Blockchain-based digital rights management systems: Design principles for the music industry
Authors: Raffaele Fabio Ciriello, Alexandra Cecilie Gjol Torbensen, Magnus Rotvit Perlt Hansen, Christoph Mueller-Bloch
Venue: Electronic Markets 33:5 (2023)
Link: https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-023-00628-5 (opens in a new tab)
Summary
Analyzing the music industry, the paper proposes design principles for blockchain-based DRM that deliver transparent licensing, consistent and complete rights metadata, and efficient transparent royalty payout - by storing metadata on a public ledger, validating it via consensus on a permissioned chain, and enforcing payouts via stablecoin smart contracts.
Artifact
Design principles for a blockchain-based digital rights management (DRM) system for the music industry.
Methodology
Design science research; ten expert interviews; scenario-based design; expert evaluation of principles.
Design features
Concrete, technology-specific realizations of the design principles in this artifact:
- Design feature DF1: Public-permissioned blockchain - A decentralized DRM system can be implemented with a public-permissioned blockchain.
- Design feature DF2: pBFT consensus - A decentralized DRM system can validate metadata with a practical Byzantine fault tolerant consensus mechanism.
- Design feature DF3: Fiat-pegged stablecoin payout - A decentralized DRM system can pay out royalties with a fiat-pegged collateralized stablecoin.
- Design feature DF4: Collectively designed smart contract - A decentralized DRM system can pay out royalties with a collectively designed, evidence-based smart contract.
Citations
[1] Raffaele Fabio Ciriello, Alexandra Cecilie Gjol Torbensen, Magnus Rotvit Perlt Hansen, Christoph Mueller-Bloch. Blockchain-based digital rights management systems: Design principles for the music industry. Electronic Markets 33:5 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12525-023-00628-5 (opens in a new tab) [2] Source document: Blockchain-based digital rights management systems.pdf