Blockchain in the creative industry

Our mission

Blockchains open new perspectives for the cultural and creative industry. Blockchains are programmable systems that enable digital property to be owned and traded transparently in a peer-to-peer manner without the engagement of trust-building third parties.

The cultural and creative industry is well known for its rapid adaptation of new technologies. In arts, trading digital art with non-fungible tokens (NFTs) gains increasing popularity. In fashion, brands experiment with innovative marketing approaches by tokenising clothing and design. In film, blockchains are utilized for fundraising. And in music, a new form of label emerges, organized as DAOs.

Our approach

Our publication “Blockchain in the Cultural and Creative Industry – Opportunities for New Business Models” offers an overview of the leading narratives and mental models on blockchain and Web3 in the cultural and creative sphere. Using real world examples, it illustrates how artists and creatives are experimenting and implementing ideas and business models in creative ventures. The methodology at hand is based on an extensive analysis of relevant literature.

Core results

We identify four areas where blockchain and Web3 could benefit the cultural and creative industry in the long run:

• To prove province of artists’ work and introduce digital scarcity. NFTs carry an unforgeable signature of the author, proofing the originality of art. At the same time, NFTs introduce scarcity to the digital realm, which allows artists to claim and enforce higher prices on the market.
• To provide an unforgeable record of license rights. Blockchains offer opportunities for improving the integrity of data used for the exploitation of license rights. Moreover, it allows for automated remunerations via smart contracts as soon as license rights are used by third parties.
• To facilitate access to finance via tokens. Tokens can represent ownership in creative ventures. Incentives to invest in such tokens stem from the prospect of token appreciation as the token value increases when ventures succeed. By offering tokens, artists can allocate capital from fans, supporters, and speculators.
• To organise collaborations between artists and creatives. Decentralized Autonomous Organisations (DAOs) represent a new approach in organising project-related work between creative professionals and companies. Through token incentives, collaboration and decision-making processes can be coordinated collectively and more efficiently, allowing for a fairer share of generated profits.

Links and downloads

The dossier (kreativ-bund.de, PDF in German)

More about our work (in German)

Project team: Dr Olaf Arndt, Roman Bartuli, Bianca Creutz, Kathleen Freitag, Christina Schenten

Latest update: 31.08.2022