White Rabbit is a browser plug-in that recognises the content a user is watching and automatically recompense content creators for their content. This is done through smart contract that deduct a payment from users and transfer this immediately to rights holders via the blockchain.
This separation of distribution from payment ensures complete financial transparency and simplifies users’ viewing and payment experience without requiring them to create multiple accounts on different platforms. This disruption of the online content industry will incentivise a more “innovative streaming industry, a sustainable business model for digital distribution and a fair and transparent future for artists, producers and investors,” claims White Rabbit.
The platform users a cryptocurrency called White Rabbit Tokens (WRT), which users can purchase during the token sale or via exchanges. Users then stream the content they want to watch and a smart contract is created that distributes a certain number of tokens between the content creator or licence holder and White Rabbit. These tokens can then be exchanged for fiat currencies on cryptocurrency exchanges.
The startup claims to have identified five main challenges to the film and TV industry that the White Rabbit plug-in hopes to solves; that there are too few filmmakers making money from digital distribution; revenue lacks transparency and cash-flow immediacy; fans are forced to break the law to watch certain content if they can’t pay for it online; there is less choice of content as closed server subscription services produce more of their own and buy less; and a lack of competition in global digital distribution slows UI innovation, yet more subscription services mean more logins and passwords for users.
According to White Rabbit, piracy currently accounts for an estimated $15 billion dollars in lost revenue per year in the film industry. Despite this, according to research from the University of Portsmouth, 60% of 6,000 people who admitted to illegal streaming said they would be willing to pay if they were given the option. White Rabbit’s platform hopes to provide this option.