How Blockchain and Smart Contracts Revolutionize Content Monetization for Intellectual Property
When one thinks of NFTs, you automatically think of cases like Jack Dorsey’s first tweet, which was sold for 2.9 million USD in 2021 and then later revalued at 280 dollars recently - a 99% loss.
Scams and frauds have been rampant.
Following a peak in early 2022, the NFT market has seen a dramatic decline in interest and value, with many NFTs now considered virtually worthless.
Reports indicate that many individuals have lost substantial amounts—some up to $5 million—due to the drastic drop in NFT values across various collections.
NFTs are considered untouchable in today’s market.
This article aims to look beyond NFTs’ current state and understand the power of blockchain when applied to intellectual property and microtransactions.
For example, this volatile behavior of NFTs has occurred because of the launching of crypto altcoins in questionable ICOs and tokenizing items that have no intrinsic value - and, of course, scams and frauds galore.
How would markets react if there were:
- No token launch
- Limited cryptocurrency involvement
- Assets of actual value
- A stable valuation
- Almost no volatility?
The Establishment of a Digital Asset Market of Intellectual Property
Right now, intellectual property can be monetized, but it is only a shadow of what is possible.
Microtransactions have the potential to change the profits of content creation forever!
To bring power to the creators, all digital content/assets, which include (but are not limited to:
- Articles/Blogs
- Research Papers/White Papers
- Audio Content
- Podcasts
- Books/eBooks
- Videos/Recordings
- Movies
- Music/Recordings
- Social Media (All types - Text, Audio, Video)
- VR/AR Content
- Artwork (Digital and Real-World)
- Software
- Research Patents
- Open Source Contributions
- Open Source Projects
- and the list goes on…
- …
It can be tokenized and placed onto the blockchain and monetized/licensed/distributed/subsidized according to smart contracts employed by the blockchain platform as specified by the creator.
In this ecosystem, the creator truly owns his/her product.
The platform does not.
But can the platform gain monetization from monetizing the creators’ content?
Definitely.
How do we monetize all this intellectual property?
Tokenization, Microtransactions, and Smart Contracts (backed by a blockchain system)!
Disregard the Bitcoin logo. Crypto is secondary.
The Magic of Tokenization -A Multi-Billion Dollar Market in the Making
Tokenization on blockchains is the process of converting ownership rights of assets (digital/real-world) into digital tokens - digital representations of that asset.
These tokens are stored on a blockchain, providing a secure and transparent record of ownership, because the blockchain is immutable - data cannot be changed once added to the blockchain.
This allows assets to be easily traded, divided, and verified without intermediary platforms - no single platform will be exploiting creators for access to a wide audience - for example, YouTube.
This means that creators who have a wide following will be able to migrate that following from social platforms to independent decentralized dApps (decentralized Apps) that work on decentralized platforms that offer direct contact with consumers.
I believe that that will be the creator economy of the future - that with sufficient support, platforms will connect creators to consumers directly.
Existing platforms should ideally adopt that approach to bring greater monetization to their subscribers - and themselves.
X (Twitter), HackerNoon, Substack, TikTok, YouTube, Soundcloud, Meta (Facebook), Medium, Amazon, Spotify, Netflix - all of these companies and many more are sitting on multi-billion dollar opportunities to embrace blockchain, tokenization, Web3, use only well-establish cryptocurrencies, and utilize DeFi technology to bring huge returns to themselves and their users - but no ICOs, please.
Use only well-established crypto if you want to make sure volatility is not a problem!
And make sure that fiat money in all currencies is always viable.
Essentially, tokenization makes it possible to represent anything of value as a digital asset, enhancing liquidity and accessibility for creators, users, investors, fans, consumers, and the platforms themselves.
Establishing assets as NFTs on blockchain and distributing them worldwide is a game-changer for creators, consumers, and platforms alike.
The platform could take a 10% cut on all transactions conducted on its system - leading to incredible monetization and profit.
Agreed, 10% is rather high, but the first movers in this industry could have the advantage of charging higher transaction fees.
And even a platform as open as Substack takes a 10% cut of all sales!
The possiblities are endless!
The Advantages of Smart Contracts Used With Tokenization and NFTs
When digital assets are tokenized, and the only access to them is via the blockchain platform, there are many immediate consequences.
Issues that have plagued digital assets since the creation of the Internet can be eliminated forever!
Smart contracts, when used judiciously, immediately establish the following advantages:
1. Establish Copyright and Eliminate Piracy:
- Switching all piracy-prone assets to NFTs could make piracy disappear overnight.
- Control would come back to creators instead of platforms.
- Piracy would have to be manually performed because distribution could only happen digitally.
2. Add Multiple Direct Revenue Streams:
- Creators can sell their work directly to consumers without intermediaries.
- This allows for fine-grained control over pricing and increased revenue.
- Revenue would increase because nothing would have to be paid to publishing platforms.
3. Using Smart Contracts for Royalties:
- The magic behind the revenue is smart contracts.
- They can automate royalty payments to creators every time their asset is used.
- This ensures they continuously benefit from their creations.
4. Generate Analytics and Engagement Tracking:
- Tracking data could allow creators to see how their assets are selling and being used.
- This could allow them to customize their offerings further.
- It would also act as a viable option to plan future asset creation.
The Rise of Digital Assets enables a New World.
