MovieCoin: worldwide secure distro of movies & payment system to connect contentcreators & audiences

HappyOwlCEOHappyOwlCEO Member Posts: 17 ✭✭
Hey folks - I want to bounce an idea off you. I’m hoping that you all - as seemingly the best minds in the blockchain movement - can point out weaknesses with it, etc and help make it as strong as possible.

I used to work in the post-production industry in Hollywood. I’m also a big fan of torrent-technology. I was often questioned about how I justified this to myself morally as someone who's paycheck relied on healthy industry profits, but I’m sure you all already know the answer: sharing actually makes the industry stronger. Its not that I don’t want to pay for content - it’s that I dislike the limited options in which the content is made available, and that such a tiny portion of my payment goes to the content creators themselves.

The idea: MovieCoin (or something like that)
MovieCoin is a blockchain to allow worldwide secure distribution of visual media (features, TV shows, shorts, etc) and a payment system to connect content-creators with their audience.

How it works:
-MovieCoin uses a streaming bittorrent protocol (to my knowledge this doesn’t exist yet, but I’ve heard through the grapevine that Bram Cohen is working on it... )
-Miners maintain the security of the distribution network but don’t carry the actual content on the blockchain, just the rights to stream or download a particular title - the files themselves start from a single source and then the bittorrent protocol takes care of the actual sharing (not sure if this is the right way to implement, if someone has a better idea please let me know)
-Crowdfunding - support the films you want to see get made. Pay for a movie you want to see based on the director, cast, content, etc and get rights to stream it when its finished.
-Incentivize more filmmaking (indie films in particular). An ethereum DAO can distribute the earnings from a movie that is made by people doing work for points, ensuring people actually get paid and reducing the legal costs associated with a new corporation being formed (for those that aren’t already aware, currently a new corporation is formed every time a film gets made, but rarely are artists that get ripped off able to enforce the contracts since they can rarely even tell how much revenue an indie generated)
-Theatrical distribution - even movie theaters can get direct feeds rather than shipping around hard drives. This not only creates big fossil fuel savings (and associated costs) but solves the worry of piracy that has made distributors avoid full internet-based distribution to theaters thus far
-Part of the implementation would involve the creation of a “MovieCoin Foundation” that would work to encourage awareness & understanding of how to use MovieCoin and why its a better option. Will interface with studios, content-creators and the general public. (Funded by a premine of some percentage of MovieCoins). Also, will possibly fund a discount to audiences for paying in MovieCoin to incentivize use.
-Capture robust pseudonymous demographic data and meta data.

Why its better for audiences:
-Watch movies and other content the DAY ITS RELEASED in a high quality format from the comfort of home. (Who wouldn’t rather pay to watch in HD with surround sound than a free crap quality cam from Uzbekistan?)
-Less expensive and more eco friendly. Distribution costs would be significantly reduced, allowing audiences to pay less. -Also reduces the negative environmental impact of the distribution process. No DVDs, no shipping, no exploitive labor, etc.
-Watch movies for free: Miners keep the system strong and secure and earn MovieCoins for their efforts. Also opportunities for earning MovieCoin by writing reviews, etc. - as soon as movie ends wallet app gets a push notification -“How’d you like the movie?”
-Makes movies and other content available to a wider audience of people who are hungry for it - for example, in Somalia there is no functioning central government and very very few public theaters, but tons of cell phones and other internet connected digital devices

Why its better for content producers:
-20-40% of internet traffic moves through the bittorrent protocol right now, so there is obviously a demand for earlier home availability of new content.
-Fast, efficient and secure worldwide distribution and direct payments from the content consumers. Less costs, less waste. More secure, more efficient, more financially profitable.
-Access to the marketing data that can be extracted from the moviecoin blockchain - this includes the pseudononymous demographic data attached to the accounts of consumers that watch their content, plus meta data like when the movie is paused most often, how often it gets turned off and never finished, etc. (So much more helpful and accurate than current methods of tracking this data)
-Significantly reduced distribution costs
-Indie content-creators have more direct access to their audience allowing them to earn more money, get funding for projects that people want to see, etc.
-Studio content-creators can stop their loosing battle against piracy, and instead embrace change and make their content available in a form that audiences want to consume it.

I wouldn’t see this kind of system being adopted very quickly - most likely it would take many years for it to be widespread, starting with a few independent films and eventually working up to major studio releases. But I’ve been given the opportunity to present this idea to a bigwig at one of the major studios, and if a big studio got behind the idea right away it could definitely accelerate adoption considerably. However, I’d like to avoid embarrassing myself by either 1) finding out later on about some major hole in my logic - I am not a programmer so if I am assuming something is do-able that simply *isn’t* I’d like to know now and 2) finding out that someone else already came up with this idea and is already running with it.

btw, I'm aware that there are a number of projects are already working on making it easier to distribute digital content - my thinking is just that for them to be widely adopted the content creators and distributors need to have incentive to use them - in this case they would be offered a massive amount of marketing data in exchange for accepting moviecoin, which i think is just the kind of incentive they'd go for

