The popularity of NFTs (non-fungible tokens) has skyrocketed due to news of NFT art being sold for exorbitant prices, with the highest amounting to over $69 million. Celebrities, such as Snoop Dogg, Paris Hilton, Ellen DeGeneres, Lindsay Lohan, Eminem, Kate Moss and real-life couple Ashton Kutcher and Mila Kunis, have all jumped on the NFT bandwagon, further cementing the status of NFTs as sound investments.
But what exactly are NFTs and how can this form of digital asset be used by everyone, not just benefitting the famous and wealthy? Although many unpopular and rookie artists have also used NFTs as a way to get a share of the market and have been successful, many are still unaware of the broad spectrum of utility of NFTs.
It is not an exaggeration to say that NFTs can be used across many different industries on top of the arts market, and the smart ticketing and events industries are next in line.
How Blockchain Resolves Issues that Plague the Ticketing Industry
Although computerized ticketing has been in existence for several decades and is now a $13.3 billion dollar industry in the United States alone, it is still highly inefficient. Some of the issues that plague the ticketing industry include fraud, expensive service fees, ticket gouging ineffective marketing and difficulty in creating accurate audits.
Blockchain technology can resolve all these problems. Fraud can be mitigated because all transactions on the blockchain are immutably and transparently recorded in a timestamped manner. This ensures that transaction history is easily verifiable. And because all nodes on the network must agree before changes to a transaction is made, it is nearly impossible for fraudulent activity to escape unnoticed.
When a blockchain is capable of scaling, then it can also resolve the expensive service fees charged by third-party ticketing firms. This is because as the blockchain scales, its block size and throughput also increase, which allows for lower transaction fees.
An unscalable blockchain simply will be useless. Take BTC for instance. With its 1MB block size and throughput of only seven transactions per second (tps), its transaction fees range from $2 to $6, even going as high as $50 during peak times. The same is true for the ETH blockchain, with a current average fee per transaction of $24.07.
With high fees, third party ticketing systems may be more practical. And this is why Smartledger has decided to build its online ticketing platform TicketMint on the BSV blockchain, the largest public blockchain that is capable of limitless scaling and offers transaction fees of just fractions of a penny.
In comparison to BTC and ETH, the BSV blockchain constantly scales, recently reaching a milestone of 2GB data blocks. Within the next months, the Teranode update will also be released that will increase throughput to over 50,000 tps.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/0PAHE1CEU5A
TicketMint and Collectible NFTs
Building on a scalable public blockchain means that not only is transaction history accessible and verifiable, but the system will also not crash no matter how many transactions are made, allowing for global smart ticketing to be put on the blockchain.
TicketMint also offers clients a dashboard of ticket sales updated in real time. With this, comprehensive data can be monitored, tracked and analyzed to provide information crucial to the event. For instance, if ticket sales are slow, the production company will then have the option to act on it—whether by ramping up marketing and promotions or putting money on more advertisements. The dashboard also allows for streamlined and accurate auditing.
And because TicketMint will make it so that all tickets they issue are collectible NFT tickets, ticket gouging or the resale of tickets by third parties can be controlled. This is because NFTs can be enforced with smart contract rules, and companies can specify what rules to implement.
For instance, scalpers are known to sell tickets for a high price, this can be restricted by placing a price ceiling to the smart contract rulesets of the NFT tickets. This is just one example of how rulesets can affect behavior of NFT tickets. If the issuer wishes, tickets can also be non-transferable, and so on.
“Until recently, it hasn’t been economically feasible to use NFTs or blockchain for real-world utility due to network congestion and high transaction fees. By utilizing a stable, secure, scalable and sustainable public blockchain with tokenization, micropayments, smart-contracts, and meta-infused NFTs, a whole world of new capabilities and efficiencies are now available,” Bryan Daugherty, co-founder, chairman and technical advisor of SmartLedger, said.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/zyn0SOOXNKA
How TicketMint Adds More Value to Events
On top of being able to provide collectible NFT tickets that has the potential to increase in value over time—think of how much tickets to a Beatles concert can now be sold as memorabilia—TicketMint has also entered into three strategic partnerships to be able to offer clients with marketing and promotion services.
Digital asset production and distribution company Epik, which has worked with big labels such as Universal and Warner Music group, allows TicketMint access to over 1,000 brands that does not only include popular music artists and celebrities, but also other businesses such as gaming firms.
Technological firm Transmira is responsible for developing Omniscape XR, a location-based platform that combines artificial reality (AR) and virtual reality (VR) into experiential reality (XR). It is much like the game Pokémon GO that transcends virtual reality and allows for in-game events to transition into the real world.
With access to Omniscape XR, TicketMint clients have the option to advertise on the platform by placing coupons, vouchers and other marketing and promotional devices into the virtual world, which can then be redeemed in real-world stores.
“There is a dramatic shift happening in several industries driven by blockchain and NFTs that we are only beginning to see. TicketMint is a great example of new business models leveraging technology for better user experiences and engagement. We are thrilled to help bring this to life,” Transmira CEO Robert Rice explained.
By collaborating with influencer promotion marketplace TonicPow, TicketMint clients will have access to a “virtual street team,” who are social media influencers incentivized to promote the event.
“Offering built-in campaign creation and a referral system for ticket issuers will allow influencers, fans and gig workers the ability to receive instant micropayments of Bitcoin for helping to spread the word. TicketMint will offer new ways for ticket issuers to promote their events and engage their fans including exclusively minted, redeemable and collectable NFT tickets for real-world and virtual events,” Gregory Ward, Chief Development Officer of Smartledger,” said.
“Together, with our strategic partnerships with Omniscape XR, Epik, and Tonicpow, we are thrilled to see the incredible innovations to enhance user experiences and reduce fraud,” Daugherty added.
TicketMint is proof that a scalable public blockchain can revolutionize industries by helping resolve longstanding problems, and in the process, adding more value to a seemingly set event. With collectible NFT tickets, fans who just want to watch their favorite artist’s concert are even given the opportunity to have a valuable digital asset.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Q66b2p9g6Tw
