As you know, blockchain technology wants to improve many sectors and areas. For the moment, it is true that it is above all the financial sector which benefits, in particular thanks to the Challenge.
That said, many other sectors are still virgin and entrepreneurs are trying to implement new paradigms. Blockchain is indeed an Eldorado today.
Today, we will focus on the sector ofevents Experiences. It is a heavy market in which the presence of humans is still central, despite numerous technological advances in recent years.
However, despite this, the sector has experienced numerous scandals such as fraud cases in particular (abusive ticket reimbursements, etc.).
I am of course talking about the scandal that shook society TicketMaster which is a ticket creation and online event ticket sales start-up. Reading a few articles on the subject, I decided to look into how blockchain could prevent this type of problem. Moreover, you will notice throughout this article that beyond the events sector, there are many other sectors which encounter the same problems.
What are the problems for event startups?
I am obliged to recall what happened so that it is easier for everyone to understand the benefit of developing blockchain in events.
First of all, with the COVID-19 crisis, popular gatherings are prohibited or limited, due to the massive risk of spreading the virus. Thus, concert halls and other performance halls of all kinds are then closed.
The negative effect is therefore the fact that all employees in the events sector are stuck in a situation of technical unemployment. So I'm talking about musicians, organizers, sound engineers, promoters, booking agencies, restaurateurs, etc. The list is huge, yes!
To compensate for this lack, one of the solutions was to continue concerts and other shows online. Of course, this wouldn't save the industry as a whole, but it would still save some aspects.
Finally, and this is the point that actually interests us, the giant of the online ticket reservation industry, TicketMaster, also tried to find a solution.
The solution provided by TicketMaster
To address the colossal losses of the pandemic, Ticketmaster has changed its refund policy. Be aware that for many years, the site's policy has stated that refunds are " available if your event is postponed, rescheduled or cancelled.” So far, nothing to report, refund policy quite normal;
That said, in April, as you know, there was massive lockdown for most countries in the world.
And what did TicketMaster do?
The company has simply changed the rules of its refund policy. Now, refunds " are available if your event is cancelled ». Remember that Ticketmaster sold tickets for more than 30 concerts that were canceled, postponed or rescheduled.
In fact, only 10% of those events were “canceled,” meaning that under the new rules, the company was not required to provide refunds for the remaining 90% of tickets purchased.
The TicketMaster scandal therefore came to light...It was inevitable. I invite you to read the very good article published on Nova about TicketMaster.
Needless to say, such a blatant move led to a backlash.
In these conditions of general financial instability, many people would prefer to have their money refunded. This is completely normal. After all, they won't have to attend the concert.
On April 15, the company said people could try to request refunds from event organizers, adding that they could not guarantee organizers would issue refunds. Basically, TicketMaster was trying to clear itself by insisting that it is an intermediary…
Articles exposing TicketMaster's attitude appeared and the (justified) lynching of TicketMaster began.
As people continued to express their dissatisfaction, the company announced that it would implement a new refund policy so that customers could get their money back within 30 days. Finally! This decision was received positively but it took several days and a lot of criticism to make this change.
What does this scandal tell us about the events sector?
This situation clearly shows us the flaws of centralized companies run by humans.. Yes, quite simply. Sometimes you have to write things as they are. Black on white.
The company is a global leader and needs a lot of money to pay its employees, pay the rent and expand further. The management team also wants to have more profit, because it is the very heart of a large company. I'm not teaching you anything
Being a global leader and having a monopoly on this sector also allows them to do whatever they want. This is, moreover, the real problem of monopoly in general.
Companies that have monopolies can change the rules of the game at any time. The customer is at their mercy. It's not for nothing that there are so many anti-trust (anti-monopoly) laws. This is precisely to prevent groups or single boxes from blowing hot and cold in a given sector.
You who are into cryptocurrencies (I assume so if you read this blog, right?), you immediately think of blockchain, am I wrong?
Replacing a large corporation with a blockchain-based platform securing transactions with smart contracts seems like a excellent alternative.
Blockchain code is resilient to pandemics and human crises. Computer code cannot catch viruses (although…but we are talking about biological viruses here).
Based on blockchain technology, it will not be possible to change the terms of use due to the sudden need to increase profits. Fully automated platforms are not subject to human greed.
There are even more problems to solve when we talk about the centralized ticketing industry. We could just as easily talk about fake tickets and tickets sold in duplicate.
Likewise, there are the problems associated with speculation. Some tickets quickly sell out in order to double or even triple their prices.
This is a type of problem that is impossible to encounter with blockchain, for example.
This is why we can say that blockchain has its place in events.
What are the 3 blockchain-based companies working in events?
To date, there are several blockchain-based platforms in the ticket sales industry.
I will cite 3 companies in blockchain-based events which are examples in the field.
1/ The GUTS Tickets app, the most advanced.
For me, I find it more successful than the others. In terms of interface, use of the app, features. Everything is top notch, I would say.
Similar to the previous company we just looked at, GUTS Tickets wants to improve the industry as a whole.
It promises to combat the same ills of the ticket sales industry as Citizen Ticket (secondary sales, bots, counterfeiting, fraud, etc.).
Blockchain appears to be a good solution for these persistent problems in the industry. The platform provides real-time data on the ownership and status of each purchased ticket and ticket. All tickets are connected to the devices of the holders and recorded on the blockchain directly. In an immutable way, no one can change the recorded data.
This measure absolutely prevents fraud.
It is also possible to resell the ticket legitimately using GUTS. The platform hosts business events, club evenings, numerous shows, various activities, plays, etc.
Let's move on to the second company which implements blockchain in events.
2/ Citizen Ticket.
They are the pioneers, so to speak, of the field. With such problems in the classic events sector, they indeed have every chance of breaking through.
This platform was launched in 2013 and currently hosts online and offline events.
In fact, in its early days, the company had nothing to do with blockchain, but it was deployed on the service BitTicket with time.
BitTicket is a blockchain solution that does not require users to know anything about blockchain or use cryptocurrencies. The sole purpose of BitTicket is to improve the service in general.
The BitTicket project helps protect tickets from bots, any type of fraud, etc. BitTicket guarantees that all tickets purchased are authentic and secure. Each user gets an online ticket wallet for greater convenience and security.
Likewise, organizers can trace all tickets themselves and get in touch with the public. Moreover, they can be sure that smart contracts will prevent tickets from being purchased in violation of the conditions applied by the organizers! Automatically !
😯 Basically, you too can create your company based on this technology. If any of you reading this article, you are looking for a profitable company in the blockchain, this might be a good time to get started...I'm only giving my opinion.
And, now let's see another company in blockchain-based events that is enjoying great success.
3/ EventChain.
This Canadian company provides a set of tools to event organizers. This bundle includes marketing features, ticket distribution and user registration.
Currently, EventChain also works with streaming platforms. This is interesting for attending live events, for example.
EventChain offers the ability to sell tickets via PayPal, credit card and with over 50 cryptocurrencies. Features like affiliate links and promo codes are also supported.
EventChain provides features such as mobile check-in tools (such as check-ins with QR codes or guest lists). Organizers can therefore collect data directly from participants via personalized questionnaires in particular. It's quite complete in terms of functionality.
Conclusion: The future of events seems to be in blockchain
Currently, blockchain-based platforms use DLT technologies only to protect their customers from fraudsters.
However, it seems obvious that a new generation of event companies will appear. And as long as it is ultimately the customer and the user who will have better protection, we can only rejoice. In any case, it is clear that there will always be more companies in blockchain-based events.
Radical changes and automation are yet to appear in the near future. New projects are emerging like KlubCoinEg.
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