Creator – Darkblock

Elevate Your Fans’ Experience by Embedding Darkblock’s Collection-Level Viewer on your Website

Whit Richardson — Thu, 14 Dec 2023 21:10:21 +0000

We’re thrilled to announce a new and improved tool that lets creators give their fans access to a wider range of token-bound content directly on their own website—the collection-level Darkblock Viewer.

From the beginning, Darkblock has offered its Viewer as an integral part of its end-to-end solution for helping creators sell premium content in a web3-native way—i.e., we don’t want to just let creators encrypt and attach multimedia files to their NFTs, though that alone would be super cool, we want to provide them with a simple, no-code way for their fans to decrypt and access those files on their own website rather than rely on third-party apps or token-gated platforms.

Darkblock’s Viewer is a powerful tool designed to provide a seamless and immersive experience for both creators and NFT holders. But the original version did have its limitations, especially when it comes to Ethereum and EVM chains. This is because when a creator embeds the original Darkblock Viewer on their site—which is as easy to do as embedding a YouTube video—they need to designate a single token the Viewer is set up to handle, which means it works well for creators who want to give access to content attached to an ERC-1155 edition, but not a great fit for creators with an ERC-721 collection.

Darkblock’s new collection-level Viewer eliminates those limitations. Check it out now in our docs or read on for what it enables for creators.

Breaking Free from Single-Token Constraints

With the new collection-level Viewer, creators can break free from the shackles of single-token limitations.

By embedding the collection-level Viewer on their website, creators can now let their fans connect their wallets and access all the content they own from an entire collection, even if it’s unique content attached to multiple ERC-721 tokens within that collection.

Here’s an example that will help illustrate why this is relevant. Say Yuga Labs wants to enhance the value of its Apes and uses Darkblock to encrypt and attach a unique 3D, metaverse-ready Ape avatar to the corresponding ERC-721 token (easy to do via Darkblock’s PFP Content Factory). That would be cool (especially if Yuga partnered with a metaverse or game that uses Darkblock’s Unity plug-in to enable the automatic upload of that avatar at runtime…). Then, say, it wanted to attach some exclusive VIP passes to its solid gold- and trippy- fur Apes.

If Yuga wanted to embed the original Viewer, they’d need to get developers involved to allow holders to enter their individual token or build a wrapper that would enhance the Viewer to display multiple 721s. Both doable with Yuga’s resources, but out of reach for many small projects and indie creators.

With the new collection-level Viewer Yuga could embed it on their site with some simple HTML code (like we said, as easy as embedding a YouTube video) and each holder, after connecting their wallet, would immediately have access to any token-bound files attached to any NFTs they own from that collection.

The collection-level Viewer means it’s no longer about one token – it’s about the entire collection.

Seamless, Intuitive, and User-Friendly

Our mission at Darkblock is to make it as easy as possible for creators to monetize their content in web3. The collection-level Viewer is intuitive, ensuring holders enjoy a user-friendly interface while navigating through the content attached to their NFTs, whether it’s art, music, ebooks, or any token-bound asset.

This enhancement is not just about functionality; it’s about transforming the way creators showcase their NFTs. The collection-level Viewer enables creators to offer a richer, more engaging experience to their fans right on their own website, fostering deeper connections with their community.

As we continue to build and evolve, we’re excited about the endless possibilities this enhancement brings to the world of decentralized, token-bound content.

The collection level embeds are only available for EVM chains currently. If you need this functionality for another chain, please contact us in our Discord to request the feature!

About Darkblock

Darkblock, a web3 pioneer in decentralized content delivery and monetization, enables creators to control the distribution, accessibility, and monetization of their content without making it right-click-savable. By repurposing NFTs into tokenized vaults for digital content (e.g., music, videos, podcasts, films, comics, ebooks, 3D metaverse or gaming assets, or even HTML files), Darkblock provides the encryption infrastructure creators need to harness the power of web3 technology, unlock new storytelling and community-building tools, explore new business models and ultimately build a new creator economy free from platform control.

