Japan’s JASRAC to trial blockchain technology for music copyright management

The Japanese Society for Rights of Authors, Composers and Publishers (JASRAC) has announced that it will trial blockchain technology for music copyright management.

JASRAC aims to protect the copyrights of musical works and facilitate the utilization of musical works, thereby contributing to the dissemination and development of music culture.

In its press release, the music copyright association noted the potential of blockchain technology to guarantee the content and existence of data among multiple stakeholders. It said that the technology could be used for music copyright management.

JASRAC previously conducted a verification experiment on the use of blockchain to manage transaction records for copyrighted material usage in 2018. It said that now aims to improve the credibility of data related to music work information and enhance the transparency and efficiency of the distribution process, thereby improving the quality of return to right holders, that is, distribution of royalties.

“By improving the quality and quantity of compensation (distribution of royalties) to right holders, we will contribute to the development of the music industry and music culture,” it added.

On these lines, JASRAC will conduct a demonstration experiment from February 17 to March 13 with the participation of rights holders (music publishers) who are entrusting it to manage copyrights.

As per the details, the demonstration will focus on developing a blockchain base and web application that will record "hash value of digital content", "creator ID", "timestamp information" for each music work. Arbitrary metadata relating to the music work can also be added to this record, Nikkei reported.

The creator of the record will have the right to right to view and append the record to other companies.

“In the future, based on the results of this demonstration experiment, we plan to verify the use of the system for other administrative tasks,” JASRAC said.

[The article has been written based on a press release in Japanese.]

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