The Canadian government’s Groupe Média TFO announced that it is creating a “Blockchain TFO,” a new royalty model for audio and visual content creators in Canada.
According to Groupe Média TFO, Blockchain TFO is meant to target players from the digital cultural productions industry, including people working on movies, TV shows, and other digital content.
The group said Blockchain TFO, which is currently in its prototype stage, is designed to track copyrights and compensate creative works on a blockchain platform. The aim is to ensure content creators get fair compensation for the consumption of their work.
“We wish to participate in creating next generation tools to credit and reward the rightholders in a way that is transparent.”
In addition to tracking copyrights and compensating content creators, Groupe Média TFO said the blockchain prototype will eliminate third party intermediaries and reduce legal fees, “allowing creators to receive a greater percentage of their royalties.” It will also allow them to see statistics about the consumption of their content, as well as create and present compensation and license revenues usage and distribution reports to investors in a transparent way.
“The consumption of cultural products is increasingly achieved through IP systems,” said Glen O’Farrell, president and CEO at Groupe Média TFO. “We wish to participate in creating next generation tools to credit and reward the rightholders in a way that is transparent, reliable, and without an intermediary. As a public, education-focused company, we want to do our part to protect Canadian cultural works, including our own, as we expand their accessibility and visibility.”
Groupe Média said it hopes to launch the prototype with participation from content producers and distributors. The group invites potential stakeholders to get in touch as it begins to flesh out how the prototype will be structured.
“Through this initiative, we hope to create a product that will transform and deeply remodel the way digital cultural productions are handled, from their funding to their marketing and operation,” said Ulrich Dessouassi, digital products manager at Groupe Média TFO. “We, therefore, invite the other players in this industry to join us and participate in this revolution.”
Groupe Média TFO received support to create the blockchain prototype from the Canadian Media Fund, through its Experimental Stream Innovation Program.
