Blockchain technology may exacerbate existing music industry issues around accurate music data and ownership records, an expert has warned.
Mark Douglas, PPL’s chief technology officer, told the PRS for Music Explores Blockchain event yesterday (20 April) he’s concerned ‘blockchain is being driven by a very technology-centric vision of the world and is not grounded in the practical realities of our industry.’
The technology, although still in its infancy, could allow data to be encrypted into digital music files, publicly associating them with the correct rightsholders, while also tracking legal contracts, usage information and more.
Its potential is being heralded by many as a panacea for digital music ownership, licensing and earning, and while Douglas said he was interested in the new technology, he cautioned: ‘If blockchain is going to play any part in our industry as a basis for distributing money, it has to be robust.’
He went on to explain that blockchain works when ‘everyone plays nicely’ and only the genuine parties assert their rights in recordings - ‘but that’s not the world we live in,’ he said.
‘I see on a daily basis people asserting ownership of the rights when they perhaps don’t have a non-exclusive licence and they don’t quite understand the difference. I see performers asserting that they contributed to major recordings of the sixties, seventies and eighties when they didn’t. The fact that there could be a public blockchain, where they’re recording that information indelibly, means we’re potentially creating a problem.’
He added that the industry needs robust processes for verifying, reviewing and validating music metadata before committing this content to a permanent ledger.
‘There are a lot of really crunchy problems that are nothing to do with indelible ledger technology but they’re all about people, process, behaviours and change,’ he said.
The PRS for Music Explores BlockChain event gathered a number of leading experts from the music and technology worlds to discuss its potential over two panels. The society said it is keen to encourage constructive debate around how the new technology can be used to assist in its goal of ‘getting fair and full value for the exploitation of our member’s repertoire’.
Also on the first panel alongside Douglas was Keith Hill, PRS for Music’s head of operations change, research and development, who expressed interest in the way blockchain can be used to encapsulate the flow of information in the music licensing community.
He also praised the ‘incredible innovation’ of digital music distribution over the last five years, but said ‘the evolution of rights management systems had not accelerated in the same way.
‘In the collective rights management domain, talking about the billions of transactions we’re receiving, it has been extremely complex and challenging to try to manage this acceleration,’ he explained.
‘There is a real dependency on standards as the foundations for all of this. With [blockchain], we can’t just tear up the rulebooks. It’s taken 22 years to get to the point with the international ISWC standard where the industry is adopting it. For goodness sake, let’s not throw the baby and the bath water away with all of this.’
He also cautioned that the growing propensity to adopt proprietary technology, such as blockchain and fingerprinting technology, needs to be futureproofed.
‘The music industry must build platforms that allow plug-ins rather than depend on individual proprietary technologies which may not be here in the future,’ he said.
The panel was chaired by Graham Davies, PRS for Music’s director of strategy and digital, and also included songwriter Imogen Heap, Alan Graham, founder of One Click Licensing, Benji Rogers (founder and chief strategy officer, PledgeMusic), tech entrepreneur Phil Barry and Internet Music’s Thor Petterson.
Also from M's coverage of the panel:
Imogen Heap: blockchain can help music industry ‘join the dots’
Blockchain can help combat music piracy, expert says
Blockchain can fuel music industry growth, says artist manager
Mark Douglas, PPL’s chief technology officer, told the PRS for Music Explores Blockchain event yesterday (20 April) he’s concerned ‘blockchain is being driven by a very technology-centric vision of the world and is not grounded in the practical realities of our industry.’
The technology, although still in its infancy, could allow data to be encrypted into digital music files, publicly associating them with the correct rightsholders, while also tracking legal contracts, usage information and more.
Its potential is being heralded by many as a panacea for digital music ownership, licensing and earning, and while Douglas said he was interested in the new technology, he cautioned: ‘If blockchain is going to play any part in our industry as a basis for distributing money, it has to be robust.’
He went on to explain that blockchain works when ‘everyone plays nicely’ and only the genuine parties assert their rights in recordings - ‘but that’s not the world we live in,’ he said.
‘I see on a daily basis people asserting ownership of the rights when they perhaps don’t have a non-exclusive licence and they don’t quite understand the difference. I see performers asserting that they contributed to major recordings of the sixties, seventies and eighties when they didn’t. The fact that there could be a public blockchain, where they’re recording that information indelibly, means we’re potentially creating a problem.’
He added that the industry needs robust processes for verifying, reviewing and validating music metadata before committing this content to a permanent ledger.
‘There are a lot of really crunchy problems that are nothing to do with indelible ledger technology but they’re all about people, process, behaviours and change,’ he said.
The PRS for Music Explores BlockChain event gathered a number of leading experts from the music and technology worlds to discuss its potential over two panels. The society said it is keen to encourage constructive debate around how the new technology can be used to assist in its goal of ‘getting fair and full value for the exploitation of our member’s repertoire’.
Also on the first panel alongside Douglas was Keith Hill, PRS for Music’s head of operations change, research and development, who expressed interest in the way blockchain can be used to encapsulate the flow of information in the music licensing community.
He also praised the ‘incredible innovation’ of digital music distribution over the last five years, but said ‘the evolution of rights management systems had not accelerated in the same way.
‘In the collective rights management domain, talking about the billions of transactions we’re receiving, it has been extremely complex and challenging to try to manage this acceleration,’ he explained.
‘There is a real dependency on standards as the foundations for all of this. With [blockchain], we can’t just tear up the rulebooks. It’s taken 22 years to get to the point with the international ISWC standard where the industry is adopting it. For goodness sake, let’s not throw the baby and the bath water away with all of this.’
He also cautioned that the growing propensity to adopt proprietary technology, such as blockchain and fingerprinting technology, needs to be futureproofed.
‘The music industry must build platforms that allow plug-ins rather than depend on individual proprietary technologies which may not be here in the future,’ he said.
The panel was chaired by Graham Davies, PRS for Music’s director of strategy and digital, and also included songwriter Imogen Heap, Alan Graham, founder of One Click Licensing, Benji Rogers (founder and chief strategy officer, PledgeMusic), tech entrepreneur Phil Barry and Internet Music’s Thor Petterson.
Also from M's coverage of the panel:
Imogen Heap: blockchain can help music industry ‘join the dots’
Blockchain can help combat music piracy, expert says
Blockchain can fuel music industry growth, says artist manager
