SBI Media Workshop confirms radical possibilities in Blockchain

Stakeholders at the SBI Media workshop held in Lagos have declared that blockchain technology can bring monumental changes to the media industry.

They disclosed this at the third edition of the workshop held in Lagos, recently.

Convener, SBI Media Workshop, Rotimi Bankole, identified blockchain technology as a potential game changer, and is keen to train young individuals in the industry to leverage blockchain to build profitable careers and businesses in media.

In his session titled ‘Blockchain Fundamentals: Why It Matters’, Opeyemi Awoyemi, founder of job site Jobberman and web host Whogohost, laid the foundation for the rest of the program by defining blockchain as a tamper-proof database for storing items of value, and in the context of money or records, it can be considered a general ledger.

As an investor in at least five blockchain start-ups, Opeyemi explained the concept of blockchain. Across media and its expression in entertainment and other sub-sectors, the issue of ownership and rights management over content remains one of the biggest in the industry. For centuries, effectively identifying true ownership of content and materials has been a challenge, often leading to lawsuits and payment disputes. Blockchain can remove these problems, Awoyemi predicted.

According to Fisayo Fosudo, YouTuber and tech media entrepreneur, “You cannot claim what is not yours, what is yours cannot be claimed and your identity is unique to you and is validated.”

He said this during his session at the workshop where he confirmed that blockchain promises an efficient way to track ownership and process payments easily. By using blockchain technology, Fisayo explained that intellectual property rights can be properly tracked and digital rights management companies can access the entire record of transactions carried out.

Another SBI Media Workshop facilitator, Olubunmi Fabanwo who is Affiliate Program Manager for Binance Africa and Founder at Ports Connect, identified other use cases for blockchain technology in media including streamlined royalty payments, peer-to-peer sales and content distribution, usage-based billing models and immutable ad metrics.

Many facilitators emphasized that there is no shortage of blockchain use case proposals in the media, especially as the industry looks to address many limitations with innovative technological solutions.

According to them, in an industry where middlemen are often obstacles rather than enablers, changing consumer habits, unequal distribution of profits and a myriad of inefficiencies, blockchain is being embraced as it promises disintermediation and the introduction of a more transparent ecosystem across the board. chain.

According to Bankole, “these use cases are simple game changers and can also facilitate the creation of new career and business models that will allow the industry to move beyond the challenges discussed during the workshop. By offering innovative solutions around micropayments and automated settlements, the use of immutable records of data shared between parties, the clarity that blockchain brings to previously ambiguous practices of calculations and outcomes. It is finally something that can deliver a fair deal for all players while creating room for further innovation and progress.”

Olubunmi Fabanwo expressed this point as well when he said, “ultimately, effective use of blockchain can make the media space fairer and more equitable, while introducing practical advances that change the way we consume media”.