Abstract
In this descriptive study we investigate the use of blockchain in the online multimedia industry. We analyze the content of 30 peer-reviewed academic publications, white papers and industry websites published between 2016 and 2018 which report the application of blockchain for multimedia management. This includes diverse use cases in the music and advertising industries, healthcare, social media, and content delivery networks. Ethereum was found to be the most popular blockchain and proof of work the favorite consensus mechanism. More than half of the platforms reward their users for content curation and community development. The majority of the platforms have implemented tokens and smart contracts to automate the distribution of earnings or to enable data access. Our study further shows that the majority of multimedia blockchain platforms have already implemented monetization capabilities.
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Appendix: List of Sources
Appendix: List of Sources
No | Citation | Blockchain use case | Target market | Platform name | Underlying framework | Monetization | Max. TPS | Smart contractsa | Consensus | Token | Token standard | Reward system |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
1 | Norta et al. (2018) | Advertisement | Advertisement industry | DataWallet | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Smart contract | Proof of work | DXT | – | Yes |
2 | Novaes et al. (2018) | Music distribution | Music industry | Current | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | CRNC | ERC20 | Yes |
3 | Steem (2018) | Social media | Social media | Steem | Graphene | Implemented | 10,000 | – | Delegated proof of stake | STEEM | – | Yes |
4 | Media Chain (2018) | Movie funding/DRM | Film industry | MediaChain | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | Delegated byzantine fault tolerance | MDC | ERC20 | No |
5 | Ujo (2018) | Music distribution | Music industry | Ujo | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | Patronage badges | ERC721 | Yes |
6 | Monegraph (2018) | Digital art | Art collector | Monegraph | Bitcoin | Implemented | – | Smart contract | Proof of existence | No token | – | No |
7 | Opus (2018) | Music distribution | Music industry | OPUS | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | OPT | ERC23 | No |
8 | Scorum (2018) | E-sport/sport media | Sport media | Scorum | Graphene | Implemented | 10,000 | – | Delegated proof of stake | SCR | – | Yes |
9 | imusify (2018) | Music distribution | Music industry | imusify | NEO | Implemented | 10,000 | NEO smart contract | Delegated byzantine fault tolerance | IMU | NEP-5 | Yes |
10 | Movieschain by Tvzavr (2018) | Movie funding/DRM | Film industry | Movieschain | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ricardian smart contract | – | ZVR | – | No |
11 | SingularDTV (2018) | Multimedia | Entertainment | SingularDTV | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Smart contract | – | SNGLS | – | No |
12 | Creativechain (2017) | Musicians/designers/writer | Entertainment | CreativeChain | – | Implemented | 1000 | Smart contract | Proof of creation | CREA | – | Yes |
Proof of existence | ||||||||||||
13 | Musicoin (2017) | Music distribution | Music industry | Musicoin | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Pay per play smart contract | Proof of work | MUSIC | – | Yes |
14 | dotblockchainmedia (2018) | Music distribution | Music industry | dotBlockchain | Bitcoin | Implemented | – | – | Proof of elapsed time | No token | – | No |
15 | Papyrus (2018) | Advertisement | Advertisement industry | Papyrus | Ethereum | Implemented | 1,000,000 | Ethereum smart contract | Proof of stake | PPR | ERC20 | Yes |
Delegated proof of stake | ||||||||||||
16 | Lucidity (2018) | Advertisement | Advertisement industry | Lucidity | Ethereum | Not implemented | – | Smart contract | – | No token | – | Yes |
17 | DRM multimedia | Research | DRMChain | Ethereum | Not implemented | 1000 | – | – | No token | – | No | |
18 | (Zhaofeng et al. 2018) | Digital art | Research | Artwork DRM | Hyperledger fabric | Not implemented | – | – | – | No token | – | No |
19 | Ma et al. (2018) | Multimedia | Research | Master–Slave blockchain | Bitcoin | Not implemented | – | – | Proof of equivalent work | No token | – | No |
Proof of contribution | ||||||||||||
20 | Medicalchain (2018) | Health record management | Healthcare | Medicalchain | Hyperledger fabric | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | MedToken | ERC20 | Yes |
Research | Ethereum | |||||||||||
21 | Ekblaw et al. (2016) | Health record management | Healthcare | MedRec | Ethereum | Not implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | Proof of work | No token | – | No |
22 | McFarlane et al. (2017) | Health record management | Healthcare | Patientory | Ethereum | Not implemented | – | – | PTOY | – | No | |
23 | Emerify (2018) | Health management | Healthcare | Health Passport | Ethereum | Not implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | Proof of work | HIT | ERC20 | Yes |
24 | TV-TWO (2018) | Smart TV content and ad distribution | Television Network | TV-TWO | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | TTV | ERC20 | Yes |
25 | Basic Attention Token (2018) | Advertisement | Advertisement Industry | Basic Attention Token | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | Proof of attention | BAT | ERC20 | Yes |
26 | Timicoin (2018) | Health record management | Healthcare | TimiHealth | Hyperledger Fabric | Not implemented | – | Hyperledger chaincode | Apache Kafka ordering service | TMC | – | No |
PIVX | Proof of work | |||||||||||
Dash | Proof of stake | |||||||||||
27 | Jiang et al. (2018) | Content delivery | Digital Content Delivery | Ara | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | Ara | – | Yes |
28 | Otoy (2017) | Rendering Graphic | Digital Media Creation | Render Token | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | Proof of render | RNDR | ERC20 | Yes |
29 | Georgiev et al. (2017) | Advertisement | Advertisement Industry | AdLedger | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Smart contract | – | ALT | – | No |
30 | AdEx (2018) | Advertisement | Advertisement Industry | AdEx | Ethereum | Implemented | – | Ethereum smart contract | – | ADX | – | No |
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Shrestha, B., Halgamuge, M.N., Treiblmaier, H. (2020). Using Blockchain for Online Multimedia Management: Characteristics of Existing Platforms. In: Treiblmaier, H., Clohessy, T. (eds) Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technology Use Cases. Progress in IS. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-44337-5_14
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