Is Hollywood Ready For ‘Web3’? How Online Currency Is Transforming Entertainment
By Movieguide® Staff
NFTs, AI-generated art, cryptocurrency and blockchains, and the metaverse now have a name: Web3.
The digital, internet-enabled currency, content creation, and community exploded during the 2020 pandemic, and the market’s most prominent players in entertainment, finance, and law are not looking back.
Web3 offers competition to the world’s biggest tech companies, like Facebook, Amazon, Google, and Twitter, and according to Paul Sweeting, the founder of Washington, D.C.-based consulting firm Concurrent Media Strategies, is “a shorthand for evoking an intersecting and overlapping set of ideas and technologies that its proponents hope will make up the next iteration of the internet.”
“At the center of that Venn diagram is the notion of a World Wide Web built on decentralized protocols such as blockchain rather than on the massive, centralized platforms and walled gardens running on the proprietary servers that dominate today’s Web2 version,” he wrote.
This prospect is especially exciting for the creative community, which can now rely on a blockchain system to earn money for their content instead of relying on third-party production and distribution teams.
“This is the last mile of direct-to-consumer,” Chris Jacquemin, WME partner and the agency’s head of digital strategy, said of Web3. “The data and relationships that artists and sellers have with the consumer is very different in a blockchain environment.”
This naturally has a bearing on the entertainment industry as a whole, which begs the question: what is the next stop for Hollywood?
Variety reports:
At the same time, there’s no doubt Web3 has applications that Hollywood needs to comprehend, if only to understand how the next generation of consumers hopes to be entertained and engaged. NFTs, or non-fungible tokens, are digital identifications that are recorded in a blockchain. They certify an owner’s authenticity and rights to a specific piece of digital content such as an image or a video, or a specific animated character in a franchise such as Stoner Cats or CryptoPunks. NFT holders get fanclub-like perks that might include wider access, early screenings and in many cases the right to create their own iterations of the character or asset they own. That ethos, not surprisingly, is a direct clash with the tight control that Hollywood studios have long enjoyed over content.
Those who have the mental computing power to study crypto and blockchain say that the market is deeply confusing because it is still in its most nascent form. Cryptocurrencies in general were an outgrowth of the 2008-09 global financial crisis, when trust in big-name banks was torpedoed by abundant evidence of greed and unethical activity around home mortgage lending.
For Hollywood, understanding what entertainment audiences want and how content creators are paid will be paramount in staying ahead of the 8-ball in the growing online landscape of Web3.
“Just like streamers became an alternative to traditional networks, [Web3] is another iteration of a platform,” Jacquemin said. “The economics are quite substantial for some of these projects. This is not spending $5,000 to make a YouTube video. These are companies that want to work with traditional filmmakers and writers.”
To cater to Web3, major theater chains like AMC have already experimented with adding the ability to pay with cryptocurrency for blockbusters at the theater.
Movieguide® previously reported:
During a quarterly earnings call, AMC Entertainment chairman-CEO Adam Aron announced that the theater chain would make two significant changes at the end of 2021 and in 2022.
First, Aron revealed that by the end of the year, AMC theaters would be capable of cryptocurrency payments, like bitcoin, to purchase online U.S. movie tickets and concessions.
You can also support Movieguide® with cryptocurrency:
Although the pandemic negatively affected the economy, small businesses, nonprofits, and the everyday consumer, cryptocurrency is a new way to donate to your favorite charities like Movieguide®!
Cryptocurrency, first introduced in 2008, has blossomed into a thriving market with over 100 million users worldwide. Notable leaders in technology, such as Elon Musk and other corporations are touting the legitimacy of Bitcoin and other digital currency. PayPal and Visa have also added cryptocurrency to their payment networks.
As its popularity rises, more and more investors are using Bitcoin, Ethereum, and Ripple to donate and invest in charity organizations like Movieguide®. But what are the benefits for you?
As the price of Bitcoin rises, holders are faced with a decision: cash out or risk a “run-up in values” that “result in investors having more exposure toward bitcoin.”
Read More: Why You Should Use Bitcoin to Support Movieguide®
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
Now more than ever we’re bombarded by darkness in media, movies, and TV. Movieguide® has fought back for almost 40 years, working within Hollywood to propel uplifting and positive content. We’re proud to say we’ve collaborated with some of the top industry players to influence and redeem entertainment for Jesus. Still, the most influential person in Hollywood is you. The viewer.
What you listen to, watch, and read has power. Movieguide® wants to give you the resources to empower the good and the beautiful. But we can’t do it alone. We need your support.
You can make a difference with as little as $7. It takes only a moment. If you can, consider supporting our ministry with a monthly gift. Thank you.
Movieguide® is a 501c3 and all donations are tax deductible.
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