New Alliance Formed to Steer Blockchain Adoption in the Entertainment Industry

A group of companies in the entertainment industry have formed the Blockchain Global Entertainment Alliance, a new non-profit aimed at promoting blockchain technology adoption for the entertainment industry and developing standards and best practices.

In its most simple form, blockchain could be thought of as a sort of distributed database that uses cryptography for security. “While blockchain technology has the potential to fundamentally change the way our business is conducted in addition to helping us solve the piracy problem, understanding how the technology works and why it’s important is still very limited,” said founder-board member Rouslan Ovtcharoff from Millennium Media of the group’s goal.

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Added founding member Wayne Marc Godfrey of the U.K.’s Purely.Capital: “Despite virtually all content being distributed on digital devices, the recording, management, transfer, licensing and collection of revenues remains a primarily slow and analog process. The opportunity to deliver a frictionless, secure and trusted backbone to the entertainment industry … is incredibly exciting.”

Industry participants in the newly formed alliance include Millennium Media, FilmTrack, Capstone Group, RightsTrade, Purely.Capital, Home Box Office Singapore, Portugal’s CineMundo, Berkley Media Group, PlayArte Pictures, Havoc TV, Bulgaria’s Nu Boyana Studios, Sweden’s Cinezen, Germany’s Cinemarket, and Scandinavia’s Scanbox Entertainment and Take One.

Asked about the potential involvement of Hollywood studios and Netflix, Ovtcharoff responded, “I believe they will all join. It might take time because of their size. The idea to organize the BGEA was born last month and I have not spoken to any of them yet. My initial outreach was to international distributors.”

As to the stated goal of standard setting, standards-setting bodies such as the Society of Motion Picture and Television Engineers and the International Telecommunication Union currently support the entertainment industry. Ovtcharoff said it would be “key” to involve representatives from those organizations in the alliance, “but also WGA, DGA, SAG, BMI, talent agencies, entertainment law firms, financing companies. I would be approaching them about being part of the BGEA as well.”

Ovtcharoff said that the alliance aims to complete a report explaining blockchain technology and how it relates to entertainment by early January. The alliance is also looking to hosting an event focused on blockchain, possibly as soon as late January or February.