We have discussed the role that blockchain plays in finance and healthcare and many other industries at length. We’ve also established its relevance in the currencies’ frontier, especially cryptocurrencies. To summarize, blockchain is a shared, programmable, secure ledger that is not controlled by any one single entity, but cannot be edited by any party on it.
Such features of blockchain make it ideal for financial transactions and other transactions on product life cycle, workflow, supply chain and other real-life scenarios. Blockchain also presents a redefined model in creator economy.
Blockchain in Creative Economy
Blockchain can redefine how artists make money from their art, forming a platform for creators of intellectual property to receive value for their work. Creators are often faced with copyright infringement, plagiarism and lower revenue cuts on streaming services like Spotify and YouTube. To protect artists’ rights, a circular creator economy can be enabled by blockchain. Smart contracts, transparent transactions, dynamic and efficient pricing and monetizing creative content can all be enabled through blockchain.
Importance of Smart Contracts in Royalties
With smart contracts, a creator blockchain can manage digital rights and allocate revenue shares among all contributors to the art. The control of the narrative lies only in the hands of the artist and not the other more powerful bodies. Royalties can be designed more inclusively, with all stakeholders of the creative process receiving their fair share. For example, in the music industry, there are multiple stakeholders including composers, lyricists, musicians, producers, etc. A blockchain enabled platform can monitor and track each person’s contribution to the song and divide royalties fairly through a smart contract. The owner of the creative material can also be easily established. Any sales have to be consented by the owner of the artwork.
For example, singer-songwriter Taylor Swift owns the recording rights to her music but her label sold her songs to another label without her consent, even after her making her motive of buying the music clear. This could have been avoided with the use of Blockchain, where consent of the owner becomes clear and ownership can be traced and content can be shared and stored securely.
Pricing Model and Monetization
The creator economy is very dynamic and keeps fluctuating with demand and trends. Artists can have a better voice in deciding pricing of their artwork, work out a pricing scheme and provide discounts, incentives and offers to their artwork, thereby making it a viable business entity. With Blockchain, even smaller pieces of a complete artwork can be sold or rented for a price, such as a snippet of a song on a reel or a background score reuse without having to pay for the complete copyright. This breaks down creative content to smaller consumable units and makes the business model more dynamic and profit-oriented.
NFTs and Visual Artwork
NFTs are another way where blockchain can be used as a primary platform. All smart contracts are in the form of NFTs. But visual artwork can be minted as NFTs and sold, with their ownership rights being clear and secure. Copyright infringement of artwork posted online can be monitored if it is made into an NFT. Moreover, NFTs will also play a big part in metaverse and gaming, which will be another monetizable entity under the creative economy.
Conclusion
The creative world is an extremely dynamic, unpredictable and unstable industry to be a part of. Blockchain provides a source of steady income for artists by making their artwork a viable business commodity and providing more ways of monetizing their talents. But this may lead to the over-industrialization of art, with a focus on creating art that masses like and not being able to showcase free creative expression. The over-monetization of artwork might lead to a downfall in creative expression. A fine balance has to be maintained by bringing in a steady income for artists by monetizing artwork on Blockchain and enabling that their freedom of expression is not curtailed.
Smrithi Shree
SimplyFI Blog 