So... ask questions and punch holes please :)

Comments

  • giannidalertagiannidalerta Miami, FLMember Posts: 76 ✭✭✭
    @HappyOwlCEO Streaming bit torrent http://live.bittorrent.com/ (not yet released)
  • hughht5hughht5 Member Posts: 9
    Using your own blockchain is not required. You can simplify this by writing an ethereum contract where customers can pay for access to movies. This is similar to the StorJ project, also that has not yet been built.
  • HappyOwlCEOHappyOwlCEO Member Posts: 17 ✭✭
    Thanks for your thoughts Hughht5 - better technology for distribution (torrent) and better technology for direct payment (bitcoin) have both been around for a while, but content creators don't currently have any specific incentive to switch over. in my opinion, it's the meta data about the consumption of the movies kept in the blockchain (the marketing data) that is the incentive for distributors to adopt the tech.
  • comtechnetcomtechnet Member Posts: 57
    @happyowlceo - movie promotion/trailer technology is an area that is ripe for re-engineering / some disruption. I'd be willing to work on this. They way we find out about movies that are "coming up" - is mostly the same as its been for decades - "promotion" on the mass media. My kids don't subscribe to cable or satellite tv any longer - they are internet centric folks - If this is a model for the up coming generations - then "how" to reach them about movies and be "participative" in the promotion / production / distribution / advertising / box office , etc. - might be the "way forward", ideas involving "shares" & participation - that which some DAOs are discussing, this way we "share" in the benefits of movie revenues - what about the downside, some kind of "protection" / maybe options. This will also be tied into "reputation" - who will be proven to be the new reputable "movie makers" of "productions" - that people want to see. Let me give you one example: My wife and I went to see "Wolf on Wall Street". We "walked out". I'm not a prude, if I want to see a porn movie - I'll rent one. I wanted a quality movie of intrigue and mystery, and astonishment of the wall street story, and a nice evening with my wife etc. I thought this movie was gratuitous, way over-rated and raunchy/embarrassing. Of course, all the "self non-objective promoters" do their classic no-independent thinking blah, blah, blah - "oh its great". I felt duped. But I was lazy and busy this time and didn't do my homework for "what I wanted/preferred". So - more to the point ... is there a new "business model" for this aspect of our society / business - the movie business. No doubt you've looked at where Flixster, IMDb and Youtube are "going". The "share-ing economy" looks like its got a chance of being the next big mega-trend. I can see this trend disrupting many industries. It's not just a kick-starter of a movie that we are talking about here - something more profound and disrupting. It's and extension of the "maker movement" into the next phase. If DAOs are going to "win", the "sharing" aspect thru actual "shares" - like ripple may be something worth exploring. I would love to see how this can be successfully implemented with E/BTC. Maybe "open movies" / "open media" / I have an idea floating around in my head built upon the notion of "derivative works". We can discuss that - it solves the business issues of the "story" and the "original work" that will often "come-up" in the pursuit of "new work".
  • HappyOwlCEOHappyOwlCEO Member Posts: 17 ✭✭
    further discussion on this alt-chain has moved offline for it's early steps - PM me if you'd like to get involved with it.
  • HappyOwlCEOHappyOwlCEO Member Posts: 17 ✭✭
    Saw it. used it, it was awesome, and a great demo that the distribution part can work - and also that the industry needs an incentive to allow it, hence getting shut down in 4 days even while legal.
  • ranfordranford Member Posts: 25 ✭✭
    also might want to keep an eye on this , apparently they are using bitcoin for authentication

    http://torrentfreak.com/how-the-pirate-bay-plans-to-beat-censorship-for-good-140105/

  • sammuel86sammuel86 Member Posts: 1
    edited August 2014
    Very intresting idea would be intrested in helping.

    also FYI new repo is at: https://git.popcorntime.io/stash/projects/PT/repos/popcorn-app/browse
  • IspeedtooIspeedtoo Member Posts: 7
    Infinity Arch Entertainment is building this now! Only we solved the incentive problems.
  • sillytunasillytuna Member Posts: 38 ✭✭
    Shame that I've only just seen this thread but I wrote up a large paper on this and had a chat to Vitalik about it, but my main project is something else right now. I wouldn't call it a whitepaper as it was in a wordy draft form, but it had heavy reference to Popcorn. If any of you are working on this concept I'd love to talk to you.
  • JulianJulian Member Posts: 6
    sillytuna said:

    Shame that I've only just seen this thread but I wrote up a large paper on this and had a chat to Vitalik about it, but my main project is something else right now. I wouldn't call it a whitepaper as it was in a wordy draft form, but it had heavy reference to Popcorn. If any of you are working on this concept I'd love to talk to you.

    I am not, but if we talk we might decide to help each other or work together.
  • IspeedtooIspeedtoo Member Posts: 7
    The main challenge in this space is NOT technical, PM and we can chat about the issues!
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