The blockchain technology in the media sector

Abstract

Since the introduction of the Bitcoin protocol in 2008 by an anonymous person or group under the pseudonym Satoshi Nakamoto, the underlying blockchain technology has turned out to be a potentially disruptive or promising breakthrough technology. Many companies, institutions, entrepreneurs, banks and even governments try to engage with and invest heavily into the technology even though it still seems to be in an early stage of adoption. The technology shows the potential not only to disrupt existing but also to enable new business models particularly in instances where record-keeping and auditable data is of vital importance, such as in the Media Industry. This chapter will give an overview on some key developments, on smart contracts, and show how distributed ledger technology change the interdependencies in the media ecosystem.