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The emergence of Digital Ticketing has become a significant trend within the past decade. Attendees can now purchase tickets on their smart-phone, save a copy of their ticket to their device wallet, and then use it to gain entry directly at the venue. For the ticket organizers, today they can engage with their customer base on a personalized level and begin building thriving relationships. This has become an increasingly convenient and beneficial way of event ticketing; moreover, a look at how things are playing out within ticketing may give us an idea on how Blockchain can impact ticketing solutions to help the industry evolve.
Diving into the Digital Ticketing Industry
The Evolution of Ticketing
Getting tickets to our favorite shows, or our next airline destination isn’t the tense or uncertain experience that it used to be. This is because the world is shifting toward mobile-based ticketing, but how did we get here?
Not long ago, our primary way to gain admission to anything was by paper stubs. During the late 1980s, people used to line up at box offices or call ahead of time for available tickets. By the early 2000s, instead of sore feet or long waiting periods, online ticketing emerged and allowed for Print-at-Home (PDF) style tickets. And today, mobile devices and laptops offer more efficient ways to get past the admission gates, allowing the organizer to collect data and better understand its customer base.
Current Challenges Facing Digitized Ticketing
Although digital ticketing solves paper inefficiencies like fraud and convenience (to an extent), there are still digital stumbles to overcome:
- Unscrupulous resellers take screenshots or photocopies of tickets that they then sell multiple times over to unsuspecting victims.
- Organizers lack control and access with secondary markets; ultimately, allowing ticket resale at inflated prices.
- Bad actors can still gain access to events thanks to unregulated secondary markets.
- Centralized ticketing platforms are vulnerable to attacks, leaving personal data at risk.
For those who have security and transparency in mind, these challenges present opportunities for blockchain to make an innovative impact on ticketing solutions.
Blockchain Ticketing: Why Does it Matter?
By design, blockchain makes it easy for diverse parties to transact with one another without requiring a central authority – especially when there are varying levels of trust between them. That’s why it’s vital to create a vibrant ecosystem where participants work together to solve the same problem.
For digital ticketing solutions, leveraging blockchain permissioned networks can be used to enhance the ecosystem of ticketing and provide the following advantages:
- The flow of tickets can be governed by smart contracts, where business terms and conditions are encoded to control how the ticket is sold and used.
- Controlling the secondary market to limit bots, scalpers, inflated ticket prices, and risks for ticket buyers.
- Access is granted only to those who have a legitimate interest to avoid intrusions from those with bad intentions
- Making sure the ticket is real with blockchain’s immutable ledger; ultimately, minimizing the possibility of fraud.
Next, let’s take a look at a few notable projects that are pioneering the way for blockchain ticketing solutions.
Blockchain Projects Working to be the Digital Ticketing Solution
True Tickets is helping provide digital customizable rights management for digital tickets to the ticketing issuer. Through blockchain, they are providing a scalable and secure digital ticketing experience while integrating with existing ticketing platforms and customer relationship management (CRMs). The goal? Making buying, selling, and transferring entertainment tickets simple and safe!
Winding Tree is a blockchain-based distribution platform for the travel industry. Winding Tree is building a decentralized alternative, to the current concentrated travel distribution landscape, where anyone can access inventory directly from the suppliers. The travel industry is particularly suitable for a decentralized marketplace as the suppliers are experts in what the blockchain cannot provide: customer service, and arbitration.
Closing
From serving as a simple replacement to a physical paper stub, digital ticketing solutions continue to evolve into an experience that provides rich and interactive information for attendees and organizers. As of today, ticketing solutions with blockchain are only scratching the surface. In the next few years, expect blockchain to push the envelope even further with digital ticketing.
