What I DON’T know about blockchain technology could fill Lake Michigan.
What I DO know about blockchain technology is enough to make me crazy with the possibilities. Certainly enough to prompt me to write this article.
You’ve heard of blockchain. How could you not? Usually it’s discussed in relation to the cryptocurrency known as Bitcoin, but the underlying digital concepts are being used already to revolutionize thought about some of the biggest enterprises in the world.
- Banking
- Insurance
- Real Estate
- Healthcare
- Voting
Got your attention yet?
Explaining blockchain is honestly beyond the scope of this blog. Read these articles designed for laymen:
Blockchain: A step-by-step guide for beginners
Blockchain: What is it, and how does it work?
What is Blockchain, and what does it do?
Without getting too geeky onya, here are a couple of brief descriptions:
“… (Blockchain) is an immutable public ledger. Blockchains let us agree on the order of a set of records without having to trust a central authority…” – David Roe — What is Blockchain and What Does it Do?
“…(a) ledger that can be written onto with new information, but the previous information, stored in virtual digital blocks cannot be adjusted edited, or changed. This is established using new advances in cryptography…” — Arthur Linuma, Forbes.com
OK, enough gobbledygook.
How could blockchain apply to the voice-over marketplace?
Well, blockchain has a way of eliminating an entire level of middle-men who do little more than handle transactions for a fee. Hence blockchain could put VDC and Fiverr out of business, but also perhaps make life tough for talent agents, casting directors, and others who insinuate themselves between the hirers and the talent in the VO marketplace.
Almost all the transactions that currently are being done by “handlers” (for lack of a better term) could easily be impeccably kept by blockchain.
Because blockchain depends on a decentralized ledger of accounts, storage of user data would secure the identity of the users while preserving the efficacy of the data. Malicious attackers cannot alter the system for personal gain. (Piotr Jurowiec – Top Ten Industries Disrupted by Blockchain)
Gone could be the endless “mining” for voiceover prospects. Ideally, all voice hirers would use blockchain to keep track of posted jobs, compensation, payments, and invoicing…although it might be a bit clinical.
THAT part of the blockchain process does not lend itself well to the creative/talent industry. People like to work with other people in relationship…but blockchain could be relied upon to sanitize, de-mystify, and make 100% secure all transactions of a data-money-verification nature.
Data on auditions, licensing, illegal downloads, usage-rights, intellectual property, as well as official stats on opens, plays, and product streaming would be ironclad. Piracy gets gone. Tracking distribution of ads would be transparent. All parties from sellers to buyers get what they have coming with transaction tracking at all turns.
How close is all this to reality?
No idea.
But it’s here, and it’s finding its way into all levels of our culture and our economy faster than you think.
When it hits YOUR reality…remember you heard it here first.
CourVO