Cinema on Blockchain

• Toshendra Kumar Sharma
• January 27, 2018

The Blockchain is undoubtedly the new buzz in the market. The technology is growing at a breakneck pace and has made an impact on all the industry. Here I will be highlighting its influence in the cinema industry.

Cinema is an integral part of our life and is one of the biggest and fastest growing industry. Thus, there is a need for a system which can help in streamlining various processes related to it. The film industry can reap the benefits of Blockchain technology in the 21st century.

Brief overview of Blockchain technology

I will keep it simple; Blockchain is a public ledger which is accessible to all the people in the network. It has all the transaction record in the cryptographic form.

The Blockchain is at a nascent stage. This technology is undoubtedly going to change many things around us. It is an unassailable intelligent creation which has changed the face of the industry. The key features which make Blockchain so inevitable include the following :

• Decentralized functioning
• It is free from scams
• Lower transaction cost
• Transparency
• Authenticity
• Easy to track

Now let’s understand, how it is going to benefit the film industry. It would not be wrong to say that Blockchain technology provides series of innovative opportunities to address the problems of copyright, piracy issues, management of creative rights and distribution complexity.

 Let’s understand how the multifaceted Blockchain technology is going to change the face of Cinema

• Smart contracts for distribution– Film release has now become a global affair, unlike the earlier times. Apart from this, we have now international partners who help in local distribution. With the involvement of so many people, Blockchain technology serves as a decentralized and scalable solution to manage the ever-increasing complexity of global networks and digital distribution models. A smart contract on Blockchain can register all the agreement between the producer and the distribution partners. Once you have everything recorded on Blockchain, smart contracts can be used to trigger actions like enabling automated distribution of revenue when collections are received.
• Copyright issues – Another critical issue that often surrounds the film industry is the copyright uses. Here Blockchain technology comes as a solution. One can create immutable records of transactions on any asset like story, character, script, etc. Once everything comes on the Blockchain, this asset can be tracked whenever required. You can get to know when ownership is exchanged, transferred or sold.
• Fighting piracy– The biggest challenge for the film industry is the piracy, and with the evolution of digital modes and online media, the case of digital piracy has become a matter of concern. Although we have systems and policies in place, yet, the incidents of leaking films online have increased.

Now here comes the role of Blockchain technology in Cinema, the film content can be encrypted with a cryptographic transaction on the Blockchain. Anyone who uploads, or tries to modify the content can only do via a transaction on Blockchain which means that they can be easily tracked. This will further deter illegal access to the content and also restrict uploading and leaking of the films.

• Commercial viability – One of the challenges which the creative workers face is about commercial viability. Although, the established players may not feel the punch, the independent players and small artists who don’t have much control in managing their work. Let’s take an example to understand this; the famous platform Spotify charges 80% of the earning of every track sold. In this case, the owner or the songwriter gets only slim pickings as the significant chunk of earning is taken by the platform. Although, this may not be the case with prominent Losing a portion of your money to someone e is painful.

Here Blockchain can come as a solution. The artists can directly connect with the fan and earn money.  A few years back Imogen Heap collaborated with Ujo to deliver tracks directly to fans and took the payment in cryptocurrency. Although, this idea is still at a nascent stage but with the upsurge of startups like Mycelia are changing the trend.

Apart from this, SingularDTV a Blockchain startup entered the market in 2016 to function as the decentralized Netflix. It is a Blockchain entertainment studio, rights management platform, video on demand portal operating on Ethereum Blockchain.

Final Words-

It is just the beginning, although Blockchain is a new beginning, with an array of options of using this technology has made it epochal for various industries to think about including it as a part of the mainstream business.