The entertainment industry has not been alien to disruption. It continues to transform its styles, norms, and distribution methodologies to reach a diverse audience with the best-suited content. People are often easily influenced and stirred by messages delivered by the entertainment industry. With such power, the industry has a lot on its shoulders. New technologies are enabling it to provide better products and services to serve the ever-evolving demands of audiences.
Blockchain has brought along a trend of disruption, and its ripples have been felt by the entertainment industry as well. Here are a few famous or common applications of this technology-
VERIFIABLE TICKET SALES
It is not a surprise that live concerts are growing in popularity and so are their ticketing prices. It is pleasant news for the audience when a number of exciting entertainment options get launched. However, increased costs have led many consumers turning to second-hand ticket sources despite the risk involved. If the tickets in the second-hand market turn out to be fraudulent, there is no recourse to get your money back.
Here is how blockchain saves the day- it can record ticket ownership and can determine if a ticket is sold or gifted. The permanent records that make digital currency trustworthy can in the same way track ticket ownership. This will broaden the market, making it more accessible and fair.
DECENTRALISED MUSIC DISTRIBUTION
The music industry witnessed a significant downfall when Napster (platform for sharing music), made illegal music free and accessible for millions of its users. While Napster no longer poses a threat, a range of services has emerged since then, that is deforming the market. On the contrary, services like Spotify and Apple Music offer a streaming revenue model that compensates artists and creates lucrative distribution platforms.
Additionally, Apple, Google, and Amazon all have digital stores where users purchase music to download on their devices. In 2018, recording artist RAC became the first to release an entire album on Ethereum blockchain. The record, EGO, is an EDM styled album that is as famed for its alternative distribution method as it is for its unique content. However, RAC isn’t the first one to do so. In 2015, Imogen Heap released her single, “Tiny Human,” on blockchain. In an article published in the Harvard Business Review, Heap wrote, “Blockchain technology has the potential to organize the industry’s messy house in order.” For music distributors, blockchain is a way to honor licensing agreements and to value artists’ contributions and efforts. In a digital environment where licensing and contribution-based incentivization get implemented loosely, the technology can empower the music industry to carve a future that is distinctly digital and encourages creativity.
The primary challenge with blockchain-based rights is the creation of the “pull factor.” This will force the existing industry incumbents who are benefiting from current limitations to move towards a more transparent and robust system. For rights distribution, this pull factor could come from concerts benefitting from a new ticket distribution system. For advertising, this could be a new ad-blocking system and browser.
INTENTIONAL ADVERTISING INITIATIVES
Various forms of advertising serve as a powerhouse for the digital media landscape, and blockchain can ensure that this advertising is user-centered and targeted. Several blockchain-based platforms are emerging that compensate users for their direct attention or tokenize user information and provide customers with real-time advertising directives that are safe, secure, and private. For example, the Basic Attention Token that compensates users for intentionally viewing targeted advertisements raised $35M in under 30 seconds. This opt-in feature ensures that ads are being seen, which makes them more valuable.
This is extremely critical for the media industry as ad spending accounts for a whopping $200 billion and is expected to expand by more than 20% in the next five years. Companies leveraging this industry with increased innovation, privacy and effectiveness will capture the meatiest part of the advertising space.
Blockchain can aid companies to benefit from the growing advertising business to promote faster growth within their platforms. Consequently, they can fund more projects which will create better content for a broader audience.
