Blockchain in the Performing Arts
How can blockchain help the entertainment industry?
As a performing artist and blockchain enthusiast, this is a question that I have been pondering on recently.
I’ve been in the entertainment industry for over twenty years now, starting my professional career as a dancer, performing in musical theatre shows such as “A Chorus Line”, and commercially for artists like Gwen Stefani, before making my transition into acting.
"A Chorus Line" at The Sheffield Crucible Theatre - 2003. Can you spot me?
There have been several moments during my career when I have been let down by the industry, well, by producers, casting directors, and agents - those who should’ve had my best interests at heart. I’ve had to chase payments for months, I’ve been flown out to do a commercial in another country as a lead artist, only to be demoted to background artist at the last minute on set, and I’ve been a victim of sexual harassment during the casting process and on jobs (although I lived in denial about it until much recently).
There was this one time that I worked on a concert for some very prominent Filipino artists as a choreographer and dancer, and was tasked to find a team of professional British dancers. Having previously worked in a dancer’s agency as a booker, I was very familiar with the process of hiring dancers, from casting and rate negotiations to contracts and billing, so I felt very confident in dealing with the producers of this show. However, I was not prepared for the production company to go into liquidation the day after the concert which meant that they didn’t pay us, even after seeking help from the Citizens Advice Bureau. I also had to be the one to break the bad news to my dancers, something I felt so bad about that I begged my dad to help pay them a portion of their fee so that at least they would receive some sort of compensation for their hard work, even if it was just a fraction of what they were promised.
Knowing what I do now about blockchain technology (which isn’t much really!), I can’t help but wonder if and how it could help the entertainment industry, and if it could have prevented some of my bad experiences from happening in the first place.
- Surely having a smart contract in place would have ensured my dancers and I being paid once we’d finished our performances?
- Will we see the day when our fees will be paid in crypto?
- Will films be financed and produced through ICOs?
- Will this have an impact on the role of agents?
- And as performers, could this mean more transparency on both sides (no more exaggerating skills on the resume LOL!)
The fact that this technology is still in its infancy is something that I find so fascinating and exciting; we are only just beginning to understand the disruption it could have in so many aspects of our day-to-day lives, and it will be a while before we are able to truly unlock its full potential, and then some...
I will definitely be watching this space.
Thanks for taking the time to read this post!
Backing dancer for Gwen Stefani at the Brit Awards - 2005.
Much love to you all,
@cryptorhodes x
<a href="https://discord.gg/49z469d%22%3EDiscord link
Awesome post, very inspiring. I totally agree with your gripes with the challenges within various gig industries. I participate in the music industry as a performer, and transparency in terms of trust and accountability is a dream for gig workers! Reading your post again, 10 years from now, will be quite a shocking event.
I really do hope so. I'd be surprised if it wasn't! Thanks for reading and leaving a comment!
I don't think that they should be financed by ICO's...just because I don't want a coin for every fucking movie, but they could definitely be tracked by a blockchain. Perhaps they could even be paid according to some sort of profit sharing model thanks to a blockchain... I'm not sure it would help if a company went under on the last day, except if a company bought the resulting works, perhaps under contract they would actually be forced to pay them.
At the very least, it could be used to keep track of employees and the work they did on a project. This info could then likely be used to pay all the employees automatically. Of course, companies could have done this long ago, even without a blockchain.
The main benefit of a blockchain might be if you figured out some way to continue to pay those that worked in a film for years after, for every time the movie is streamed, or bought.
Yes, absolutely! There is a company that tracks royalties for you so you get paid for re-runs etc, but not for every single job that you do unfortunately, so blockchain could perhaps help in this area.
Your comment about not wanting a coin for every fucking movie - LMAO!!!
Well...I guess it wouldn't be too bad if they weren't traded on open markets. It's gonna be bad enough soon with all the coins based on companies. You could run it where people are paid in the coins for their stake, like a stock, and then paid out a return or something. It would likely be done differently by different movies.
A coin could also be used to fund a movie...but it really would be annoying if an actor had to keep track of all those. Can you imagine how many Nic Cage would have at this point?
LOL! True, too many coins!
I wonder if productions could just be funded with existing coins rather than doing an ICO, just like a traditional crowd fund but with crypto. I like your staking idea, people are more likely to get involved if they know that they'll get there coins back at the minimum.
Well...suppose you had a coin for your production company...you could sell them to raise money for production. Then you could pay employees with the coin, preferably in addition to some cash. It would be like stock. Maybe have a set number of coins produced every few months? Or have it based on growth or something?
You could also probably use it to pay out for productions based on how much they own...and it would make it super easy to just sell your stake from a movie or in a company.
Basically, it's fully possible, but you'd probably want a custom designed, or at least tweaked, coin.
You come up with some really good ideas; some of these ICOs could use a mind like yours to identify issues with their projects and also come up with solutions!
Funnily enough, I just stumbled across this article, which highlights solving the issue with copyrights and removing middlemen sucking out profits, such as accountants and distribution fees. https://awsmo.com/no-postage-necessary-worlds-first-blockchain-film-released-on-qtum/
That's really cool. There's another crypto, Slate, that's trying to be it's own rights ownership network for films...I think.
Kinda looks like there might be all sorts of crypto in the film industry in the future. Hell, there are various blockchain efforts for tracking things like the products in a warehouse. Tracking props and equipment could easily be done on a blockchain. They could also track who has copies of a film. I probably couldn't come up with the number of things they could do on the blockchain.
Slate... I'm going to look into that, sounds interesting.
Very interesting ideas in here, it is a shame how hard it can be as an independant contractor in the entertainment industry. More transparency is definitely something that would benefit the industry (every industry really) as a whole. Maybe if there was some kind of escrow/smart payment type thing that could help ensure that the talent gets paid. I’m still pretty new to the block chain world too so I’m not sure how that would all work but high hopes =)
I agree, I'm sure that the escrow/smart payment thing would help. So many possibilities...
Thanks for stopping by and leaving a comment!
Great post that gives us all a lot to think about! There are a lot of challenges within the entertainment industry and its not fair to not get paid for so much hard work, I'm so sorry you have had to deal with that. I'm resteeming this because I feel that many people can benefit from this idea. Looking forward to seeing more of your posts and insights!
Ivy
Thank you! I suppose this could happen in any industry, but you live and you learn. It does make me wonder how some people can sleep at night.
Thanks again,
Rhoda