difficult to prevent scalping when you’re using traditional ticketing technology because you can’t track how many times a physical ticket has been resold. With NFTs, it’s much easier to prevent scalping because each ticket is essentially a unique token that can’t be exchanged for other tokens. This helps event organizers keep accurate attendance numbers and sell out their events more easily. - Easier Resale of Tickets - - Another issue with traditional online ticketing is the difficulty in reselling tickets. As we mentioned before, it’s hard to track how many times a physical ticket has been resold, which makes it more difficult for event organizers to keep accurate attendance numbers. With NFTs, it’s easier to resell tickets because each ticket is essentially a unique token that can be tracked. - Improved Attendee Experience - - NFTs also make life easier for event-goers, who can resell their tickets on secondary markets more easily and track their tickets from purchase to arrival. This can help increase brand awareness and event attendance by making it easier for people to attend events they might have otherwise missed. ## Cons of Using NFTs in the Live Events Space
  • Higher Risks of Malware In this digital world, everything is at risk of a cyber-attack. While traditional blockchain platforms like Ethereum have proven to be secure, NFTs are less proven technologies and have not been tested in major attacks yet. As these NFTs are implemented in more industries and used for more types of assets, there will likely be more opportunities for cybercriminals to hack or exploit these tokens. - Additional Overhead Using NFTs can mean additional costs and administrative overhead for event organizers. These costs could include hiring specialized engineers to build the blockchain-based ticketing platform or paying a blockchain company to handle the hosting and maintenance of the blockchain. - Financial Risks While blockchain technologies have many benefits, they also come with some risks. If the blockchain company stops operating or goes bankrupt, event organizers could lose their data. If the blockchain stops growing and the community stops using it, event organizers could be forced to convert to another blockchain and find new ways of tracking their data. - More Complexity for Event Organizers Users of NFTs will probably have to go through a few extra steps to attend an event. For example, attendees will have to register their NFTs and verify ownership before entering the event. This added complexity can make it more difficult for users to attend events and can cause issues in the moment when attendees forget to bring their NFTs. ## Final Thoughts

Ticketing is one of the oldest industries in the world, but it is constantly evolving with new technologies. NFTs are a new way of tokenizing assets like tickets, and they have the potential to revolutionize the ticketing space. However, like all emerging technologies, they come with risks. Event organizers will have to weigh the pros and cons before deciding to implement NFTs into their ticketing operations.

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