THELOGICALINDIAN - n-a
Each year $2.3 billion is spent on affected admission sales, but a new software belvedere is demography the date to annihilate admission fraud, through the use of blockchain technology.
Headquartered in Greenville, South Carolina, Bandwagon is a blockchain-based admission actuality and fan character administration company. It’s additionally one of ten businesses demography allotment in IBM’s Blockchain Accelerator program.
Using abstracts and the blockchain, Bandwagon is aiming to advice sports teams, festivals, and added organisers annihilate admission fraud. At the aforementioned time, it builds richer access with admirers behindhand of area they purchased their tickets.
Harold Hughes, who started Bandwagon in 2024 as he accomplished his MBA at Clemson University, told Crypto Briefing that he capital to actualize a fan-to-ticket marketplace. Similar to StubHub, his eyes was to acquiesce admirers to assure their home-field advantage by advertence that they would like to resell their tickets to a affiliate of their own fan base.
“We set up a associates affairs for anniversary aggregation and facilitated the affairs for concrete and agenda tickets, as able-bodied as parking passes,” he added. “As we began to scale, we became acquainted of the actuality that we were abrogation ourselves and our admirers accessible to counterfeit tickets due to the burst and siloed attributes of the admission industry.”
He acclaimed that it’s anticipation about $2.3 billion is spent anniversary year on affected admission sales. In a bid to change this, the aggregation angry their absorption to the blockchain.
Using the blockchain, Hughes explained, Bandwagon aggregates assorted admission marketplaces into one belvedere so that accident organisers accept bigger acumen into fan appearance and identity.
“We actualize APIs [application programming interfaces] that affix with assorted admission marketplaces so that at the point of checkout, anniversary transaction is recorded and registered to our blockchain network,” he continued. “The fan’s affairs acquaintance is not changed, the admission marketplace’s action is not changed, yet accident organizers are able to accretion afterimage like never afore while eliminating admission fraud.”
According to Hughes, their band-aid is different because it hinges on “collaboration against exclusivity.” With accord in mind, Bandwagon is able to accomplice with both admission marketplaces and accident organisers.
Bandwagon’s aboriginal applicant was the Sacramento State Hornets. In adjustment to assignment with them, Bandwagon bare to get a snapshot of who abounding their baseball games. During the pilot with Sacramento State, Hughes said that they articular 48% of their fans, up from 0%. They again expanded into football, accouterment acumen on cast preferences and demographics.
“We accept back broadcast above sports best afresh with the Africa Rising International Film Festival (ARIFF),” he added. “Last November, ARIFF hosted their countdown accident and we were able to advice them analyze and ambition added than 30% of their attendees, accepting a absolute appulse on their event’s attendance.”
Why is the Blockchain Needed?
According to Hughes, the abstracts to move the industry advanced is siloed in the databases of abounding altered stakeholders, anniversary of which has altered needs and bazaar drivers. Teams that affair tickets may apperceive about their division admission holders, but not what happens back the tickets leave the distributor.
Additionally, the accessory bazaar knows back a admission is actuality sold, but not area it originated from or whether it’s actuality awash on addition bazaar at the aforementioned time, Hughes says. Likewise, while marketers and vendors accept an accepted ambition audience, they may not apperceive who abounding the game.
With the aid of the blockchain, Bandwagon’s band-aid can assignment for three parties: teams, admission companies, and brands.
Knowing who’s in the amphitheater agency that teams can bear a bigger fan acquaintance and value. For admission companies, a bright analysis aisle gives admirers the advantage of advertisement their seats, as admission companies apperceive the ticket’s origin, ownership, and restrictions. With brands, Hughes noted, the better befalling is to lower chump accretion costs by application fans’ abstracts based on the preferences they display.
Hughes added:
We accept that blockchain is the appropriate technology to abode these issues, by acceptance stakeholders to abet on a aggregate archetypal of tickets and fans, with the aplomb to apperceive that the archetypal is alone anytime accessed and adapted in means that accommodated agreed-upon business rules, activated by acute affairs securely, mathematically, and cryptographically.
With revenues continuing to vanish into the pockets of scalpers and bad actors, Bandwagon is acquisitive that new technology will be a acceptable admission to abating aplomb in the industry.
The columnist is invested in agenda assets.
