By Jason Bechervaise
One of the buzzwords over recent weeks and months has been bitcoin, a decentralized digital currency that remains popular in Korea despite some fluctuations in the markets.
South Korea is currently the third-largest market in the world for bitcoin trades, which together with its vibrant entertainment industry makes the country a potentially lucrative territory for Slate Entertainment Group, a new company on the block.
What differentiates Slate from other companies dealing with cryptocurrency is its focus on content bringing together digital currency and entertainment.
Based in Los Angeles and Toronto, Slate is essentially a form of digital currency and a blockchain protocol for entertainment.
In an interview with The Korea Times, Slate co-founder Cody Hackman said “underneath Slate, there is SLATIX, which is a ticketing platform. The purpose is for mainstream adoption. There are billions of dollars of cryptocurrency in the world that people trade and everyone has a different technology behind them but they are not really accepted anywhere.”
“The goal of SLATIX and Slate is with our relationships with the entertainment space to bridge that adoption for the masses, so it could look like theatre chain partnerships and different venues that would accept Slate for the purchasing of tickets,” Hackman added.
This year, the renowned Sitges Film Festival in Spain will be the first festival in the world accepting cryptocurrency for ticket sales adopting SLATIX that will be launched in October.
Then there is Binge that will be online globally within twelve months. According to Hackman, the platform could be described as “Netflix on blockchain.”
“Binge is designed to add transparency into the film industry that really needs it. Out of any industry where blockchain technology is needed, I would say entertainment is the industry that needs disruption the most,” said Hackman.
“We believe that if you treat filmmakers fairly and compensate them fairly having proven analytics that you cannot mess around with on the blockchain that Binge will end up receiving and producing the best content in the world” added Hackman.
Currently, options open to filmmakers for exposure outside festivals are limited to distributors and online streaming services, but transparency has been an issue with sites such as Netflix where data on what films are being watched is not shared.
Binge will have a content creator dashboard which will allow those who sell their content to the company to see who is watching it, in which country, where they stopped watching it and how many minutes were viewed thereby enabling producers and directors to make specialized content.
So for example, “maybe Germany watched the movie the most so for a sequel it would make sense to put a German star in it” said Hackman.
“Netflix disrupted traditional media like cable television and blockbuster. Blockbusters don't exist anymore. This is where technology is heading where it's caught up so it can disrupt a company like Netflix”, added Hackman.
Through Slates' technology called Masternodes, people can also contribute to the network by storing content and are paid and rewarded through Slate tokens (SLX) to do that, which decentralizes the network.
This also means the company is seeking to acquire global rights to much of their content making it accessible to anyone with internet access, but will still provide theatrical windows for certain films.
Aware of the wealth of content in Korea both in terms of film and television, the company is looking to acquire a large library consisting of both Hollywood and international films, mini-series and documentaries.
Together with the growing prominence of bitcoin itself, it makes sense for those behind this venture to explore what the Korean market has to offer.
Jose Maradiaga, VP of Operations for Slate who accompanied Hackman on a trip to Korea that coincided with the Bucheon International Fantastic Film Festival (BIFAN) that wraps on July 22 said “up to 20 percent of the entire cryptocurrency market is based out of South Korea.”
“It's pivotal to get exposure in a market like South Korea because a lot of the teens, from 16 to 18-year-olds are using it on a daily basis. If you can find a means for exchange for them to be entertained, it goes hand in hand” said Maradiaga.
“We are bridging the gap between entertainment and cryptocurrency,” added Maradiaga.
The fact that Korea is seen as technologically ahead of the game embracing new mediums is another reason for trying to infiltrate the Korean entertainment ecosystem.
“It's just the right market for this type of technology because it is the future” said Hackman.
Jason Bechervaise is a film critic and professor at the Department of Entertainment and Arts Management at Korea Soongsil Cyber University.