Evolving Money: A Faster, Cheaper Way to Pay (Sponsored Content)

SPEAKER_1 (0:00)

Because you're a subscriber to this Bloomberg podcast, we thought you'd be interested in a sponsored podcast called Evolving Money. Produced by Coinbase and Bloomberg Media Studios, it explores how money has changed over the centuries and whether cryptocurrency is just the next logical evolution of how we pay for things and store long-term value. Here is a recent episode.

Maggie Lake (0:24)

Every day, billions of people share their creativity online. But when their creative work goes viral, who benefits? Imagine a young woman, a dancer with a modest social media following. One morning, she comes up with a new dance at the kitchen table and posts a video. Her followers don't just like it and scroll on. They start imitating her moves and posting their own versions of the dance. And big media channels get a ready-made story by covering the viral craze. There's even a cheeky SNL skit. The platform she originally posted on is benefiting from the traffic and ad revenue, and they decide exactly how much of the pie she gets. But does it have to be that way? What if new technologies could give creators complete ownership over their content, earn exponentially more money from their fans, and create new revenue models, rebuilding their creator economy as we know it?

Welcome to a new season of Evolving Money from Coinbase and Bloomberg Media Studios. I'm your host, Maggie Lake. On this podcast, we'll continue to take a different look at cryptocurrency. It's been cast as a radical departure for the monetary system. But what if it wasn't radical at all? This season, as we've seen more and more businesses, institutions and consumers adopt cryptocurrency, we'll dive deeper into the newest applications of blockchain technology, as we explore how money has changed over the centuries and look for lessons that might predict its next evolution. In this episode, we're looking at how blockchains might revolutionize how people post, interact with, and profit from original content online. Most content creators know that the handful of social media platforms who distribute their work have enormous power over how much they earn. This isn't a new problem. Artists and thinkers have always had to deal with gatekeepers, fighting for the right to own their work and its proceeds. But can blockchain technology really disrupt the walled garden landscape that shapes the flow of art, ideas, and money in the 21st century? To find out, I'll talk to Jesse Pollock, creator of BASE, and Julian Hogan, CEO of the Web 3 entertainment company Doodles, two leaders who are charting a new path forward by bringing creativity and content on chain. Let's go way back to 1694

Perched at his desk, writing a protest letter by Candlelight, is philosopher John Locke. You remember him from history class. Locke's been wanting to publish his writing on religion, but he's been blocked from doing it. You see, after the invention of the printing press, a single group controls all publishing in England. The Worshipful Company of Stationers. What a name, right?

Adrian Johns (3:21)

The stationers are everybody who's involved in the making and distribution and sale of books. So printers, binders, type founders, booksellers, the people who sell the books to the public.

Maggie Lake (3:31)

That's Dr. Adrian Johns. He chairs the History Department at the University of Chicago, specializing in the histories of science, the book, media, and information. This group of publishers, the stationers, have a royal warrant to print. And this warrant protects the stationers from competition.

Adrian Johns (3:50)

It was essentially a monopoly, a kind of cartel that looked after the whole trade.

Maggie Lake (3:55)

Locke is one of the loudest voices in a chorus of thinkers, writers, and printers calling for an end to the stationers monopoly. And eventually, in 1695, the Crown lets its royal warrant with the stationers expire.

Adrian Johns (4:10)

When that act lapses, there's no legal sanction anymore against pirating books. It's a kind of golden age for literary piracy. So whatever you write is free game for anybody.

Maggie Lake (4:23)

This period of anarchy lasts for about 15 years, until 1710, when Parliament passes a new act, the Statute of Anne. Now if any other person who isn't explicitly approved by the author to print or reprint their work tries to reproduce it, the author can basically say, hey stop, that's mine, and ask a court for an injunction. This was, in essence, the birth of copyright law. Sounds like a big improvement, right? But the publishers respond by forming cartels, called congers, to reclaim their power.

Adrian Johns (4:58)

In practice, if you have the 12 biggest publishers in London, all collaborating on this, they have enormous power. So de facto, these congers kind of act to preserve the same kinds of rights that the stationers' company had always registered before.