Bitcoin Goes to Hollywood

PopChest presenting at IDEAS media & tech conference

I cancelled my cable subscription today and became one of the estimated 27 million cord-cutters in America. Afterward, the first thing I watched on Netflix was the movie Dope. The main character’s name is Malcolm and his opening dialogue was prophetic:

“I just read that money as we know it is dead. Soon the world is only gonna buy and sell products using Bitcoins.”

I’m a streaming canary in old media’s coal mine. By ending my TV subscription, I’ll save nearly five weeks per year simply by no longer watching commercials. And, I’ll save around $1000 a year even after adding HBO and Netflix to the Amazon Instant Video I get “free” with Prime. Provided I don’t spend all that extra money bar hopping and day-drinking during NFL season, I’ll come out well ahead.

The cord-cutting trend caused the media industry’s first annual loss on Wall Street since 2008.

The future of media distribution is in flux. The fault line separating traditional television and online video is shaking violently. Cable companies are consolidating and their pockets, previously flush with subscription revenue, are shrinking. Online ad-supported platforms like YouTube, Facebook, and soon Amazon, are here to serve themselves and will not make up the difference. Everyone in Hollywood knows the status quo is crumbling but have yet to see a shining light to guide them out of the rubble.

In event of an earthquake, immediately take cover.

In a recent Medium post, I outlined how individual content creators could benefit from micropayments rather than solely rely on advertising revenue. A tiny percentage of a publisher’s regular audience converted to paying just a few cents has a massive effect. Our recent work with YouTube star NurdRage matches this hypothesis with hard data.

The same technology that empowers a single videomaker can be used to answer the entertainment industry’s most pressing existential question:

“How can we monetize content online in a way where the publisher actually receives substantial value and doesn’t just serve as a giveaway to mass tech platforms?”

This will be the focus when PopChest presents at IDEAS Los Angeles on the future of digital distribution

Over two days, in the Entertainment Capital of the World, industry leaders will grapple with the challenges facing media. For the first time, Bitcoin will be part of the conversation.

What does an industry with a fully transparent royalty system look like? What happens when advertising is no longer needed as an intermediary to fund the creation of content? What happens when networks and studios lose their monopoly on the ability to monetize content at scale? What happens when the people that make content can receive micropayments directly from the people that watch their content…in real-time?

As daunting as these questions may seem to incumbents, their answers present an epic opportunity for publishers that empower themselves with Bitcoin.

If you are at the conference on June 15 & 16th, please stop by the PopChest booth for a demo and let’s talk about how blockchain technology can work in your favor.