YouTuber Casey Neistat. Source: Flickr

Blockchain gives the power back to content creators

IN recent years, the digital content industry has truly exploded. Platforms such as YouTube, Spotify, and Instagram has given rise to a whole industry of content creators who produce valuable, high-quality content to their audience.

With numerous content-sharing platforms available, people are more empowered than ever to produce original content, regardless of nature or form, to a mass audience that is just waiting to consume it.

Today we are hearing more and more stories of social media stars who manage to earn a living from publishing their content on social media platforms.

YouTubers such as PewDiePie have become household names and manage to make millions of dollars from their passion and talent.

But is it all sunshine and daisies for the content creating community?

While there are some incredibly successful YouTubers, Instagrammers and Facebook streamers reaping in the fruits of social media fame, there are also many content creators who are struggling to make ends meets.

This is because there are many challenges that are involved in this industry. Such challenges are mainly centered around the following issues:

Plagiarism: Designers, writers, and other content creators often spend an incredible amount of time on a project only for it to be stolen by someone else.

Intermediaries: While digital platforms offer content creators the opportunity to bank big bucks from their efforts, the platforms they post on often take a large cut of their profits. For example, Facebook’s Watch feature takes around 45 percent of all revenue.

Is blockchain the answer?

In order to solve the current challenges of the content creating and create a fairer and more rewarding ecosystem, blockchain technology may be the answer.

A company pioneering content sharing on the blockchain network is ICST, with aims to enrich and empower artists through its content sharing social media ecosystem.

ICST co-founder and CEO, Ji Guo, explained to Tech Wire Asia just how blockchain technology can revolutionize the creative content industry.

Addresses copyright issues

According to Guo, one of the biggest benefits of the technology is by far is infringement protection.

“By publishing your content on a blockchain you are protected from traditional digital copyright issues,” he explained.

The ICST platform aims to eliminate digital copyright issues through secure smart contracts. Artists will be liberated to produce, promote, and trade their content with the complete autonomy and transparency that comes with the technology.

Eliminates the need for a large intermediary

With blockchain technology, content creators can connect with their audience directly, eliminating the need for a middle-man and avoiding the heavy commissions that come along with them.

Many content-sharing platforms take a big cut of the creators profit. Source: Shutterstock

“The way the industry is currently structured favors the platform or middleman instead of the creators. Creators only receive a small portion of the profit a piece of content generates or creators need to have a huge following to see any real monetary returns,” Guo explains.

ICST gives the power back to the creator by rewarding a creator with a token each time they publish content. The more people who consume the artist’s creation, the higher the value of the token.

Allows creators to better understand their audience

According to Guo, the way in which blockchain tracks and stores data will enable content creators to better understand their audience- and therefore make more money.

At present, platforms such as YouTube limit creators in terms of monetizing content. In order to truly begin to monetize content, you need to have obtained a certain amount of subscribers or views.

“ICST uses a rating system which helps creators to track and tailor their content to meet users’ preferences,” Guo tells Tech Wire Asia.

With access to this data, creators can improve their content and attract a bigger audience.