Using Blockchain for Online Multimedia Management: Characteristics of Existing Platforms

In this descriptive study we investigate the use of blockchain in the online multimedia industry. We analyze the content of 30 peer-reviewed academic publications, white papers and industry websites published between 2016 and 2018 which report the application of blockchain for multimedia management. This includes diverse use cases in the music and advertising industries, healthcare, social media, and content delivery networks. Ethereum was found to be the most popular blockchain and proof of work the favorite consensus mechanism. More than half of the platforms reward their users for content curation and community development. The majority of the platforms have implemented tokens and smart contracts to automate the distribution of earnings or to enable data access. Our study further shows that the majority of multimedia blockchain platforms have already implemented monetization capabilities.