While Blockchain is a hot topic, it can be a challenge to find examples of implementation other than through cryptocurrencies.

Jean Lozano, the CTO of MediaValet has presented his take on Blockchain and how it can transform the DAM industry at the DAM New York conference, and more recently during a webinar with Henry Stewart Events.

During his presentations, he discussed the intricacies of Blockchain 2.0 and how it can transform the Digital Asset Management industry. While there's still work to be done in order for blockchain to be available in the DAM industry, let’s discuss the benefits of Blockchain when it's leveraged, and its challenges and considerations.

Benefits of Blockchain in DAM

• Governance: Enable companies to create a distributed and decentralized system of record for digital media
• Rights Management: Concrete media asset ownership rights and provenance can be established
• Rights Transfer and Licensing: Content and ownership can be transferred to other parties, and content licensing and publishing can be facilitated by distribution companies
• Content Creation Attribution: Allocate and enforce the stake of content creators to produce content
• Digital Lifecycle Management: Facilitate and keep track of digital media assets, through each stage of their life cycle
• Security: Ensure security with blockchain cryptography

Considerations and Challenges

With benefits, it is still important to consider other factors and potential challenges of implementing blockchain.

1. Blockchain Technology is new and rapidly evolving

With Blockchain 2.0, blockchain technology has matured but is still in a state of change and will require continuous development of the decentralized app (dApp) for Digital Asset Management.

2. Establishing use cases with proven success

Successful blockchain use cases with proven success, outside the cryptocurrency space, still need to be established. These success cases also must tell a massively transformative story to justify the investment and implementation risks of this technology.

3. Need for Talent

Developers with high expertise in blockchain are in high demand and scarce, which can affect the pace of technology development and adoption.

Steps to Leverage Blockchain

While blockchain is still in development, what can you do to prepare for implementation? Here are some steps you can take:

Step 1: Implement Foundation Technologies

It’s important to centralize your existing assets, establish rights management for taxonomy, and invest in audits and data quality initiatives. We recommend also identifying your high-value digital assets and establishing provenance for them and tagging new assets that are ingested. These initiatives will create a strong foundation to implement new technologies and will aid your success.

Step 2: Analyze your Digital Asset Supply Chain (DASC)

The digital asset supply chain can be broken down into activities and will include various participants from inside and outside of your organization. The nature of these activities ranges, therefore will become more complex as the supply chain gets closer to the consumer of the content. It is recommended that you start your analysis from the commissioning of the work.

Step 3: Establish Use Cases

Identify use cases from the activities you identified from your Digital Asset Supply Chain (DASC) that will benefit from the blockchain implementation and evaluate their impact on your business. This includes their ROI and associated risks. During this step, it is also important to consider any legal implications or contract changes you may need to prepare in advance.

Step 4: Develop Talent

Ensure you have an internal team with individuals who have a growing understanding of blockchain and its applications. In addition, training should be provided to other core members of your team. It is also recommended that organizations identify consultants or partners, who have experience with DAM implementations as well as Blockchain expertise.

Step 5: Build a Minimum Viable dApp Product (MVP)

Work with a vendor or with your team to build a minimum viable dApp product for your selected use case. Take the time to implement and revise as needed. Use this as an opportunity to learn from nuances of the implementation, as working with blockchain technology will deem to be an iterative process with incremental improvements.

Step 6: Evaluate and Expand

Once you have implemented a successful MVP, plan for the expansion of the dApp to tackle other use cases within your DASC.

If you’d like to learn more about blockchain, and how it can benefit the DAM industry, download the presentation slides from our “Blockchain and the Future of DAM” webinar.