The Decentralisation of Ticketing

Embracing Web3

Since the rebranding of Facebook to Meta, there’s been a flurry of activity and interest in all things Metaverse, cryptocurrency, blockchain, and NFT. You’ve probably heard the term “Web3” bandied around a lot, with a great deal of excitement from some people and some general apathy from others.

That’s because Web3 is quite a broad term, encompassing an emerging set of technological advances which are in such an embryonic stage that the definition itself is somewhat fluid.

In general, we can look at Web3 as the next generation of the internet, powered by blockchain networks, which act as secure ledgers for transactions, using a decentralised network structure to ensure greater privacy and security when compared with our current iteration, Web2.

Since blockchain (in the form of Bitcoin) has been around for over a decade, you might be wondering why we are only now hearing so much more about the potential blockchains have to offer outside of their initial use-case of cryptocurrency.

Much of that is down to NFTs, an initialism for Non-Fungible Tokens. These one-of-a-kind digital assets exist on decentralised blockchain networks which act as irrefutable proof of ownership and authenticity for those assets.

The Gen-2 blockchain network Ethereum was responsible for the introduction of NFTs to Web3, but the use for them was limited. Despite widespread interest and quick mass adoption for the concept of NFTs in many forms (at one point, CryptoKitties accounted for around 25% of all transactions on the Ethereum network), their broader use was hampered by the cost of transactions on Gen-2 blockchains, which suffered from scalability issues.

The introduction of Gen-3 blockchains like NEAR Protocol which have been designed to work at scale has led to a huge boom in the potential uses for NFTs, including ownership of digital assets in Metaverse playgrounds, which is one of the reasons we have seen a sudden spike in excitement around the Web3 space.

Decentralisation

The security offered by blockchains in securing digital assets as NFTs is down to the way in which a blockchain network is set up.

As opposed to traditional legacy networks, a blockchain is decentralised, meaning that there is no single server on which all the network data is stored. Instead, each machine or terminal that accesses the network acts as a node for the network. When new information is added to the network (a transaction takes place), the nodes all agree on the information by way of a consensus mechanism. Once agreed, the information is confirmed in a block, encrypted, and chained onto the previous one, giving us the name; blockchain.

Decentralisation represents a huge advantage over centralised networks, as there is no single point where all data is held. The idea of a centralised network is a key component of Web2 and is the reason we have seen a concerning amount of control over personal data from large megacorporations such as Google, Facebook and YouTube.

By distributing data over a blockchain, we can not only secure NFTs with proof of ownership but also introduce a much-needed layer of privacy to our interaction with the internet.

Decentralised Ticketing

There are a great number of potential improvements across many industries which will be facilitated by decentralisation. Much of the current hype is not down to what is possible now, but what potential the proof of concept has going forwards as the technology develops.

One area of business that stands to benefit dramatically from decentralisation is the event ticketing industry, which is still plagued by issues that have yet to be resolved, even with the introduction of digital ticketing in Web2.

Scalping, price gouging and touting rank among the worst problems for event creators and artists alike, and the secondary market is controlled by ruthless platforms which profit heavily from the inflated prices imposed by scalpers.

The decentralisation of the ticketing industry has the potential to solve this problem, as well as the potential to improve the overall ticketing experience for artists, event creators and fans. We are creating the SeatlabNFT platform to facilitate access to the benefits of decentralisation for the event ticketing industry.

Royalty Splits

Decentralised NFT ticketing allows us to use smart contracts attached to the tickets, which in turn let those minting the tickets determine a royalty split for all resales.

A smart contract is a self-executing piece of code attached to the ticket which will automatically direct revenue as outlined when the ticket was minted. For example, if a ticket is minted with a royalty split of 20%, the artist will receive 20% of any resale revenue, taking the profits currently made by scalpers and touts on the secondary marketplace and putting them back into the pockets of artists and event organisers.

Trustless Transactions

One of the core elements of blockchain technology is trustless transactions. This means the ability to conduct a transaction between two parties, without the need for a third party whose oversight guarantees the transaction.

For NFT ticketing, this means that both artists and fans can be certain of ticket validity, without the need for the expensive fees that traditional ticketing platforms have charged for their verification of transactions.

Airdrop Incentives

Since the NFT tickets will be stored in users’ wallets, it also enables artists and event creators to airdrop incentives such as unique digital items, tokens for physical experiences and in-event perks to fans who are holding tickets to their event.

The blockchain provides irrefutable proof of ownership, so event creators and artists can be sure they are rewarding genuine ticket holders with the incentives they are distributing.

This increases the connection between artists and fans and has the added benefit of incentivising upsell opportunities since different levels of tickets can come with different perks.

Reduced Scalping

We’ve already covered how royalty splits will significantly dent the ability of scalpers to turn a profit, but the blockchain also has another way that it will reduce ticket scalping; traceability.

For transactions between users to take place on the blockchain, a record of where the funds have come from must be kept on the network. This transparency in the history of blockchain assets also extends to NFT ticketing.

With an increase in transparency in the history of the ticket, the ability of scalpers to remain anonymous is greatly reduced, making it much harder for them to conduct their business in the shadows.

Eliminates Fraud

The NFT boom is down to the ability of blockchains to eliminate fraud. The fact that digital artwork is now selling for prices sometimes comparable to traditional physical fine art is because we can be 100% certain that the digital piece is the authentic original — the blockchain it is hosted on confirms it.

In ticketing terms, this proof of authenticity has the potential to completely eradicate fraud, a major problem for the event ticketing industry. It is estimated that around 12% of tickets produced are fraudulent, which leads to revenue being lost and potential safety concerns at the venue.

Using the blockchain to secure event ticketing will greatly increase safety and security for fans, artists and event creators alike.

Conclusion

Web3 has the potential to revolutionise a great deal of our interaction with the internet. One of the most important features is the increase in privacy and security it can offer when compared to Web2.

With the decentralisation of ticketing, we expect to see a revolution in the event ticketing industry through our innovative SeatlabNFT platform.

There are new projects and ideas popping up almost every day, and the way the technology is moving forwards makes for an exciting prospect.

At SeatlabNFT we are focused on disrupting the event ticketing industry, but we also keep our eyes on the Web3 space for exciting projects to collaborate with, or ideas we think have huge potential.

To stay in the loop on the decentralisation of the event ticketing industry and all things Web3, join the conversation on our socials or hit the link on our Medium homepage to find out when we post.

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