Buying a concert ticket, sometimes at a disproportionate price, waiting impatiently for the day of the event… to finally realize, on the appointed day, that you have been defrauded. To fight the scourge of scams, show managers are now using tickets based on blockchain technology, a system deemed infallible against scams.
At the end of July at the Stade de France, in Paris, during an Ed Sheeran concert, the security agents did not have to manage any invalid ticket, they reported to the Parisian. A feat made possible thanks to the inauguration of a new ticketing system, based on the chain of blocks (or blockchain in English), on the occasion of the performance of the famous British singer.
Rather than receiving a classic ticket in their email inbox, spectators had to download the “Stade de France Tickets” application and enter their personal information before receiving their ticket, just a few days before the concert. Developed by the Stade de France and by the company Secutix, which specializes in the development of ticketing platforms, the application makes it impossible to present counterfeit tickets, in addition to curbing resale on the black market.
Screenshots not possible
With traditional tickets, it can be difficult to check if the same ticket has not been duplicated several times to be resold to several people. There, with the blockchain, the problem does not arise, since they cannot be copied. “It is impossible to take a screenshot of the tickets”, explains Eric Rozenberg, general manager of SecuTix Americas, in an interview with the To have to, since they are dynamic QR codes.
” On the blockchain, the banknote consists of a unique certificate of authenticity. We know who owns the ticket at all times. It eliminates the risk of fraud. »
It is always possible to resell your ticket if you change your mind, but the transaction must be done through the application so that its security is guaranteed.
Important condition, however, to use this device: have a smart phone, with a sufficiently charged battery, when arriving at the concert. And each viewer must have their own device. If a consumer buys several tickets, he must have transferred them in advance to his companions, who must also enter their information. However, an exception applies for minors.
The introduction of this kind of system is not done without reason: the fear of being ripped off when buying show tickets is widespread among consumers. According to a 2018 survey conducted in the United States by Aventus, a blockchain-based services company, two-thirds of consumers surveyed said they feared being defrauded when buying tickets. In addition, 12% of consumers surveyed had already been sold a counterfeit ticket. And among respondents who have been scammed, more than half (54%) said it negatively affected their perception of the artist, despite the fact that artists have no control over it.
Excessive pricing hunting
“Another serious problem affecting the industry is the phenomenon of bots [robots informatiques] who buy a multitude of tickets for the sole purpose of reselling them at higher prices, sometimes even at exorbitant amounts”, underlines Eric Rozenberg.
“A ticket office based on the blockkchain can help block the botsand the event organizer can define the ticket resale rules on their platform,” he continues.
Louis Roy, president of Catallaxy, the subsidiary of Raymond Chabot Grant Thornton specializing in blockchain, sees a lot of promise in this type of ticket office. “It goes to show that, despite the recent fall in the cryptocurrency industry, the underlying technology is not losing its appeal. The product has lost value, but not the technology itself,” says Mr. Roy.
Blockchain-based ticketing can help block bots [robots informatiques]and the event organizer can set ticket resale rules on their platform
“We have systems of blockchain which work very well, but they are still quite expensive to set up”, he acknowledges, stressing that this can be a brake on the large-scale expansion of this type of technology.
After two years of pandemic, while the cultural sector is reborn from its ashes, Eric Rozenberg also underlines that ticketing based on the blockchain can also help organizers to ensure compliance with public health measures. “If vaccination is mandatory to participate in your event, it is always possible to require proof of vaccination to be attached to a ticket”, he suggests.