Content trading in the future decentralized creative economy: exploring current weaknesses and potential resolutions

Abstract

This research aims to identify current strengths and weaknesses of content trading in the creative economy, and whether/how distributed ledger technologies (DLTs) could help to resolve some of these business challenges. Thus, we are addressing the following two research questions: 1) How is content currently traded and what are strengths and weaknesses in current business practice? 2) What are the business models that would drive engagement, and how could this transform the business of traditional content publishers? To gain rich insights, this work is drawing on a case study design. We build on business model literature and aim to contribute to transaction cost theory applied to a content trading context. From the empirical study we will deduce managerial implications on how to potentially resolve identified challenges by using emerging technologies such as DLTs. This work also opens opportunities to create a more equitable digital economy, for example, by encouraging diversity in content creation as the content trading marketplace becomes more accessible to a more diverse set of content producers.