How Blockchain Technology Will Revolutionise the Event Ticketing Industry

Have you ever been cheated into buying expired tickets or paying more while buying your ticket?

If you have, then you are among many who have been in this situation. Reports of scalping have been published on news outlets like the daily mail where a man sold fake tickets to Ed Sheeran’s Brisbane concert. Eagle fans bought scalped ticket to watch the final game against Melbourne but were refused entry. In spite of the war declared on scalpers by Senator Nick Xenophon, Australians are still falling victim to ticket fraudulence.

These incidents made the event ticketing industry consider if the blockchain technology can be of any use here. Before jumping to how the blockchain technology revolutionises the event ticketing industry, let’s quickly describe what the blockchain technology is.

What is Blockchain Technology?

If you are familiar with BitCoin cryptocurrency, then you may have already come across the term blockchain. It is the technology that secures your online transaction. It works by creating a chain of blocks, and each block records the data. Each block is connected to the previous and the next block. Thus a network is established distributing and storing itself in thousands of different computers. These blocks hold the transaction records permanently, and restrict the modification of data.

Now let’s check out the role blockchain can play in the event ticketing industry –

From a Customer Perspective

Customers suffer the most due to system loopholes in the event ticketing industry. If blockchain can resolve these issues, that will be most welcomed and accepted by all.

Help Keep the Ticket Price Down

A scalper takes the opportunity of the limited number of tickets and increases the price and puts them for resale. According to a report by abc.net, tickets for Justin Bieber’s concert were put on sale on TM+ for $2,555, which was 374% of the original value.

With blockchain, organisers now can choose if the ticket can be resold and set a limit on the price. Controlling the maximum and minimum price cap ensures that the ticket cost is kept down. Using blockchain for ticketing, an organiser can also add parameters so that if a resale rule is broken, then the ticket becomes invalid. So, customers will always get valid tickets at the right price.

Save from Being Defrauded

Scammers have been making fake tickets ripping people off their hard earned cash. In Melbourne music festival, a fraudster sold 149 fake tickets and conned more than $26,000.

Introducing blockchain ticketing system can save customers from being defrauded as you can identify and track your tickets. With each ticket being given a separate and unique identification number, it cannot be replicated. Customers can be protected from ticket frauds by hiding the barcode until a definite time or until the holder reaches nearby the venue.

Fully Transparent

Customers always prefer a transparent system. Each ticket stored within a block has a unique identifier through which it can be tracked over each transaction. Throughout the journey from the primary seller to the secondary seller to reaching the fans, a buyer will have access to the complete transaction history. Thus, blockchain will be able to revolutionise your level of transparency in the event ticketing industry.

Authenticity and Validity: Record and Track Ticket Sale

Going to an event, are you being told that you have got fake tickets? With blockchain, you can check out the validity and authenticity of tickets in real-time.

Each ticket has its identifier, and the block keeps a record and tracks the transactions ensuring that buyers get correct and verified information about the ticket’s status.

From Organisers Perspective

Touts and bots are buying all ticket available online and reselling them at exorbitant prices. As a result, many customers are unable to afford such a high cost and lose their trust in the organiser. As such, organisers are losing both profit and valuable customers.

More Secured and Breach Resistant

Blockchain keeps on storing new data as it advances through the network. It is virtually impossible to change, add or remove any data without being noticed by other users.

Each transaction made is time-stamped and sequential, making any duplicate entries impossible. Blockchain security uses a hash function which is a set of unique string which latches onto the next block keeping its trace in the new hash. You can also make smartphone bound tickets display a code which changes every minute, thereby invalidating the previous one. It helps in preventing unregulated sell in the secondary market.

Build Trust

Consumers have lost their trust in organisers having no guarantee that the ticket they bought is genuine. With so many variables, the whole sector has become untrustworthy.

This is where blockchain brings revolution by building a platform of trust among multiple parties without having an intermediary. Similar to what blockchain did with bitcoin by solving the double spending issue, the same could be done for the ticketing industry. This cryptographic framework is soon going to be known to all as the new “trust protocol”.

Stop Bots and Scalpers

Remember the time you were eagerly waiting to buy a ticket, but the moment it started all the ticket were sold out. The main culprit behind this is bots and day by day it is becoming increasingly difficult to buy tickets online.

According to the Economist, bots are responsible for syndicating 60% of the hottest online tickets. Using blockchain technology provides a unique identity, which is the key to stopping bots from buying tickets.

Management Made Easier

To hold onto valuable customers, you need a management system which can track and control the entire event ticketing process. With blockchain technology, you as an organiser, can follow the transaction and quickly identify the owner of the tickets. Controlling the resale and limiting the price furthers your control over the sale of tickets. You can even classify the resellers.

As all records are stored, you can gather data and analyse them to make your next event more successful. Also, you can easily integrate your system with other third parties or infrastructures.

As organisers are thinking more into long term solution and answers that could bring tangible and real benefits to buyers, blockchain for event ticketing is turning out to be a natural choice. It is revolutionising the ticketing industry by fighting against all the constraints that are holding it back.

This article is written by our guest author Rebekah Muir. She is a marketing analyst at EventBookings Pty Ltd. She is an expert in the event management industry with a vast knowledge of event organising, event marketing and event promotion.