Smart Contracts for Automated Content Licensing and Royalty Distribution in Web 3.0

Abstract

This paper introduces a new system for automatically handling content licensing and distributing royalties in the Web 3.0 environment using smart contracts. We address the long- standing issues of transparency, efficiency, and fairness in monetizing digital content by using blockchain technology. Our suggested system embeds licensing terms in smart contracts, allowing royalty payments to be automatically executed and content usage to be tracked in real-time. We deploy a prototype on the Ethereum platform and assess its efficiency through different criteria such as transaction speed, cost efficiency, and scalability. Findings show a 60% decrease in processing time for royalty distributions and a 40% improvement in transparency in contrast to traditional systems. Moreover, the automated system has received a 75% satisfaction rate from 50 content creators in our user study. Although difficulties like scalability and interoperability remain, this study lays the groundwork for fairer and more effective content monetization on the decentralized internet, potentially transforming the way creators and consumers engage in the digital market.