區塊鏈如何改變未來娛樂行業
作者：Sunny Dhillon
雖然區塊鏈技術還遠未被主流應用，但它有望改變眾多領域的現狀。本文將會聚焦于一個會被顛覆的行業-娛樂業。
內容創作與消費的狀態
比其他行業更明顯的是，娛樂業有一個中間人的問題。直到最近，如果沒有獲得唱片協議，沒有依靠工作室進行錄制發布，是不可能出版音樂的。 電影和電視也一樣：沒有工作室和制作公司的支持，沒有電影院和有線電視頻道放映你的作品，是不可能發行電影或者電視節目的。
雖然互聯網已經使娛樂業內容創作和發行民主化，創作人員不再需要迎合Interscope或迪士尼的喜好，一批新的中間商出現在數字內容領域。
如今，用戶依賴平臺去消費音樂或視頻內容。 例如YouTube (15億用戶)，SoundCloud (1750萬用戶)，Spotify (1400萬用戶)和Netflix（約1100萬用戶）等平臺，控制全球用戶消費，并作為發行商，同時負責收集訂閱和廣告收益，將其分攤給藝術家們。
這類控制有利于主流唱片公司和流媒體平臺，已經造成關于藝術家賠償和待遇方面的爭議，其中最著名的就是Taylor Swift和Apple Music，Spotify的例子。隨著藝術家們對這些平臺越來越失望，他們正在尋找新的選擇。進入區塊鏈行業。
通過提供一個數字公共數據庫來存儲正在進行的交易記錄，區塊鏈使公司能夠完全加密所有權記錄，并執行智能合同（即自動執行交換任何有價物而不需要中間人）。目前有幾次嘗試創建以區塊鏈為基礎的公司和與媒體及娛樂相關的貨幣。當應用于媒體消費時，該技術解決了關于內容訪問，發行和賠償；資產及數字權限管理；融資等問題。
可以說區塊鏈解決了主要的問題，至少在內容消費方面是微支付。盡管Patreon等平臺專注于幫助創作者從粉絲手中籌集資金，但這些平臺還不是便利的平臺。使用加密貨幣有助于通過安全支付，減少交易費用，創作者占據銷售額更大比重來消除中間商。
格萊美獎得主Imogen Heap是采用區塊鏈的最杰出音樂家之一。她最近與Ujo-一家希望成為獨立音樂發行和支付的一站式商店的公司-合作，發行了以太坊區塊鏈上的第一首歌。智能合約的概念是以太坊的核心，它讓Imogen Heap可以完全控制她與合作者的支付方式和支付環境（比如，購買下載，直播，混音和同步歌曲的許可）。
Stem，一家為區塊鏈支付建立必要平臺的公司，希望成為創作者的支付分配平臺。他們允許創作者在一個易于使用的平臺上發布內容，管理合同，處理付款。雖然微支付在如今的內容消費上遠非常態，但承諾降低交易費用，更安全的銷售和消費記錄，可能使它成為藝術家，作家和電影制作人感興趣的商業模式。
數字權限
區塊鏈也為微支付的前身，數字權限管理，提供了保障。從1709年英國頒布世界上第一部版權法到過去的Napster，BitTorrent，制作與販賣內容的歷史，是對誰擁有內容版權的長期斗爭。
區塊鏈技術以其不變的記錄和去中心化的性質提出了解決方案。大公司已經注意到：去年必須解決未付版稅訴訟的Spotify最近收購了數字版權管理創業公司Mediachain。 Mediachain將區塊鏈基礎架構與類似Google圖片搜索中的內容ID技術相結合，創建一個“通用媒體庫”，您可以在其中識別內容背后的“作者和故事”。
有形商品
娛樂業中的有形商品呢？名人商品，活動門票或紀念品？萊昂納多?達?芬奇的《世界的救世主》一畫在一個月前以4.5億美元的價格售出，以超過200%的價格打破了拍賣記錄; 而超級碗的平均票價近5000美元。這兒有一個“超級明星效應”：不是最佳表演者因為他們自身能力進入更大市場而獲得更多收入，而是市場拓展內容的能力推動了價值的稀缺，或是真實。
區塊鏈具有保持真實的巨大潛力。與比特幣如何使用記錄點對點轉移價值的不可變賬本一樣，區塊鏈技術可以記錄供應鏈交易或為每一個產品單位提供一個獨特標識，以追溯其鏈上的蹤跡。該單位可以與NFC芯片、二維碼或RFID標簽配對，以便在數字世界紀錄其實際進展。
VeChain是一家位于上海的創業公司，由于涉及奢侈品手袋，已經在研究這個問題。人們可以想象將相同的技術應用于名人商品。 在英國，BitTicket推出了一個基于區塊鏈的平臺，管理公共活動門票的銷售，并旨在打擊門票倒賣。Aventus和TicketChain是競爭對手。 Everledger是一家首次將區塊鏈解決方案應用于鉆石采購問題的公司，該公司已經涉足美術領域，以打擊那里的欺詐行為。
游戲
過去的幾周里，無法避免談論這類區塊鏈應用。這種必然性幾乎完全要歸功于CryptoKitties，一款在以太坊區塊鏈上運行的虛擬養貓交易游戲。TechCrunch將其描述為“口袋妖怪卡片的數字版本”和分散的Neopets。自從11月28日發布以來，情況迅速升級：截至2017年12月6日，人們在該網站上花費了超過630萬美元；它阻塞了以太坊區塊鏈； 小貓數量已經超過了六位數。 當然，它也很方便地為那些對區塊鏈有想法的人提供了羅夏測試。也就是說，每個人：這是區塊鏈規模化問題的證據。與Beanie Babies相比，它很容易就能被看作是區塊鏈的泡沫特征的警告。據該公司的市場總監介紹，這是對如今的ICO市場的一種半開玩笑式的批評。
無論如何，這是區塊鏈上首個重要的游戲應用。 與Neopets不同，CryptoKitties不使用中心化數據庫。盡管它的開發者，AxiomZen，從游戲的每一筆交易中提成，但該公司可能明天就會消失，而小貓仍然可以交易。CryptoKitties的突破性成功將為區塊鏈上的游戲開發吸引更多的關注和融資，而且還有其他項目將受益。Game Protocol因其規模和野心脫穎而出：他們最近，建立了一個包含整個視頻游戲經濟的協議后，發行了ICO，其中包括一個去中心化的游戲商店，一個開發者社區以及創建游戲的工具，以及一個讓消費者資助他們喜歡的項目的眾籌平臺。從電子競技投注到紙牌游戲的所有內容都基于區塊鏈進行了迭代。
毫無疑問，區塊鏈提供了眾多令人激動的應用程序來解決困擾娛樂行業數十年的問題。
原文：
How Blockchain Can Transform The Future Of Entertainment
POST WRITTEN BY
Sunny Dhillon
