Could the Blockchain Disrupt YouTube?
The blockchain has transformed money, trade and a number of other sectors. Could it now transform the monetization of online content by altering the way that creators get paid? A new generation of challengers to YouTube hopes so.
Delivering a billion hours of video a day , YouTube is the world’s most popular video service. Yet artists criticize the site, arguing that it doesn’t compensate them well. Detractors include the Recording Industry Association of America (RIAA) and the American Association of Independent Music (A2IM). James Burgess, A2IM CEO, argued over the issue with YouTube’s global head of music Lyor Cohen in August.
YouTube is certainly serious about capitalizing on content. The company takes a 45 percent revenue split from ad revenue, leaving the rest to content creators. That practice has incensed many, including Jeremy Kauffman, co-founder and CEO of the blockchain-based content distribution platform LBRY.
“You’re moving a stream of bits around,” he said, arguing that YouTube’s margin is too high for the service it’s providing. “What’s being charged is well beyond what would be charged to sell a physical good.”
Kauffman has some other concerns over YouTube’s centralized power, too, worrying that it can change the rules for content creators who have no way to fight it.
Content creators have voiced their anger over policies imposed unilaterally by YouTube in the past. Several were upset when the service, under pressure from big brands, began pulling advertising from videos because it deemed them inappropriate.
Other measures have seemed even more draconian. YouTube forced its content creators to sign new terms of service when it introduced its $10 per month subscription service. The alternative? It would turn videos private or remove them entirely.
The blockchain can change all of that, said Kauffman.
“It allows us to build technology that’s owned by the users rather than any one party,” he said.
