Blockchain, undoubtedly, is one of the hottest technology of the decades, which shows itself bigger in our lives, from finance to healthcare, ecommerce, supply chain, digital transformation, and more.
Now, blockchain is even increasingly applied in entertainment. The technology is promising in transforming how entertainment content, e.g., films, videos, music, etc., is provided, used, and paid for.
Check this article to know more!
How Does Blockchain Change the Entertainment Industry?
It is not new that blockchain is applied in the entertainment industry. Nonetheless, we only witness its noticeable impacts in recent years after the breakthrough of bitcoin and cryptocurrencies. When we mention the entertainment industry here, we mostly refer to television, film, and music production and distribution.
As mentioned, blockchain can generally change how the creators and consumers deliver, enjoy, and pay for types of entertainment. Also, it adds security, transparency, and control to improve the industry’s supply chain and reduce copyright infringements.
Promising as the blockchain is, the value of blockchain in the media and entertainment industry can reach $11.8 billion by 2030, which registers a 30.40% CAGR between 2021 and 2030. North America and the Asia Pacific are dominating the market – according to the report of Market Research Future.
Benefits of Applying Blockchain in The Entertainment Industry
Let’s get a closer insight into how blockchain changes the entertainment industry!
The industry has grown thanks to the internet and the digital revolution. While producers can access their audience worldwide, disseminating marketing campaigns and engaging with fans. People can choose to enjoy entertainment content at any time and anywhere on their digital devices.
However, there are also new challenges. Piracy is the worst since it is hard to control the ownership, distribution, and identity. The industry annually loses billions of dollars for copyright infringement. Even when artists and producers do not suffer from pirated content, they have the disadvantage of prices due to the rife with middlemen and unequal profit distribution.
At that time, blockchain ails the industry on its heels.
- Digital asset security
With blockchain, entertainment companies and individuals create trust and data security against shady distribution. They can encrypt their products into digital data, then limit the sharing for involved parties only, such as advertisers, agencies, publishers, tech providers, and customers who have already made the payment.
The creators can also spot suspicious efforts to breach and steal assets. There are automated smart contracts to ensure all transactions meet pre-defined conditions, meaning the contracts can prevent breaches from happening. In addition, transaction history is transparently recorded and visible to participants in the chain.
- New revenue streams
Besides improving the trust, security, and efficiency of the entertainment supply chains, blockchain can boost revenue for creators since they provide value-added digital content for limited customers. The technology also improves customers’ experience by delivering less relevant and timely information to targeted audiences. This results in a high return rate and revenue in the long term.
Companies and individuals in the entertainment industry do not have to pay much for middlemen.
Check later: How does blockchain work?
Ways to Apply Blockchain in the Entertainment Industry
Streamlined Royalty Payments
The entertainment industry has witnessed an unfair profit distribution, particularly in the music section. Artists only receive 12% revenue of their work. This is due to a wide range of intermediaries involved in publishing and streaming.
The story has changed since blockchain networks cut out the intervention of third parties. In addition, the technology ensures accurate royalty payments. Those wanting to use entertainment services need to pay in advance. In the meantime, creators are paid whenever their tune is played.
Micropayments/Usage-Based Payment Models
Centralized entertainment is considered a lose-lose situation. While artists lose chunks of their profits, end-users also need to pay additional fees for the middlemen.
In contrast, a decentralized blockchain offers a potential utilization of micropayments. Users only make small transactions, usually online and possibly under one dollar, for small services or items they desire to use. This is much fairer for the users to access bite-size entertainment content.
Immutable Advertising Metrics
Advertisements and entertainment are a long-term couple.
With blockchain’s support, participants such as advertisers, clients, and agencies in tracking and attributing advertising-related metrics. Since data in the chain is immutable, the metrics are reliable and affordable.
Plus, information history is copied to each participant node, meaning it is secure against exploitation efforts.
Wrapping up
The interest in blockchain is only growing. Thus, there is a significant increase in the use of blockchain in entertainment, which changes how content is produced, distributed, consumed, and analyzed. Undoubtedly, technology will be the main way creators, and consumers interact with the media and each other.