JAAK announces META, a decentralized network powered by Ethereum and Swarm

Rage Review : London technology company JAAK announced the META project, a decentralized open network supported by Ethereum and Swarm that allows organizations to obtain, store, verify and disseminate commercial metadata. JAAK has partnered with the UK Copyright Organization to solve the problem of content licensing and ensure that creators are paid for the content they create.

Translation: Nicole

The use of blockchain technology in the media and entertainment industry has been a hot topic for a while now. In the past few months, it has gone from a vague concept to a fully legitimate one. Blockchain use cases have captured the attention of industry players.

Take the recorded music industry, for example. It’s a 100-year-old industry that hasn’t changed much since Thomas Edison invented the phonograph and the rise of radio broadcasting in the 1920s.

In the past, artists had to deal with dozens of intermediaries to get their music heard. Time flies, but little has changed - musicians still have to go through this archaic system of middlemen, which causes them to suffer huge losses in revenue from their music. Blockchain innovators and enthusiasts believe that this is why blockchain technology can be the way to knock out inefficient middlemen and connect musicians directly to their audiences. Solve the problems of licensing, monetizing, and storing content.

Blockchain is a redistributed ledger that verifies and registers transactions without the need for a central authority. No one person owns the ledger, as it is completely decentralized, publicly available to everyone, and the information stored in it is virtually irreversible and cannot be tampered with. So how does this ledger benefit the various parties involved? Well, it basically ensures the highest level of security for peer-to-peer data, currency, and other value exchanges.

What does blockchain bring?

First, any industry hampered by inefficient middlemen is a potential battleground for blockchain, and music, media, and entertainment are no exception.

Since the technology enables a more direct relationship between the parties involved, for example, for the music industry this means connecting artists directly with their fan communities. Musicians no longer need to communicate with purchasing platforms or financial brokers, as they will be compensated directly every time their music is played.

Furthermore, blockchain technology will revolutionize the monetization process of content creation. Deploying smart contract infrastructure can take on-demand music services to a whole new level. Users can freely choose the content they want in this way and reward creators with cryptocurrency immediately when the music is played.

Finally, blockchain can help solve the problem of content licensing. Since such licenses are published on the ledger and have a unique ID and timestamp, they can be ensured to be tamper-proof. Each record stores metadata including ownership and permission information in the most transparent way. In addition to everyone being able to access and verify this data, it also ensures that creators are paid for the content they create.

JAAK's vision on this issue

Blockchain implementations are currently being researched and tested by a variety of startups. JAAK, a London-based tech company founded by Vaughn McKenzie, Freddie Tibbles, and Viktor Tron, is dispelling much of the hype and skepticism surrounding the relationship between music and blockchain and offering solutions to real industry problems.

At the recent European Ethereum Development Conference in Paris, Vaughn McKenzie announced the META Project, a decentralized open network powered by Ethereum and Swarm that will allow organizations to capture, store, verify, and disseminate business metadata.

Matt Brinkworth

JAAK has already started working with the UK’s copyright organization, JAAK campaign manager Matt Brinkworth told Cointelegraph:

“There are many initiatives driving this conversation, and each has its own ideas about how and where blockchain can be applied. At JAAK, our current focus is on solving data sharing and verification issues within these industries, as a result of the guidance and insights we have received from PRS, PPL and Viacom.”

Dissemination of business data

As a result of the collaboration, the organizations observed that the diversity of revenue streams and the rapid transition to digitalization have increased the number of organizations that acquire, manage, exchange and use digital rights and metadata. Differences in information integrity, accuracy and management can create serious difficulties or obstacles in paying relevant parties.

Brinkworth explained:

“The META Network, as the name implies, is a network that connects music and media industry organizations and enables them to acquire, store, verify and disseminate commercial metadata using decentralized technologies such as Ethereum and Swarm.”

Viktor Trón, one of the founders of the META Network, is the project director of the Ethereum Foundation's Swarm project. The JAAK team believes that Ethereum is not only the most developed blockchain, but also the community with the widest support.

To implement the META Network, JAAK plans to work with major music and media organizations through the Guardian Initiative. Over the next few months, they will test, experiment and explore the opportunities offered by blockchain technology.