Big media companies like movie studios, sports leagues, and TV networks own much of the world's most valuable intellectual property. For example, Disney's library of movies, TV shows, characters & brands. Or the NFL's live broadcast and merchandising rights.
Historically, big media companies & their fans have not been partners in producing & selling IP. It's been a one-way economic relationship. Media companies produce the IP & fans consume it. In fact, media companies go to great lengths to point out this one-way economic relationship to their fans. For example, Disney's website terms say that fans must not:
create derivative works of the Disney Product or any part thereof, except as and only to the extent that any foregoing restriction is prohibited by applicable law
use the Disney Products for any commercial or business related use or build a business utilizing the Products, whether or not for profit
Most (if not all) big media companies use similar language in their contracts. They regularly enforce their rights too, for example, if someone starts trying to sell a bunch of Baby Yodas on Etsy.
NFTs could change the one-way economic relationship between media companies and fans. NFTs have commercial capabilities built directly into them. By default, they can be sold and traded on the blockchain. As big media companies have launched NFTs, they've explicitly recognized and granted fans these commercial rights. For example, the terms for NBA Top Shot grant buyers the right to use Top Shot NFTs:
- as part of a marketplace that permits the purchase and sale of your Purchased Moments, provided that the marketplace cryptographically verifies each Moment owner’s rights to display the Art for their Purchased Moment to ensure that only the actual owner can display the Art.
Stated another way, NBA Top Shop specifically acknowledges that individual fans are going to commercialize (i.e., resell) the NFTs. This may seem obvious, indeed, it's a key & basic feature of Top Shot and any trading card product. But it's very different from how big media companies have traditionally operated online. There aren't many prior examples of a major IP company like the NBA allowing fans to sell and transact the company's IP (there are almost zero meaningful examples of this in the digital/online space).
Lots of major IP owners beyond the NBA are now jumping into NFTs. The New York Times, UFC, Taco Bell, Ubisoft, and MLB, just to name a few. As this continues, will fans come to expect more rights to participate in the economics of Big Media -- e.g., rights to sell, trade, and generate royalties from their favorite shows, movies, games, and songs? This would be a huge change from the traditional one-way economic relationship between media/IP companies and fans.
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