The Netherlands-based blockchain project GUTS, which is currently executing an ICO, released the news is has brought on one of the world’s most prominent live music booking agents as an advisor. Chris Payne, agent at International Talent Booking which represents acts like Pearl Jam, Guns ‘n Roses and Bob Dylan, has joined in an advisory capacity. Payne said that he has long seen the problems of the ticketing business, and is enthused to be involved in solving them.
Bringing transparency to ticketing
It is GUTS’ mission to make the ticketing industry less susceptible to rip-off resellers and scammers. In other words: an honest, worldwide ticketing market. Did you know that for the average high-profile gig, many tickets resell for over 500 percent their original value? As it stands, this is very difficult to prevent. Add to this the ease of copying tickets to rip off unwitting punters and you have a problem that leaves many fans with a bad taste in their mouth.
Until now, this was almost impossible to fix. But with blockchain technology, financial transactions and digital goods can be linked and managed in a way that prevents fraud. Blockchains ensure there is only one copy of valid information in the network, can stipulate the price for the transaction, and bring greater transparency to the whole process.
GUTS’ system has been successfully trialed at a number of gigs for thousands of customers. The platform is underpinned by the GET token and allows artists and their managers to control and monitor the supply of tickets from the moment they go on sale to the day of the performance. Reselling on GUTS is safer and fairer since it virtually eliminates the ability to sell tickets for a big markup and also prevents fraud.
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Big business, big headaches
The issue of reselling might not seem that pressing; after all, it’s a free market and shouldn’t people be allowed to trade? GUTS pointed out how this affects the wider music industry:
“…in recent years the market has been overtaken by bots and other predatory resellers, commonly known as ‘scalpers,’ whose business model consists solely of buying and reselling tickets. They turn a profit on the efforts of artists, promoters, agents and venues by mass-purchasing tickets and reselling them at a high margin. A recent study by Fanfair showed that 80 percent of purchasers in the secondary market feel ripped off.”
Partnering with experience
ITB represent a range of artists from Aerosmith and Adele to Weezer and ZZ Top, so collaboration with people from this organization should bring a degree of clout to GUTS’ marketing efforts. More importantly, Payne’s advise could help prevent or resolve the many issues that will certainly arise while developing such a groundbreaking vision.
Many startups have benefitted from influential advisors, and given the closed nature of the entertainment industry and the inherent complexity of blockchains, less experienced projects might struggle with the task GUTS has set out for itself.
The GUTS crowdsale started a couple of weeks ago and ends on Dec. 13, 2017 at 1 p.m. CET.
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