Distributed Creativity: How Blockchain Technology will Transform the Creative Economy by Marcus O'Dair

CHAPTER 1
Introduction

Abstract Although it is sometimes understood as a fnancial technology

phenomenon, blockchain has the potential to transform numerous
sectors—including the creative economy. We are entering a new era of
distributed creativity, with blockchain technology facilitating frictionless
licensing and the fair and accurate distribution of revenue from large-scale
collaborative projects. Copyright data, currently held in centralised silos,
could also be distributed, allowing for a single source of truth—with the
result that creators receive just rewards for their work. Automated payments,

executed on a blockchain, could dramatically speed up royalty payments,

as well as making them more transparent. Finally, a more inclusive
approach to data would encourage innovation, allowing entrepreneurs to
build new services. There are, however, signifcant barriers to adoption.
Adoption would also bring with it signifcant risks.
Keywords Blockchain technology · Creative economy · Blockchain
opportunities · Blockchain barriers · Blockchain risks
The importance of the creative economy—of industries ranging from
music to gaming to architecture—is hard to overstate. The sector is economically

signifcant, contributing £92 billion a year, for instance, to the
UK economy (DCMS 2017). To examine the creative economy in economic

terms alone, however, is reductive. Firstly, the sector conveys
‘soft power’ (Nye 2008) like no other. What is Britain if not the home

of Shakespeare and The Beatles and Zaha Hadid and J. K. Rowling and
Saatchi & Saatchi and Alexander McQueen? The creative economy is central

to what is sometimes known as ‘brand Britain’ (although Saatchi &
Saatchi, surely, could come up a better phrase). I write from a UK perspective,

and the UK does tend to punch above its weight in this respect.
Yet the centrality of creative works to national image is true of any country
in the world. Secondly, the creative economy creates cultural value.
Creative works can enhance our health and wellbeing; help overcome
discrimination; and enhance our sense of community and of self. This is
as true of TV shows and pop songs as it is of so-called ‘high art’. And it
is priceless.
Digital technology has lowered the barriers to entry for creativity.
Many of us now possess the means to record and digitally distribute
music, and to make flms and podcasts. Yet digital technology has also
introduced a number of signifcant challenges, as I go on to argue. These
challenges are most urgent, perhaps, if you make your living in the creative

economy but, given the economic and cultural value outlined above,
they should also be of serious concern to policy-makers. Finally, these
challenges should concern everyone who considers themselves a fan—of
art, or theatre, or literature, or TV, or a dozen other creative felds. I
say this not only because, presumably, fans want creators to continue to
create but also because, in an age of user-generated content (UGC), fans
might well be creators themselves—and so might welcome, for instance,
easier licensing of music for Youtube videos.
This book examines the potential of blockchain technology—which
emerged underpinning the cryptocurrency, bitcoin, but which is now
understood to have far broader applications—to solve the problems
faced by the creative economy. The book has three core arguments.
The frst is that blockchain is far more than a fnancial technology—or
fntech—phenomenon. As Morabito (2017, p. vii) shows, blockchain
is being deployed in a range of domains and across an ever-increasing
range of industries, from insurance and health to the diamond trade—
and, indeed, the creative industries. I have suggested elsewhere (O’Dair
and Beaven 2017) that blockchain technology could bring about a shift
to what, drawing on Benkler (2006), I have called a ‘networked record
industry’ for recorded music. In this book, I develop that argument:
since music is by no means the only creative industry that could be

transformed by blockchain technology, I suggest we are entering a broader
era of distributed creativity. In fact, I would argue that much creativity 

Distributed Creativity: How Blockchain Technology will Transform the Creative Economy by Marcus O'Dair