Blockchain changing the face of Content Creation

Hello Steemit Community,

Grateful to have the opportunity to share with you! A little about myself I've been a long time blockchain evangelist, crypto enthusiast, and social media user, and have known of the subject matter to be discussed herein for some time, but only recently have I truly become aware of the potential power of Steemit for Content Creators of all varieties, from After Effects wizards and video editing to music, movies, tv shows, the list goes on. This year I attended the Blockchain Unbound and Coin Agenda Caribbean conferences in Puerto Rico with my business partners- shout out @Cryptosomniac- and was introduced to Steemit by a new friend of mine, the very talented @momentocat. I'd heard of it before in passing, but hadn't truly taken the time to understand the value Steemit brings to a Content Creator.

There are so many options available to Content Creators of all forms, from Instagram, Facebook, Snapchat, and Twitter, to YouTube, Vimeo, Soundcloud, Spotify, and so many others. However, all of those platforms leverage user generated content to generate profits for the corporation without providing a significant value to the creator, only to the end user, and sometimes even charge the creator for the ability to upload their content to the site. Granted, hosting costs money, but if the content being curated is robust enough the platform should be able to generate enough revenue to operate at a profit without the need to gouge their content generators for the ability to contribute to the platform.

A particularly egregious violator of this is Soundcloud. Once a great resource for undiscovered artists and music of various genres to be able to share their work and get noticed, the one-time giant has recently fallen upon hard times. With the increase of fake followers, paid for likes, and corporate ad sponsorships over time Soundcloud became more and more difficult to get music into fans ears. Producers were charged for access to the Soundcloud streaming service rather than compensated for creating the content Soundcloud was utilizing. Content Creators could pay for additional storage space, and more player features, metrics etc- which is great, but a significant number of users were being marketed fake plays and fans to increase their stats. How could a promoter even be certain that a producer or promoter was actually as popular as their profile may have led to believe? If only there were a way to verify the veracity of an artist before you engaged their services...

Did I mention that I'm a music producer? I can't recall, but now that it's out there, I can say I know many other artists who are looking for additional ways to help support themselves via their music. Producing, touring, licensing, royalties, and streaming are all potential streams of revenue, but an artist needs to be on so many different platforms it can become difficult to manage, and multiple paid subscriptions either for management of social media, or for media platforms which aggregate ability to post simultaneously. Either scenario can become taxing on an upcoming artist's budget. If only there were a platform that could reward content creators for participating instead of charging them to help provide the very content that gives the platform value in the first place...

Most major Audio or Video hosting sites artists use leverage that user generated content for advertising dollars to the platform, then leverage the data generated by their users to reap additional profits. The lions share of streaming revenue doesn't go to the artist who created the work, it's eaten up in the transfer of funds between intermediaries. We're disincentivizing creativity by supporting this model. If only there were alternatives for video and audio hosting that rewarded the contributors while allowing them to know exactly who their audience is and connect with them directly...

Steemit aims to offer alternative to many of the above mentioned platforms with a system that rewards those who participate in its ecosystem, from content creators to influencers. The ability for users to help promote each others content to gain additional exposure is inherent in any social network, but in this case there is the additional carrot of a financial incentive for both content creators and consumers alike. While so far the decentralized versions of familiar platforms have not achieved the same usability or adoption, there is promise that this sort of thing could be a contender in short order. Time will tell if the distributed version of these applications will overtake the current pantheon's adoption, but for now at least we're seeing progress in the right direction, which is really what the blockchain needs to help assist with ore widespread adoption.

If you make art, music, videos, cartoons, or any other media based art form I encourage you to tell your friends and community about Steemit, because as more people use the system the rate of development will increase rapidly. Think of how bad the internet sucked when it was first released to consumers, and drastically the internet changed from 1998-2002 as it gained widespread adoption, and then again when .com 2.0 exploded in 2008 with the advent of the smartphone. Blockchain is in it's infancy, and unfortunately there is still a chance it could die in the cradle as some see it as a threat to the existing paradigm and try to manipulate and crash the market. It's up to believers in it's potential to encourage others to get involved, and that includes using the existing platforms to help encourage their development.

As more developers become interested in distributed applications the pace of innovation will increase, and time will tell if we'll see the new technology overtake the old centralized format.