As Streaming Replaces TV, Creators Have New Opportunities and Challenges
It would be inaccurate to say that streaming content is the way of the future; streaming is the present. While “traditional” media still has a foothold in the modern landscape thanks to its grip on older generations, the young represent both the trendsetters and the most avaricious of our content consumers. And using streaming services to get the digital media they want is the norm for young consumers: a Pew Research poll indicates that 61% of people from age 18 to 29 watch television through streaming platforms as opposed to broadcast or cable television.
Streaming Options Continue to Grow
The growing number of users for streaming platforms also speak to the larger public shift towards a new model of content consumption. Netflix’s subscriber base in the U.S. surpassed that of the major cable providers last year and now stands at 125 million worldwide. Amazon boasts 100 million Prime members that have access to their video library. And studios continue to roll out new or supplemental streaming channels to meet the demand for on-demand programming.
Streaming represents a new paradigm for the future of what we consume, and with the rise of streaming comes new opportunities for those previously held out of the world of TV. Streaming has broken up the hegemony of broadcast and cable television and opened the door for the democratization of content. Platforms like YouTube and Facebook have allowed smart, creative people to build an audience and become stars without the barriers of networks and studios. There is greater opportunity than ever to make your mark creatively, with both a newfound freedom and the familiar restrictions of the old order.
New Media Requires New Rules
With the rise of a new generation of creators comes a familiar challenge: how do we combat the accumulation of power and wealth amongst those at the top of a new entertainment pyramid? Social media platforms are free and easy to use and have a huge potential audience, all appealing qualities for young and ambitious creators without resources. But the companies that own these platforms ultimately control if and how content gets seen, what can and can’t be posted and/or monetized, and how much of that money goes to the creators (almost none). For the new order of streaming to be different from the old, creators need to wrest their share of power back from corporations.
Power for independent creators is the ability to receive fair compensation for their work, and the tools to easily distribute that work without fear of piracy or loss of ownership rights. The solo artist needs to be able to avail themselves of the same solution that studios possess to both protect their work and leverage it to a marketplace of buyers. Control over their work and the revenue generated from it is the barrier that creators can break down with the help of RightsLedger.
RightsLedger gives users the ability to build a library of digital assets and license them to distributors around the world. You have the ability to build your own audience or take advantage of the built in audience of existing streaming services. Automated smart contracts allow creators to set the terms of how their work is used and how they’re compensated. And integration with social media apps will allow users to easily register the content they’re sharing with followers.
Creators won’t be given control over the rights and monetization of their content — they have to take it back from the companies that are using it to get rich. RightsLedger allows creators to do just that.
Be sure to keep up with the latest RightsLedger developments by joining our Telegram channel and visiting our website.
