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Blockchain and Web3 technologies aim to give users the ability to take more ownership of their content on the Internet. For artists and creators, this could actually make it easier for them to profit from their work.
On Yahoo Finance’s Financial Freestyle podcast, Chris Lyons, president of Web3 Media at a16z crypto, Andreessen Horowitz’s crypto venture fund, explained the eventual integration of blockchain into everyday life and how this change can actually make online content creation more profitable.
“You’re going to start seeing whole new social networks pop up where you can actually own 100% of your followers,” he said (watch video above or listen below).
Lyons used the American artist Jean-Michel Basquiat as an example.
“At the time, (Basquiat) was selling a painting for $25,000,” Lyons said. “50 years later, this same piece is now being sold for $100 million, and how much did he get for it?”
Just the initial $25,000, Lyons confirmed.
“But if it was on (the blockchain),” he continued, “what happens now is there’s a smart contract that’s already written inside, so you can say, ‘I’m going to get 10% of every secondary transaction.’ It’s now sold.'”
Lyons hypothesized that through blockchain integration, creators and artists will be able to have “zero-to-one engagement” with their fans, removing the middlemen who currently take a cut of most transactions in line.
“New music platforms will appear where, instead of having to make a million (purchases) for an artist to live sustainably, it is now enough to have 1,000 real fans who can buy your CD every day, buy your products, buy your tickets – and you can actually make a living from it,” he said.
Although blockchain remains unfamiliar to those unfamiliar with cryptocurrencies and digital transactions, Lyons suggested it could become as ubiquitous as GPS technology.
“I have a theory that I basically call ‘hiding the wires,'” he said. “The next generation of blockchain technologies or even AI – you won’t even really notice that you’re using them.”
“You talk about financial freedom,” Lyons added, “but we’re still in all these systems that create centralized ownership, and I think the only real way forward is decentralization and blockchain.”
