By Jules Lai, Aug 2024
In the ever-evolving landscape of the digital world, the entertainment industry finds itself at a crossroads. The traditional models of content creation, distribution, and monetisation are being challenged by new technologies and shifting consumer behaviours. Enter Fabstir, a groundbreaking ecosystem that promises to reshape the film, music, and arts industries by harnessing the power of Web3 and blockchain technology.At its core, Fabstir aims to balance key principles that foster a new playground for creativity and commerce to flourish. It's not just another platform; it's a reimagining of how artists, creators, and audiences interact in the digital realm.
A New Era of Digital Ownership
The 2021 crypto boom saw the rise of NFT art marketplaces. For those unfamiliar, NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens) utilise blockchain technology to establish ownership of digital assets, creating scarcity by uniquely identifying each item. This scarcity drives demand, as fans value rare digital items they can truly own. Typically, NFT auction marketplaces are permissionless, allowing anyone to sell their NFTs - be it art, video, or music - without needing approval from a central authority.
The Current Landscape: Challenges and Limitations
Traditionally, the film and music industries have been built on permissioned access to markets. Streaming platforms now dominate how music and films are consumed, offering consumers a vast array of content for a subscription fee. While these platforms prioritise growing subscriber numbers and claim the majority of subscription revenue, content creators often receive only a fraction of the revenue. This amount is further diluted by the multitude of intermediaries and the ever-increasing volume of content, fuelled by advances in technology and soon the rise of AI-generated material.To access these markets, creators typically need to navigate a complex web of labels, distributors, other intermediaries and platforms to reach their audience. This system, while effective in some ways, often leaves creators with the smallest slice of the pie.
Fabstir: A Fresh Approach to Content Distribution
Fabstir offers a unique solution to unlock the full potential of the film and music industries by combining the efficiency of NFTs with innovative distribution models. It allows creators to sell their content in both permissionless and permissioned ways. This means that artists can either enter platforms freely, agreeing to set fees, or dictate their own terms, including royalty rates. This flexibility empowers creators to have more control over their work and its distribution. It's a system that respects the artist's vision while also acknowledging the value that platforms and curators bring to the table.
- Permissionless Access: Creators can enter any platform without permission, as long as they agree to the platform fees, mirroring existing NFT marketplaces.
- Permissioned Access: Alternatively, creators can set their own terms, including royalty rates, and seek approval from platform owners to access their marketplace.
- Curated Playlists: Platform owners can curate playlists for end users, fostering a personalised content experience while building an audience through built-in social media features. This democratises consumer-driven content.
- Curator Economy: Fabstir introduces an economy for curators, allowing them to permissionlessly add content they believe in to their platforms, provided they agree to the creators' terms regarding revenue sharing. Curators, who can be professional distributors or enthusiastic fans, earn a share of the revenue from each sale.
All payments are processed instantly and transparently recorded on the blockchain, ensuring creators and sellers receive their earnings simultaneously and immediately.
Fabstir also supports platforms with built-in subscription features, adhering to traditional models where platform owners control payment schedules. Curators have the opportunity to resell these subscriptions to their audience, earning an instant fee per subscriber and reshaping this revenue model.
Transparency and Instant Payments
In the traditional entertainment industry, payment flows can be opaque and slow. Fabstir addresses this issue head-on by leveraging blockchain technology to ensure transparent and instant payments. Every transaction is recorded on the blockchain, providing an immutable record that all parties can trust.This transparency extends to utilising blockchain watermarks to authenticate content, enabling trusted third parties to add verifiable watermarks to NFTs. This feature is valuable for fact-checking organisations, differentiating between human and AI-generated content, and proving the origin within a supply chain.
Building a More Democratic Entertainment Industry
At its heart, Fabstir is about creating a more democratic and equitable entertainment industry. By giving creators more control over their work with the ability to dictate how they're used and monetised, enabling new models of curation, and ensuring transparent payments, Fabstir aims to build an ecosystem where creativity can truly thrive.
The Road Ahead
As with any new technology, the adoption of Fabstir and similar Web3 platforms will likely face challenges. There will be questions about scalability, user experience, and integration with existing systems. However, the potential benefits - more control for creators, fairer compensation, and new avenues for fan engagement - make it an exciting prospect for the entertainment industry.For film producers/distributors, musicians, and other artists, Fabstir represents an opportunity to rethink how to create, distribute, and monetise their work. It's a chance to build direct relationships with fans, experiment with new forms of collaboration, and potentially capture more value from their creations.As we move further into the digital age, we hope to set new standards for how to interact with and consume entertainment. By embracing the principles of Web3 and blockchain technology, Fabstir is not just adapting to the future - it's helping to shape it.In a world where digital content is abundant but true ownership is rare, Fabstir offers a vision of an entertainment industry that is more open, more equitable, and more rewarding for all involved. It's a bold reimagining of what's possible when we combine creativity with cutting-edge technology - and given the chance, it might just be the future of entertainment.
Links
- Fabstir
- Fabstir on GitHub
- Email: info at fabstir dot com
