It is known that blockchain technology has the potential to democratize access to culture and knowledge by eliminating intermediaries and geographical barriers, allowing educational, scientific and cultural resources to be accessible globally and transparently. At the same time, the new digital economy is redefining the Paradigm for the Protection, Management and Monetization of Intellectual Property, essentially with regard to copyright and business secrets. And this technology offers transparency, security and efficiency to creators, allowing them to strengthen their market position.
Blockchain’s possibilities are especially notable in industries such as music, in which there have historically there have been significant challenges related to income distribution, precise identification of rights holders and lack of transparency in value chains. Thanks to the blockchain’s ability to immutable each interaction or transaction, more equitable and automated management of their rights is facilitated. This traceability not only allows clearer, safe and verifiable agreements between parties thanks to its security guarantees in the digital environment, but also encourages a more sustainable creative ecosystem by protecting intellectual property against infractions and piracy.
In fact, when analyzing the applicability of this technology to intellectual property, how it allows to complement and protect two strategic assets for the creators of the music industry such as copyright and business secrets.
Blockchain in intellectual property
With regard to copyright, Blockchain offers protection through an immutable and decentralized registration of rights, ensuring that each transaction related to a musical work is recorded in the block chain. This management process allows you to track unauthorized copies and combat piracy with greater efficacy. In addition, it facilitates the monetization of works through intelligent contracts that automate processes such as the distribution of royalties and licenses, eliminating intermediaries and reducing costs. It also allows the creation of non -fungible tokens (NFTS) to represent unique copies of limited songs or editions.
Thanks to the blockchain’s ability to immutable each interaction or transaction, more equitable and automated management of their rights is facilitated
As for business secrets, blockchain uses advanced techniques such as encryption and generation of unidirectional hashes to protect confidential information, as commercial secrets. These records are safe and accessible only for authorized holders. Content management is characterized by the generation of digital certificates that prove the property of sensitive information without revealing its content. In this way, business secrets remain in the sphere of privacy, while guaranteeing their authenticity against possible legal disputes, minimizing the risk of loss or manipulation of critical information. On the other hand, and as with the copyright, business secrets can be easily monetized through this technology, creating digital assets that represent property or access to confidential information. These tokens can be sold or licensed to third parties, thus providing a new source of income for companies.
In the market there are several platforms that use this block chain and that are revolutionizing the music industry, as Audius, known as the “Blockchain Spotify”; Sound; Oneof or Royal.
Advantages, but also some challenges
It is clear that blockchain offers enormous advantages to intellectual property rights holders, and that it is becoming one of its most beasts Guadian. However, we cannot ignore the ethical challenges it presents at the same time. These challenges revolve, above all, around the balance between transparency and privacy, access equity, responsibility in a decentralized network, legal adaptation and error management or vulnerabilities. Because precisely, the decentralization of this technology implies that there is no responsible central entity.
At the same time, by democratizing access and decentralizing music distribution its use allows artists from all over the world to have equal access to distribution and monetization platforms, which promotes a more diverse and inclusive musical ecosystem, where voices of different cultures and contexts can be heard and valued.
The road has started, and there is probably no turning back, but it will have curves and recesses. Today we are in the implantation and settlement phase. Like any new technology, the generalized adoption of blockchain requires that artists, producers and other industry actors understand and trust technology, which implies a learning curve and the need for continuing education. Without a doubt, in the future we will see new uses of this technology that, sooner rather than later, will become a standard in many areas, as has already happened in the world of intellectual property.
