Ticketmaster Just Took a Substantial Step Toward NFT Tickets

The Alpha:

• Flow recently announced a groundbreaking new initiative with Ticketmaster. Via the Flow blockchain, all Ticketmaster event 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 eventgoers Web3 analogs to the IRL events, where they receive the NFTs.
• Recipients of linked NFTs may gain access to “VIP experiences,” according to Flow. Otherwise, the NFTs can simply serve as blockchain memorabilia for events. The execution of each NFT ticket tie-in is up to the event organizer.

Why it matters:

Although many ways exist for events hosted by Ticketmaster to integrate NFT-powered Web3 experiences, evidence suggests that this development will be felt most in the sports world — 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 event NFTs, the Flow blockchain was perhaps best known as the home of NBA Top Shot. In spite of the project’s decline over the past months, it still sits as the single most popular NFT project hosted on the Flow blockchain. The two after that? Also sports-related projects, with NFL ALL DAY and UFC Strike taking the second and third spots on Flow’s leaderboards, respectively.

Ticketmaster has also dabbled in NFTs prior to this new partnership with the Flow blockchain, as well. November 2021 saw Ticketmaster launch an initiative that gave attendees of NFL games during the 2021-2022 season the chance to mint their ticket stubs as NFTs.

What’s next:

However, it’s important to note that Ticketmaster and Flow’s new partnership does not consist of actual NFT tickets. Across the Web3 space, we’ve already seen multiple instances of NFT tickets being used to enable unique in-event utilities. Even traditionally Web2 events like music festivals have seen the usage of NFTs as demonstrably authentic entrance passes.

So what is it, then? In form and function, Ticketmaster and Flow’s collaboration looks to be an attempt at bringing proof of attendance protocol (POAP) NFTs to a mainstream audience. Namely, attendees of some of the highest-volume IRL events in the world. Since a16z-backed Dapper Labs developed Flow, Ticketmaster looks to be in great hands.

But wait, there’s more: