As we proceed to view distributed ledger adoption and innovation spread across industries, entertainment and media industry, in particular, persists in achieving considerably from the traceability and transparency that blockchain provides.

The media and entertainment industry is fundamentally relationship-based. Hence, the creators face disadvantages by middlemen margins and underhandedness profits. 

This has been especially amplified by the reality that many artists are never explained or presented the complexities of the law, business, and finance in their hunt of creativity and artistic expression. With the aid of blockchain technology, the industry could substantially decrease costs, eradicate fraud, and improve transparency overall. 

One of the most vital issues in the entertainment industry is ownership and rights management over the content. The inability of tracking who holds what across visual, audio, and written content has produced massive lawsuits and payment hassles. 

Blockchain ensures a way to track IP across various channels efficiently. Intellectual property rights can be tracked, using this new technology and digital rights management companies can obtain the full record of transactions made.

Frequently, profits are held by either labels or studios, and artists and other stakeholders can be left idling for months to view any financial compensation for their hours of work while accounting takes place. Blockchain technology is ideally suited to give liquidity for all of its stakeholders. 

Music

One of the most prominent issues famous and struggling musicians face is funding for the development of their original song or album. Artists may put all the skill and passion into their craft, though it is usually the labels who hold ownership. 

Streaming services have thrown a cog into this problematic policy by enabling artists to trace streams easily and even launch their music without a label. Blockchain attempts to uphold this trend by building a more straightforward relationship between creators and fans. 

Vezt, supported by Sony and BMG, strives to be the first music rights marketplace where fans can yield in the royalties of songs and recordings they love. The company attempts to reinvent the music industry by rendering songwriters, artists, and producers with funding sourced directly from fans. 

Verifi tackles rights management for music, combining media files, ownership data, and artwork. Verifi’s fundamental value proposition is to synchronize ownership across stakeholders in each song – from the artist to the label, to the streaming service. 

Backed by General Catalyst, Lightspeed Ventures, and Kleiner Perkins, Audius strives to be the blockchain-based rival to Soundcloud. Audius provides free hosting for its artists, offers up to 90% of revenues back to the creator, and ensures enhanced fan engagement and discoverability for up-and-coming artists.

Visual Content & Media

Music is not the only industry that stands to achieve from distributed ledger innovation. TV, Film, and short-form digital media could profit from more efficient tracking of IP ownership and streamlined fundraising and payout models. 

Tackling the borderline mafia-esq Hollywood film industry, Ethereum based, FilmChain allocates, collects, and analyzes revenues in TV, Film, and other digital media. The platform aims to promote transparency in the distribution process where stakeholders can be compensated without the need for a mediator. The platform also provides projects to draw on global financing and build global audiences. 

Toronto-based StreambedMedia is developing a content provenance mechanism that enables creators to track content posted on Twitter, YouTube, Instagram, and Facebook with a reputation mechanism. StreambedMedia’s strategy taps into another yet unrealized major trend – utilizing blockchain to monetize micro-content. 

Audience Engagement

Engaging audiences is at the essence of every entertainment business. Whether its music, film, or any other sort of longevity, media, and profitability, all links on active engagement – and, in turn, monetization. 

Audigent is a new type of transparent data platform for advertisers in the sports, entertainment, and lifestyle space. 

Boasting active collaboration with Instagram and YouTube, the company is also backed by the new fund, Raised in Space, in association with Scooter Braun, Ripple’s XSpring, and Warner Music Group. The company desires to be the first all-in-one solution for first-party data monetization and audience engagement. 

The end aim of audience engagement is transforming it all into ticket sales for events. Ticketing has been hailed as one of the most practical applications of blockchain in entertainment. It successfully battles fake ticketing, scalping, and enables artists to hold comprehensive control of pricing. 

Above all, distributed ledger solutions in media and entertainment strive to enhance accountability and transparency for the profit of the creator. As a result, this makes the final product more affordable for the customer, skipping out needless mediators along the way and guarding the much-coveted and ever cherished artist-fan relationship.