[2015-07-02] CD: How Ascribe Uses Bitcoin Tech to Help Underserved Artists

[Grand_Voyageur]

How Ascribe Uses Bitcoin Tech to Help Underserved Artists

“The creators of the Internet are getting a raw deal.”

So says Trent McConaghy, CTO for Ascribe, a startup that is using the bitcoin blockchain to timestamp intellectual property and create a sustainable ownership structure for artwork and other digital media.

In a new interview with CoinDesk, McConaghy, co-author of a recently published white paper “Towards An Ownership Layer For The Internet”, explained how his startup is aiming to provide a foundational layer for artists and other independent creators to establish ownership over their works on a decentralized database – the bitcoin blockchain – and protect those rights following publication.

The company was conceived in 2013, during which time McConaghy – alongside co-founders Masha McConaghy and Bruce Pon – explored how the ownership concepts underlying bitcoin could be applied to other types of digital assets.

Full story: http://www.coindesk.com/ascribe-bitcoin-tech-underserved-artists/

[gogxmagog]

I'm really holding out for this to be btc's killer app. I work in the arts and have seen countless artists working in the digital realm either limited in the distribution of thief art or simply caving in to the fact they have no control and giving away thief creations for a song.
I inform every one I speak to, offer to advise or offer any other help they might need. The publicly funded small gallery artists I know make up a very small niche market, but artists are the bringers of the new. Really, I see things like music and movies being a much bigger clients for this service, but the visual arts is usually at the vanguard and those who know look there for innovation in such things.