Ah, Hollywood.
The entertainment industry is responsible for all the films you love and hate, star-studded parties with red carpets, and Charlie Sheen.
But the ever-evolving landscape of film distribution has put studios in a bind. Chronic streamers are hesitant to spend their hard-earned cash on a $16 movie ticket and a $40 tub of popcorn. It’s of little consolation to the starving actor.
A number of technically minded businesses have sprung up to solve the entertainment industry’s problems. Many of them depend on blockchain technology to do it. Bright minds are inventing more equitable profit-sharing models for streaming services. They’re figuring out how decentralized investing platforms can offer a new way to fund films, TV shows, and short films such that the artist retains maximum creative control.
What if technology could solve every problem facing this multibillion-dollar industry? Here are some startups trying to do so with the blockchain.
ephelants360
Ephelants360 is an ‘all-in-one’ platform aimed at providing a blockchain-centric spin on the television and film production processes. Their XEP utility token is the centerpiece for investing in content creation, production, and distribution. With blockchain-driven algorithms providing recommendations throughout the conceptualization and creation processes – think casts, directors, etc. – ephelants360 is a radical take on visual content production that seeks to cut down on middlemen while incentivizing user engagement in the production process.
Date Founded: January 2, 2017
Funding Type: ICO
TV-Two
TV-Two represents a break from what they see as an archaic television ecosystem. Their Token for Television (TTV) will be used as an exchange of value between users, advertisers, and content providers, replacing traditional subscription models with a more personalized system of content acquisition and distribution. Viewers can receive TTV for watching advertisements, while content creators are rewarded with the coin for providing media that is up to snuff. TV-Two envisions this model as a viable alternative to an increasingly consolidated television landscape.
ICO: May 24, 2018
Funding Type: ICO
Flixxo
Flixxo allows users to earn their token, Flixx, by sharing their bandwith and storage space, distributing original content, or watching advertisements, and can spend the Flixx watching video content. Specializing in short-term video content, the Flixxo model leverages peer-to-peer content sharing in forming a community-based video distribution platform. BitTorrents and smart contracts allow the streaming and automatic payments to be possible.
Date Founded: 2017
Funding Type: ICO
Theta Network
Theta Network promises next-generation video delivery driven by users and powered by the blockchain. The platform will have the capacity for the creation of dApps on top, meaning that its uses are wide ranging – sports, video conferencing, music, visual entertainment, and more. Users are rewarded with Theta tokens in exchange for letting out their bandwidth to maintain a cache of streams and videos. Through a communal network of nodes and peer streaming capacity, the network will leverage its members to provide a wide array of high-quality streams.
Date Founded: 2015
Funding Type: ICO
Monvid
To some, the Monvid model may sound too good to be true: using the blockchain to allow users the ability ‘to cut-pass restrictions, filters, and censorship’, streaming virtually any video they please without subscription, regional restrictions, or advertisements. Whether the content being shared via the P2P network is YouTube-style videos or the sort of shows you’d see on cable TV, Monvid’s implied mission is to lift the restrictions – financial, regional, etc. – that prevent the given viewer from accessing the content they want.
Date Founded: 2017
Funding Type: ICO
Verasity
Verasity is seeking to upend the framework of online video sharing by connecting more directly viewers, creators, and advertisers. Their VERA cryptocurrency allows users to be rewarder for viewing content and advertisements, then using those tokens to view the content they’d like, maintaining a system that keeps the economy circulating money to provide a better viewing experience. Through blockchain enabled concepts such as microtransactions, smart contracts, and proof-based metrics, Verasity is seeking to create a digital streaming marketplace short on middlemen and long on quality content.
Date Founded: 2017
Funding Type: ICO
Bombay Sour Films LLC
Bombay Sour Films is looking to create the next Netflix-type video streaming service, but specifically catered to mobile platforms. The model is subscription-based, curated, and crowdfunded, ultimately meaning that the users serve as investors and co-producers of shows and movies. Bombay’s pitch has users envision having input in projects helmed by A-list directors and actors, using their subscription fee as leverage in the decision making process while relying on the blockchain to bolster IP rights of all involved parties.
Date Founded: March 1, 2017
Funding Type: Private
Breaker
Breaker (formerly SingularDTV) is a blockchain entertainment studio specializing in the creation of software that allows creators to distribute and manage rights using smart contract technology. The platform will handle the tv and film creation and distribution processes completely, from project funding, to rights management and peer-to-peer distribution and revenue sharing. They also will create and distribute original content that, in part, serves as proof of concept.
Date Founded: 2016
Funding Type: ICO
AlphaNetworks
A blockchain-powered entertainment platform self-referred to as ‘the Netflix experience on the blockchain’, AlphaNetworks combines on-demand videos, pay-per-view content, and advertising while tokenizing the user experience. Powered by IBM Watson AI, the platform incorporates predictive analytics, smart recommendations, and substantial creator payouts as pull factors amidst a background of emerging blockchain video distribution platforms. Flexible, alternative pricing models and a range of video content types make this one of the more all-encompassing projects built on the blockchain to date.
Date Founded: May 2017
Funding Type: Venture-backed
Vuulr
Vuulr is a video distribution marketplace that allows users to browse, bid on, negotiate for, and purchase content. A certifiable bazaar for video entertainment, Vuulr is one of the most heavily-backed video content distribution platforms on the blockchain. With endorsements from the likes of Disney and BBC Worldwide, the platform seeks to reduce the issuance of content rights from a current months-long ordeal to one that can be negotiated in a matter of minutes between seller and buyer, rewarding viewers, content creators, and associated brands in the process.
Date Founded: October 1, 2017
Funding Type: ICO