Although blockchain technology remains far from mainstream adoption, it is poised to change the status quo in a wide range of fields. In this article, I want to focus on one industry that could be particularly positioned for disruption – entertainment.
The State of Content Creation and Consumption
Arguably more so than any other industry, entertainment has a gatekeeper problem. Until recently, it was impossible to put out music without getting a record deal and relying on a label to record, distribute, and monetize your music as an artist. The same was true in film and television: You could not distribute a movie or TV show without studios and production companies throwing their weight behind you, and movie theaters or cable channels agreeing to showcase your creation.
While the internet has now democratized content creation and distribution in entertainment and creatives no longer have to get in bed with the likes of Interscope or Disney, a new crop of middlemen have emerged in digital content. Today, users rely on platforms to consume music and video content. Platforms like YouTube (1.5 billion users), SoundCloud (175 million), Spotify (140 million) and Netflix (~110 million) control user consumption across the globe and act as the new distributors, responsible for both collecting subscription and ad revenues and divvying up payments to artists.
This amount of control favors the major labels and streaming platforms, and has led to disputes around artist compensation and treatment, most famously Taylor Swift vs. Apple Music and Spotify. As artists grow increasingly disillusioned with these platforms, they are looking for new options. Enter the blockchain.
By offering a digital public database that stores an ongoing record of transactions, the blockchain has given companies the ability to have completely encrypted records of ownership, as well as execute smart contracts (i.e. automatically enforce the exchange of anything of value without the need for a middleman). There are currently several attempts to create blockchain-based companies and currencies of relevance to media and entertainment. When applied to media consumption this technology solves the problems surrounding content access, distribution and compensation; managing assets and digital rights; and financing, among others.
Arguably the main problem blockchain has solved, at least when it comes to content consumption, is micropayments. While platforms such as Patreon are focused on helping creators raise money from their fans, these platforms are still in the middle as a facilitating platform. The use of cryptocurrencies helps eliminate any and all middlemen by securing payment and reducing transaction costs, freeing up a greater portion of each sale for the creator.
