The Ember Of Ticketing - GET Protocol Collectibles

‘A burning ember is always equipped to ignite’

There’s no better time to use a succinct quote like this than upon the release of a new product or functionality that offers an exciting glimpse at future possibilities. But when it comes to the role a collectible serves in the ticket and event lifecycle, no quote summarises the relationship better than this one.

As it presently stands, when an event ends and the moment becomes just a memory, the connection made between fans and artists can be lost completely with no direct way to continue kindling the connection.

Whilst photos, videos and memories help to build sentimental feelings, opportunities for direct engagement that fosters a shared community remains vacant.

In this digital age, connection has become one of the most valuable resources and as the event industry reels in the wake of COVID, it is now more important than ever for artists and brands to stay connected with their fans.

Enter the collectible.

So what exactly makes an NFT collectible so potent?

It provides global, tokenized access to a community built around a shared experience or belief.

In the case of events, collectibles are an access token into an artist or event organisers community, opening an entirely new avenue of support for an artist’s creative ecosystem, providing new revenue opportunities and incentivising repeat event attendance.

It is no surprise then why we call a collectible the ember of ticketing, for when the flame of an event subdues, the collectible ember continues to burn, providing an opportunity to reignite connections once more.

A glimpse through the looking glass

So what can we expect from a GET Protocol collectible?

The opportunities are vast and provide extensive breathing room for creative ambitions. To begin with, GET Protocol will act as an intermediary in helping to shape the collectible experience, showcase the full potential and market it as such.

In the future, we anticipate templates and ‘collectible archetypes’ that artists and event organisers will pick from within the ticketing dashboard.

Before we delve into possibilities for these collectibles, note that this section is part of the current discovery process and as such should not be taken as the definitive pathway that GET Protocol collectibles will go down.

It’s quite likely that as the collectible functionality picks up adoption, new avenues will be revealed that are in demand by artists and event organisers. But for the sake of invoking the imagination and revealing the potential on offer, we’ve provided examples of opportunities we foresee:

Evolving collectibles

Evolving collectibles are a mechanism that can be used for storytelling by event organisers and artists whilst contributing to direct fan engagement. Evolving collectibles that are claimed and distributed to ticket holders can adapt over time, 'evolving' as certain events or conditions occur, updating the collectible's artwork.

An example of this could be having the collectible distributed as a “hidden” image which only reveals if a specific event or action occurs. Artists and event organisers can use this tool to actively encourage fans to engage with campaigns in order to evolve their collectible.

Generative collectibles

Generative collectibles are perhaps more familiar to the mainstream NFT audience, with many projects existing in the space tapping into this generation method.

By having combinations of collectible imagery that are algorithmically assigned different rarities, you're effectively building exclusivity and scarcity into the collectible model, which has proved a hit with the most popular NFT collections utilising this method.

What would make generative collectibles different with GET Protocol is that rarity and scarcity could be intrinsically linked to ticket purchasing position and event specific factors, rewarding early ticket sales and fan loyalty.

Metaverse pass

Metaverse passes are an exciting new doorway into an burgeoning realm. Unlike previous archetypes presented, any GET Protocol collectible could in theory become a metaverse pass, which provides access to a specific space within a metaverse.

This access token is the ideal opportunity to continue an event into the digital realm or could even one day run in parallel to a real event. Can't attend an event in person? No problem - show up to the metaverse event instead.

In the future we foresee artists and event organisers having their own space within the Metaverse and every metaverse pass collectible they distribute provides direct access to this space. By owning a multiple of an artist's collectibles you can further unlock sections of a space, giving the most loyal fans further rewards and bringing them closer to the artist.

Incentivising collectible ownership

But collectibles are not just an image, they are global access tokens into exclusive online communities built around a shared experience or belief.

Built correctly, collectibles become their own commercial and creative layer that can support an artist's output and bolster a community brand for global adoption.

An artist that distributes multiple collectibles should structure these distributions to incentivise ownership of a number of collectibles rather than a singular event collectible. In doing so they can gauge levels of fan engagement and blossom a healthy secondary market that provides perpetual revenue from collectible sales.

Rewards for ownership of multiple collectibles could come in the form of VIP access, 1 on 1 meets and calls, sneak peaks, ability to participate in the artist's creative process and more - the possibilities are endless.

The surface has only been scratched

One thing is for certain, NFTs represent the fastest and most scalable vehicle ever built for financing and fostering creative output.

In this article we've touched on the benefits and types of collectibles that could be used through GET Protocol in the future, but we're confident that the extent of exploration into the creative possibilities on offer is only just beginning.