SeatlabNFT: How We’re Redefining Event Ticketing

~~Some of the key features of our platform that are mentioned in this article are planned for future releases. Subscribe to our newsletter at the bottom of this page to be the first to know when they're released!

NFTs have gained enormous traction when it comes to digital artwork and proving ownership, but we can use the underlying technology of NFTs for so much more.

NFT tech has genuine utility, and we’re seeing that being explored in some industries already, the event ticketing industry being a prime example. By tokenising event tickets and issuing them as NFTs, we are not only creating a whole new, more immersive way for fans to interact with their favourite artists (more on this in a minute), but we are also eliminating ticket fraud and significantly reducing the impact scalping and touting has on the market.

The Problems We’re Solving

A select few big players in the ticketing industry have a stranglehold over the people buying and selling tickets. They take advantage of their dominant position to charge artists and event organisers massive fees and allow tickets to be purchased en masse by touts using automated bots, only for them to be resold to the public at several times the original face value. The big players have no interest in stopping this; in fact, they’ve been caught on camera actively encouraging it.

Their fee structure is set up to maximise profits from touting. The system is broken.

Professional touting causes popular events to sell out in a matter of minutes (most event-goers will have experienced this), leaving fans with no choice but to cough up if they want to see their favourite artist. This is a well-documented industry issue with the likes of Ed Sheeran and Taylor Swift publicly coming out against the scalpers and trying, with little to no success, to tackle the problem.

What Makes SeatlabNFT Different?

We are revolutionising the live event ticketing industry by creating a marketplace where artists and event organisers can easily issue NFT tickets and other NFT assets for free, and where fans can securely buy these tickets and have their loyalty recognised and rewarded.

We’re developing a Web3 solution built on the climate-neutral NEAR Protocol blockchain that uses NFT tech and smart contracts to issue NFT tickets that can be programmed with royalty splits, price ceilings on secondary sales, and built-in rewards.

Our goal is to improve the experience of buying tickets and attending events for fans, create a closer connection between artists and fans, prevent fraud, and reduce the ability of scalpers to operate profitably.

For Fans

Our NFT ticketing platform is helping fans form closer connections with artists and get real value from the relationship. Alongside the NFT tickets themselves, artists can mint other collectible NFT assets and airdrop them to ticket holders. These can be anything from VIP tickets, rare images, video recordings or even live audio recordings of the event itself. Airdrops can happen before, during or after events, offering new ways to connect with fans.

An example could be an artist minting an NFT selfie on stage with their back to the crowd and airdropping it to attendees in real-time, creating instant value for fans who could then keep it as a memento of the event or sell it as a collectible to others.

These airdrops of collectable NFTs have the potential to become desirable, tradable assets that fans can either hold on to or resell on the open market. This creates real, tangible value from the artist-fan relationship.

Not only are we providing the tools needed to fight back against the scalpers (more on this below), but we are creating a more immersive live event experience for fans and allowing them to be rewarded in ways never before possible.

For Artists & Event Organisers

Giving artists and event organisers the tools they need to regain control of the secondary ticketing market is a big part of our vision for the future of the event ticketing industry.

Royalty Splits

By issuing tickets as NFTs, we let artists and event organisers set royalty splits that work in the same way royalty splits work with digital art NFTs. Whenever an NFT ticket is resold on the secondary market, a set percentage of the revenue goes directly to the wallet of the royalty beneficiary, or multiple beneficiaries, set when the NFT tickets were created. This takes money out of the pockets of scalpers and directs it back to the people whose hard work makes live events possible.

Price Ceilings

Setting a price ceiling means people can’t resell NFT tickets on the secondary market for more than the price ceiling.

Disable Transfers

Artists and event organisers can choose to disable transfers of certain NFT ticket types on a case-by-case basis. This would stop that specific ticket type from ever being resold.

This gives artists and event organisers several different tools to use in the fight against scalping, each with a different approach and multiple avenues of control.

Mint NFT Collectibles

NFT collectibles can be minted and airdropped to ticket holders (as mentioned before), or they can be attached to particular tickets when the NFT tickets are created. By attaching collectibles to NFT tickets, fans are given something of value when buying those corresponding ticket types.

The $SEAT Token

You don’t need to hold any $SEAT to interact with the SeatlabNFT platform. You can buy tickets and other NFT assets using your credit/debit card thanks to the integrated fiat (traditional currency) on/off-ramp. We’ve made transitioning from legacy Web2 ticketing platforms to our next generation NFT-based Web3 ticketing platform as seamless as possible.

But, there are several big reasons why you’ll want to bag some $SEAT.

The Rewards Centre

The Rewards Centre is a gamified part of the marketplace where users can claim free rewards such as NFT collectibles and IRL experiences like event tickets, accommodation packages, flights and other exclusive experiences. Users earn different types of points based on the number of $SEAT tokens they hold in their wallet and the length of time they have held them.

There are three different point tiers: Sapphire, Gold and Holographic. For every 30 days a user holds $SEAT, they will earn a point to spend in the corresponding tier of the Rewards Centre. The most valuable rewards can be claimed from the Holographic tier, the mid-level is Gold, and the base tier is Sapphire. Read more about the Rewards Centre and how it works.

Buyers fee discount

By default, buyers pay a 5% fee when buying NFT tickets and other assets on the platform. This is reduced for people who hold $SEAT — the discount scales in line with the number of $SEAT tokens a user holds.

Staking

People can stake their $SEAT tokens to earn a cut of all collected buyers fees. By default, buyers pay a 5% fee when buying NFT assets on the platform; half of this (so 2.5%) is paid out to stakers as staking rewards, and the remainder of collected fees are paid into the SeatlabNFT Treasury.

Note: When buyers are eligible for a buyers fee discount, the discount comes out of the Treasury’s cut of the fees, never the stakers’ cut. Staking rewards are fully protected and will always be half of all platform fees.

Wrapping Up

We’re building SeatlabNFT to redefine how ticketing platforms serve the live events community.

Our vision is to create an NFT ticketing marketplace that brings fans closer to the artists, performers, and sportspeople they love while offering security and trust to all that tickets purchased are authentic.

The $SEAT token offers fans a genuine utility with tangible rewards for their loyalty. At the same time, blockchain technology gives artists and event creators a way of finally establishing control over the secondary market.

Follow us via the links below for more information about how we’re reimagining event ticketing, sneak previews of our platform, and much more.