CMF funding blockchain-based system for rightsholders

The Canada Media Fund (CMF) is backing an initiative by Ontario public broadcaster Groupe Média TFO to implement technology that would allow it to more efficiently credit content and pay rightsholders. The proposed system will use “blockchain” technology to create a digital transaction recording system that will effectively encrypt and automate the payment to rightsholders through a peer-to-peer system, eliminating human involvement in the chain and digitizing contracts with content owners. While blockchain technology isn’t new—it’s behind the cyber currency bitcoin—the TFO says the proposed royalty model is a first of its kind in Canada. “The model we’re talking about — if we’re successful in this exploratory phase — is developing a tool that would be able to track each usage and making sure that each contributor, each creative voice that contributed to the development of that content, would be properly (given credit) in a very efficient and transparent way,” Glenn O’Farrell, TFO president and CEO, said in a phone interview. The new technology will also give individuals who pay for TFO’s subscription-based content an opportunity to select exactly what services they want instead of paying a flat fee for content they may not want. That, in turn, will mean that the system can track what content is being used and can automatically direct funds to the rightsholders of that content. With the system, broadcasters can also avoid, for example, paying a flat fee upfront for product licenses for a number of years without necessarily knowing how the product will perform, TFO digital products manager Ulrich Dessouassi added in the interview. “Therefore the allocation of use, the allocation of payments is very, very granular and very technically efficient,” O’Farrell said. The organization said in a press release it “invites interested players from the content production and distribution industries to participate” in defining the prototype. “The exploratory initiative, the first of its kind in Canada, could potentially transform how digital cultural productions are managed,” the release added.

CMF funding blockchain-based system for rightsholders

Brief | August 2, 2017

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CMF funding blockchain-based system for rightsholders

Brief | August 2, 2017

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