Ticketmaster just took a significant step towards NFT tickets
The Alpha:
- Flow recently announced a groundbreaking new initiative with Ticketmaster. Via the Flow blockchain, all Ticketmaster organizers can now link NFTs with each attendee’s ticket.
- The NFTs are positioned to offer ticket-owning event attendees richer experiences. Primarily, the linked NFTs hope to offer Ticketmaster events Web3 analogs to the IRL events, where they receive the NFTs.
- Recipients of linked NFTs can access “VIP experiences,” according to Flow. Otherwise, the NFTs can simply serve as blockchain memories for events. The implementation of each NFT ticket association is up to the event organizer.
Why it’s important:
While there are many ways for Ticketmaster-hosted events to integrate NFT-powered Web3 experiences, evidence suggests that these developments will be most felt in the world of sports – an industry poised to make significant strides in fully embracing Web3. So what is this evidence? Let’s take a broad look at the actors in play.
Before hosting these upcoming Ticketmaster events NFT, the Flow blockchain was perhaps best known as the home of NBA Top Shot. Despite the project’s decline in recent months, it remains the most popular NFT project hosted on the Flow blockchain. The two after that? Also sports-related projects, where NFL ALL DAY and UFC Strike take second and third place respectively on Flow’s leaderboards.
Ticketmaster has also dabbled in NFTs before this new partnership with the Flow blockchain, too. In November 2021, Ticketmaster launched an initiative that gave attendees of NFL games in the 2021-2022 season the chance to stamp their ticket stubs as NFTs.
What’s next:
However, it is important to note that Ticketmaster and Flow’s new partnership do not consist of actual NFT tickets. Across the Web3 space, we’ve already seen several instances of NFT tickets being used to activate unique tools for events. Even traditionally Web2 events such as music festivals have seen the use of NFTs as provably authentic entry tickets.
So what is it then? In terms of form and function, Ticketmaster and Flow’s collaboration appears to be an attempt to bring proof-of-attendance (POAP) NFTs to a mainstream audience. Namely, participants in some of the highest IRL events in the world. Since a16z-backed Dapper Labs developed Flow, Ticketmaster seems to be in good hands.
