American EDM-pop duo The Chainsmokers are backing a new blockchain-based ticketing platform.
Platform allows artists to control the secondary ticketing market
Alongside their manager Adam Alpert, the 2017 Grammy Award winners invested in YellowHeart, a decentralized ticketing platform designed to facilitate transparent ticketing sales by artists, music industry publication Music Business Worldwide reports on Oct. 21.
Founded by music executive Josh Katz, the YellowHeart platform uses a public blockchain to enable artists and venues to directly control the ticketing process, including sales on secondary markets.
YellowHeart aims to eliminate scalpers
Specifically, the platform intends to cut out the music industry middlemen known as scalpers, who buy large amounts of tickets to resell them at a higher price. Scheduled for launch in 2020, YellowHeart will reportedly allow artists to set maximum resale prices, ensure tickets are distributed to real customers instead of scalpers, as well as earn a share of tickets resold on YellowHeart’s secondary marketplace.
Alpert, who is also CEO at American record label Disruptor Records, stressed that the problem of scalpers has been well-known in the industry for years.
In September, South Korean conglomerate CJ Corp’s IT arm, CJ OliveNetworks, announced the launch of a new blockchain-based digital copyright system for recording and tracking music in broadcast content. Previously, global media giant Warner Music Group invested in blockchain startup Dapper Labs to collaborate on its blockchain network Flow, on which Warner is reportedly planning to create a new digital asset.
