The music industry is dominated by scalpers who are looking for arbitrage opportunities to resell tickets. Although the phenomenon is not new, it has only become more apparent with the impact of the pandemic, making the market even more centralized than it had been previously. The sad reality is, now artists’ insiders, automated bots, partnerships with second-hand ticket retailers and those looking to make ticket resales their business have used these actions for their own personal gain. Unfortunately, many still do not recognize the impact this has on their favorite artists.
The result has been that artists now have a more difficult time making a decent living. Typically an artist’s album sales will go directly to their label, making them more reliant on revenue from performing live shows, which is further amplified by artists who will lose out on a good chunk of revenue from their efforts when tickets are resold. Many artists are then forced to go on excessive tours, take on unnecessary brand deals, and put themselves in other situations that may lead to burnout.
Centaurify aims to address these concerns head-on, allowing artists to take control of their independence in the music scene, eliminating the middleman and protecting their fans from exploitation. This endeavor is made possible with a solution built on the blockchain, where nonfungible tokens (NFTs) are used to replace each ticket sold. As traditional characteristics of this technology state, tickets become 100% traceable, impossible to counterfeit and programmable to resale conditions that can protect both the artist and their fans.
This initiative is being led by 14 platinum awarded DJ, CLMD and CEO, David Rootwelt-Norberg, with the mission to empower artists and enhance the music experience through leadership and live events.
Saving the music industry
Centaurify is built on the Cardano (ADA) platform and uses its proof-of-stake (PoS) consensus. Doing so gives users a greener choice, along with fast transactions, low transaction fees and greater opportunity for scalability. Furthermore, since code execution becomes increasingly important, the platform leverages a programming language Haskell as the functional language to guarantee the best results for correct execution. This endeavor is done in partnership with mlabs.city, a Haskell, blockchain and artificial intelligence (AI) consultancy. The Centaurify team has also had the opportunity to present their project to the public at the Cardano Summit at the Oslo Hub.
With a strong basis, the platform then operates on three key pillars. The first one relies on each pillar ticket being minted as their own NFT, so their actions become traceable from their issuance to sale. In combination with this pillar, artists also have the opportunity to determine their own rules and values for the resale price of the ticket so no one can take advantage of their fans.
Finally, based on the rules set upon issuance, artists can also ensure that a portion of each sale proceeds goes to the rightful owner rather than a malicious third party. Other concerns are also eliminated, such as purchasing fake tickets, which with Centaurify can become 100% traceable and impossible to counterfeit, so secondhand buyers have confidence in their purchase.
When looking at the project’s prospects, a member from their team shares,
“Centaurify is the future of music, a live event & music NFT universe. By tokenizing tickets with NFT & smart contract technology using the Cardano network, Centaurify will prevent scalping, fraud and control the secondary market back to the organizers & artists. We are empowering music!”
Therefore, regardless of where a ticket is sold, artists will receive a 2% inflection of value, though the number may be changed. However, it is already an improvement from the 0% currently received.
A path towards adoption
Met with initial success, the team has since expressed their excitement of their token launch occurring on Nov. 16, with announcements including the release of their NFT ticket platform and niched marketplace to be built following this event. In fact, by the end of Q1 2022, users expect the NFT ticketing platform to be set for real-life testing.
Although Centaurify’s plan is to start in the music industry, the thought of disrupting other industries, including sports and other entertainment, is not off the table.
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