As the blockchain waves move hither thither, it seeks to decentralize everything on its path. Will Decentralized Applications (DApps) offering solutions in finance, data management, manufacturing, education and even entertainment replace traditional centralized options?
Even without blockchain’s help, the mass market for user-generated content platforms like YouTube and streaming sites (like Netflix and Amazon) have already done some ‘damaging’ disruption in the video production industry. Nevertheless, centralized big sites still exist because they consistently deliver top quality content.
In a centralized entertainment world, before content gets to the end user, from production to distribution, it would’ve passed through several gatekeepers and transmitted only through approved channels like cable, mobile or web. Content is either distributed over the air using coaxial or over the internet using Content Delivery Networks (CDN) like Amazon CloudFront or Akamai. The manner of distribution, time, subscription charges is usually decided on a hierarchical basis.
In a decentralized entertainment world, powered by the blockchain, content production and distribution is all open source and available for members of the entertainment industry. There is no hierarchy for choosing one content and disallowing another, or choosing one channel of distribution and rejecting the other. Different computers worldwide, acting as nodes in a blockchain can function as broadcasters, especially for those content previously ’rejected’ by CDNs.
This has become a catalyst for several blockchain and crypto projects aimed at decentralizing video content. Some projects were built on existing blockchains like LivePeer on Steemit blockchain and Viuly on Ethereum blockchain, while others were built on brand new blockchains. The goal is to see content creators have the largest share when it comes to profiting from content created. A good example of this is Spectiv, a VR project that advertises using VR.
We can see that the ball of disruption is already rolling and gathering momentum. Wondering how the take over could happen? Here are some ways:
- Unlimited Liberty for Content Creators: Since there would be no need for the gatekeepers, creators are at liberty to produce as much content as possible. Produced content are instantly published without the need for approval from any centralized authority.
- Variety Is the Icing: With content creation decentralized, it’s easy for niche channels to come up, providing users with several options.
- Free Content: Usually, blockchain projects have their own coins which could be utilized for their services. Creators can produce content for the platform, get paid and use earned coins to get access to free content.
- Paid Advertising: Advertisers who wish to benefit from the platform, can pay creators directly. Users can also utilize the tokens for paying their subscription packages.
One of the industries that feels a huge immediate impact from new technologies is the entertainment sector. A good instance is the advent of the internet. It wiped off carnival shows and replaced with cinemas and TV Networks, although centralized. The next stage we can expect is democratizing all that content, which is exactly what blockchain is set to achieve. Some projects aiming to achieve this have already been launched, we can expect a takeover in a couple of years.
