Giant online content platforms, such as Netflix and YouTube, currently dominate the content landscape, providing large quantities of easily accessible content for very cheap (or free plus advertisements). However, they remain centralized, meaning that a single entity has ultimate control over content and what compensation (if any) artists receive for their work.
CoinTelegraph spoke with Mike Vine, Technology Evangelist for LBRY, about the prospects for a decentralized, blockchain-based, and creator-controlled approach to content dissemination to dismantle the current centralized norm.
CoinTelegraph: How exactly does LBRY manage to give content creators full control?
Mike Vine: LBRY is not a service or a store, it’s a protocol. It’s a way for artists to connect to their fans the same way the internet is a way for you to connect to websites. With LBRY, the rules are encoded and enforced by cryptography – so we can’t just arbitrarily change the terms on anyone down the road. That is very different than, say, Youtube, which is entirely controlled by Google. Google sets the terms of use, the payouts for creators, and it can change the rules at any time.
On LBRY, creators set their own price and our company, LBRY Inc., doesn’t take any portion of it. Policing illicit content
CT: Like it or not, one of the advantages of centralization is the ability to pull content that is either stolen or otherwise misattributed, unsavory, or downright illegal. How can decentralization deal with these problems?
MV : LBRY is a protocol, but today we are releasing an app that is like a window into that protocol. At the app level, we do have some ability to blacklist infringing content. Also, there may be technical ways through our position as the "market maker" of LBRY credits to basically make it more expensive for people […]
