Music, sports, and entertainment ticketing is about to be completely reimagined. SeatlabNFT, an NFT ticketing platform built on the NEAR blockchain, is bringing fans closer to their favorite artists and sports teams, while also making the ticketing game a lot fairer by reducing scalping and touting.

NFTs in sports and entertainment are becoming more widespread and high-profile. Professional athletes and musicians love flexing their profile pic NFTs these days. But there are more meaningful ways to use NFT technology in the Web3 space. This is precisely SeatlabNFT’s aim: use NFTs and the underlying technology to revolutionize ticketing.

How NFTs can make ticketing fairer

A major long-standing issue in the ticketing industry is control over the secondary market. Tickets to popular events often sell out in a matter of minutes—often due to scalpers and ticket wholesalers—only to reappear on the secondary market at a significant markup. It’s an unfortunate reality that many music and sports fans have come to accept.

“While various ideas to beat scalpers have been tried in the past, Web2 lacks the tools required to provide genuine control over the secondary market,” wrote Ryan Kenny, CEO of SeatlabNFT, in a recent op-ed for City A.M. 

“The result, in many cases, is that fans are unable to see the performers they love without paying extortionate amounts of money,” he added. “And, with the profit falling into the hands of scalpers, artists miss out on any revenue generated by secondary sales.”

The SeatlabNFT live event and ticketing platform, built on NEAR, has a clear plan to solve those issues. Artists will be able to mint and sell tickets directly to fans on SeatlabNFT, while those who purchase will avoid scalper markups. And unlike buying a ticket in today’s secondary market, NFT technology will ensure that the ticket they buy isn’t fraudulent.

“With the arrival of Web3, there is a huge opportunity to change this dynamic by issuing tickets as NFTs,” wrote Kenny. “NFT technology is a natural fit for ticketing, as it solves many main problems plaguing the event ticketing industry.”

But maintaining fair pricing and putting more revenue into the pockets of creators themselves is just the tip of the iceberg. SeatlabNFT has other ideas for how to use NFTs to change the ticketing landscape.

Creating more profound relationships with fans

SeatlabNFT has big plans to help artists and teams make the fan experience much more fun, immersive, and bi-directional. Fans and attendees will feel less like consumers being sold an experience, and more like active participants. SeatlabNFT’s NFT platform will open doors and opportunities to increase fan engagement and loyalty.

For starters, artists will be able to create, issue, and sell NFT collectibles associated with various live events. This goes beyond images, as NFTs can also exist on the blockchain in the form of audio recordings, videos, and other forms of digital artwork. These event-associated NFTs could be airdropped on demand, displayed online, or traded with the same smart contracts used to control the secondary market for tickets. 

Creators can also airdrop event-based NFTs or collectibles using SeatlabNFT smart contracts, rewarding some of the best and most loyal fans who attend live events. For instance, a musical artist could airdrop NFTs to fans who have been to multiple live shows, with their attendance verified by the blockchain. This gives creators the chance to issue everything from digital collectibles to utility NFTs that grant things like discounts on merch, early access to future sales or even unlock on-site perks like access to restricted areas or free food and drink.

Ticket royalty splits and price ceilings

Underpinning all of these NFT ticketing value propositions is SeatlabNFT’s smart contracts that enable royalty splits (on NEAR, royalty splits are baked into smart contracts) and price ceilings. Royalty splits and price ceilings give artists and event organizers the tools they need to fight back against scalping. It allows creators to configure the tickets before they go on sale, and ensures that even on the secondary market, event creators can still capture the value they create.  

With these cutting-edge ticketing efforts, SeatlabNFT is working to create a fairer, more transparent, and equitable playing field for all parties.

What’s next for SeatlabNFT

SeatlabNFT is currently in Phase 2 of its roadmap, with a variety of features and functions already live. The SeatlabNFT app is downloadable on the Apple App Store and Google Play Store, with tickets to various events currently on sale. 

The SeatlabNFT membership card available on the app is also a precursor to the Immersive Fan Pass, an NFT-based fan membership card program exclusively on SeatlabNFT. These passes will be NFTs with various tiered utility and benefits that artists can offer as part of an immersive fan club package. Backstage passes, early access to demo tracks, and artist meet-and-greets are just a few potential ways the Immersive Fan Pass could be used.

SeatlabNFT also just announced a new partnership with Elrow, one of the world’s biggest dance brands. At Elrow’s Dubai festival, scheduled for February 18, 2023 , SeatlabNFT technology will be used for exclusive VIP ticketing and immersive experiences. Elrow Dubai is taking place at D3 Dubai Design District, which can accommodate up to 10,000 people, making it a great opportunity to onboard many new people into both NEAR and Web3.

The ticketing industry and experience are long overdue for disruption, and SeatlabNFT is well on the way to doing just that. Artists, creators, and sports teams can offer more fair pricing to their fans while receiving a greater share of the revenue via SeatlabNFT’s royalty split smart contracts. And fans get better pricing with the peace of mind that they’re purchasing an authentic ticket.

And even more exciting, integrating NFT technology into the ticketing space opens the door for limitless possibilities in connecting fans with their favorite artists and teams. Linking exclusive digital NFT collectibles and airdrops with tickets is ripe for experimentation, and the Immersive Fan Pass will engage fans on a level never before seen.

The post Introducing SeatlabNFT: The Web3 Startup Changing the Ticketing Game  appeared first on NEAR Protocol.