Grammy winner Imogen Heap is one of the most prominent musicians to embrace the blockchain. She recently teamed up with Ujo, a company looking to be the one-stop shop for independent music distribution and payments, to release the first song on the Ethereum blockchain. The concept of smart contracts is at the core of Ethereum and allowed Heap to enjoy absolute control over how she and her collaborators on the track were paid and under what circumstances (e.g., buying licenses to download, stream, remix and sync the song).
A company building out the necessary platform for blockchain-based payments is Stem, which hopes to be the payment distribution platform for creators. They allow creatives to publish content, manage contracts and transact payments all from one easy-to-use portal. While micropayments are far from the norm in content consumption today, a promise of lower transaction fees and more secure records of sale and consumption could make it an interesting business model for artists, authors and filmmakers.
Digital Rights
Blockchain also holds great promise for that erstwhile cousin of micropayments: digital rights management. The history of producing and selling content is a long scuffle over who owns the rights to the content, from Britain enacting the world’s first copyright law in 1709 to Napster and BitTorrent in the recent past.
Blockchain technology, with its immutable record-keeping and decentralized nature, presents a solution. The big players have sat up and noticed: Spotify, which had to settle a lawsuit over unpaid royalties last year, recently acquired Mediachain, a digital rights management startup. Mediachain combines blockchain infrastructure with content ID tech similar to that found in a Google image search to create a “universal media library” in which you can identify the "author and story" behind a piece of content.
Tangible Goods
What about the tangible goods involved in entertainment: celebrity merchandise, event tickets, or memorabilia? Leonardo Da Vinci’s Salvator Mundi painting shattered the record for a painting sale by more than 200% when it sold for $450m not a month ago; and the average Super Bowl 51 ticket fetched nearly $5000. There is a cousin of the “superstar effect” at work here: Instead of the best performers reaping greater gains due to their ability to reach a broader market, however, the broadened ability of the market to reach a piece of content drives value to scarcity - or authenticity.
And blockchain has great potential for keeping the authentic, authentic. Similarly to how Bitcoin uses an immutable ledger that records peer-to-peer transfers of value, blockchain technology can record supply chain transactions or provide a unique identity to each unit of product, tracing its journey on the chain. The unit can be paired with a NFC chip, QR code, or RFID tag that logs its real-world progress in the digital world. VeChain is a Shanghai-based startup that is already working on this problem as it relates to luxury handbags. One can imagine the same techniques being applied to celebrity merchandise. In the UK, BitTicket has launched a blockchain-based platform that manages the sale of public event tickets and aims to tamp down on ticket scalping. Aventus and TicketChain are competitors. Everledger, a company that first rose to prominence applying blockchain solutions to the problem of diamond sourcing, has waded into the murky world of fine arts to combat fraud there.
Gaming
The past few weeks have made it impossible to avoid talking about this application of blockchains. That inevitability is almost entirely due to CryptoKitties (“the future is meow!”), a digital kitten trading game running on the Ethereum blockchain. TechCrunch described it both as a “digital version of Pokemon cards” and a decentralized Neopets. Since launching on November 28, the situation has escalated quickly: More than $6.3m had been spent on the site as of December 6, 2017; it is choking the Ethereum blockchain; and kitties have gone for more than six figures. Of course, it also handily serves as a Rorschach test for people with thoughts on blockchain. Which is to say, everyone: It’s evidence of blockchain’s scaling issues. Its easy comparison to Beanie Babies serves as a warning about blockchain’s bubbly characteristics. It’s a “tongue-in-cheek critique of the ICO market today,” according to its marketing director.
Whatever else it is, it’s the first significant gaming application on a blockchain. Unlike Neopets, CryptoKitties does not use a centralized database. Though its developers, AxiomZen, take a cut of every transaction on the game, the company could disappear tomorrow and the kitties would still be tradable. The breakout success of CryptoKitties will draw more attention and financing to game development on blockchains, and there are other projects poised to benefit. Game Protocol stands out for its scope and ambition: it recently launched an ICO after building a protocol that encompasses an entire videogame economy, including a decentralized game store, a developer community along with tools for creating games, and a crowdfunding platform for consumers to fund projects they like. Everything from esports betting to card games has seen iterations based on blockchain.
There is no doubt the blockchain offers numerous exciting applications to solve problems that have plagued the entertainment industry for decades.
https://www.forbes.com/sites/valleyvoices/2018/02/01/how-blockchain-can-transform-the-future-of-entertainment/
