Event ticketing company Ticketmaster Entertainment Inc. announced today that it is choosing Dapper Labs Inc.’s Flow blockchain to connect nonfungible tokens to tickets as part of a pilot program for select events.
Nonfungible tokens are a type of crypto asset linked to blockchain technology that represents the ownership of a virtual item, such as artwork, music and video files.
Using the Flow blockchain, Ticketmaster will be able to mint NFTs for ticket holders before, during or after events that will provide “proof of attendance” for ticket holders. They can then be traded and sold in the future as they will retain value, like real-world memorabilia, but they could also be used to unlock premium virtual content related to the event and possibly discounts for future tickets or merchandise.
Dapper Labs is best known for NBA Top Shot, a marketplace where sports fans can buy, sell and trade NFTs featuring basketball video clips. Launched in 2020, NBA Top Shot also launched on the Flow blockchain and has grown to over 1.5 million users and 20 million marketplace transactions and $1 billion in total volume traded.
Ticketmaster and Dapper Labs launched the pilot NFT program six months ago, in that time the platform has already minted more than 5 million NFTs for its event organizer clients. These events have included the Apollo Theater, Sebastian Maniscalco, The Black Crowes and Gavin DeGraw.
The two companies began working together during Super Bowl LVI, when Ticketmaster minted 70,000 virtual commemorative tickets NFT. Each virtual ticket sold for $52 and resembled collectible playing cards inspired by each of the league’s 32 teams. The cards themselves were not tickets but instead acted as virtual event memorabilia for the wider public.
With the partnership, Ticketmaster has created a digital wallet and marketplace for users to store their commemorative NFTs. Using the wallet and a gallery, users will be able to view and display their tickets – ideally in the sort of way that people who have gone to concerts and events would show off posters or T-shirts from attendance to their friends.
