The Digital License Is a Relationship

There is something I have been thinking about lately, and I wanted to be sure to capture it here.

With the whole NFT mania (quite literally what it is), we get the feeling it is more about what people want and desire rather than what is actually there. After all, an NFT in one blockchain isn’t exactly unique if it also exists in another. Let’s also not forget that any blockchain at any time can be forked, leading to an instant doubling (or worse, if other forks occur) to any “unique” instance contained within it.

But, getting back to what people desire vs. what is actually there. I am not building an NFT platform, but a digital licensing platform.

So, what is a digital license?

What’s interesting here is that if I am perfectly honest here, I myself am a bit swooped up in the same mania, so do I have a clear understanding of this? I call it a digital license, but is it really? I have been analyzing this “thing” for over two years now and while I feel I have a good grasp of it, I always question myself, my beliefs, and my understanding.

To me, a digital license is a token of ownership. Ownership may change, so there’s a history of that, too. The real value starts to emerge when a single party purchases a collection of licenses for a particular producer over time.

You can see which license was purchased when and for how much. You get a running total of the investment over time a particular fan poured into an artist.

There is great appeal to this.

A license also is a pointer, or a representation of an actual object or “thing.” With that license, you can apply properties and additional features that denote a true uniqueness for a particular owner, that perhaps ascribes a particular and/or special meaning for them.

In the end, that license represents a relationship between producer and consumer. It not only represents but describes it over time. This is especially so when a collection of licenses are purchased in aggregate over time. The contours of the relationship are slowly defined and encased in time.

That is my quick take on why everyone is so manic over this business. Of course, the super interesting aspect is that this has all been around since the beginning of computer science, but no one has really bothered to capture it like it can be captured now. ✌