Darkblock x Unlock Team Up to Enable Web3-Native Content Rental & Subscriptions

Whit Richardson — Wed, 08 Nov 2023 16:01:29 +0000

Today, we’re excited to announce Darkblock has integrated with Unlock Protocol to give creators more flexibility in how they deliver exclusive content to their fans. With this integration, creators can now harness the combined power of Unlock and Darkblock to rent temporary access or sell recurring subscriptions to their token-bound content.

NFTs have redefined digital ownership, extending far beyond the realm of digital art. The teams behind Darkblock and Unlock recognized this and have for years been building toward a shared mission—empowering creators with web3-native ways (i.e., permissionless, decentralized ways) to form and engage with their communities, moving them closer to creative sovereignty.

While Darkblock has been at the forefront of decentralizing content, freeing it from the walled gardens of web2 platforms by enabling creators to encrypt and permanently attach their multimedia files to NFTs (creating token-bound content), Unlock’s unique contribution to this evolving space has been enabling creators to leverage NFTs to explore web3-native subscription and membership-based business models.

Giving creators access to both capabilities is why Darkblock’s integration of Unlock Protocol is so powerful.

Flexibility and Customization

One of the key highlights of this integration is the freedom it provides to creators.

Stella Achenbach, founder of The ALANA Project, sees all kinds of groundbreaking opportunities by integrating Darkblock and Unlock into her tech stack.

“The capabilities offered by utilizing Darkblock in combination with Unlock Protocol is something I’ve been looking for a long time,” Achenbach says. “It provides us with the opportunity to build our community and sell subscriptions to exclusive content, all in a web3-native way that doesn’t rely on centralized platforms or solutions, which is a game changer for us.

“We’re beginning with selling subscriptions to ALANAmagazine and exclusive holder content, and we see the potential for so many more use cases as we continue to build and deliver value within our community.”

Watch the video below to see how creators can use Unlock Protocol to deploy a smart contract (referred to as a “lock”) and mint an NFT (referred to as a “key”) with specific conditions and time-based constraints on digital ownership, then use Darkblock’s no-code app to encrypt and attach multimedia files to those NFTs that, by virtue of a simple checkbox added to the workflow, will only be accessible to an NFT’s owner based on time constraints the creator set via Unlock.

New Business Models Unlocked

This level of customization now available to creators empowers them to experiment with various, web3-native business models, whether it’s renting content or other digital assets or selling subscriptions or memberships that come with access to exclusive content.

Subscription-Based Magazines

Imagine launching a subscription-based magazine powered by NFTs. With Unlock Protocol and Darkblock, creators can offer their readers exclusive content through NFT memberships. Whether it’s monthly issues, premium articles, or interactive multimedia experiences, this integration paves the way for innovative publishing models in the digital age.

Web3-Native Patreon

Creators can take their memberships and subscriptions to the next level by building a web3-native Patreon-style platform. With Unlock Protocol’s NFTs, creators can grant members access to premium content for as long as they remain members. Darkblock’s integration ensures the content is encrypted, stored in a decentralized manner, and accessible in diverse ways.

Time-Based Rentals

For creators such as musicians, filmmakers, or game developers, this integration introduces the concept of time-based rentals. Use Unlock Protocol to mint NFTs that grant time-based access to the token-bound music, film or 3D game assets enabled by Darkblock protocol.

Enabling the Future of Web3 Content

The integration of Darkblock and Unlock Protocol marks a significant milestone in the world of NFTs and content distribution. It’s a powerful example of how blockchain technology can empower creators and revolutionize the way content is monetized and shared.

If you’re a creator looking to explore these exciting possibilities, we invite you to join us on this journey. Watch the video below that demonstrates how easy is it is for a creator to use Unlock to mint their membership NFTs, then use Darkblock to encrypt and attach content to those NFTs that will be accessible based on the time-based conditions set via Unlock.

The future of content ownership and distribution is here!

About Darkblock

About Unlock Protocol
Unlock Protocol is building the web’s new business model by enabling new ways for developers, brands, and creators to manage memberships online. Unlock’s solution is an open source, Ethereum-based protocol that streamlines membership management for online communities. Unlock Protocol can be applied to events, ticketing, certifications and credentials, content, subscriptions, newsletters, gaming, API access, or any application that requires time-based membership authorization and access. Learn more at https://unlock-protocol.com

Why Token-Bound Content, Not Token-Gated, is the Future

Whit Richardson — Tue, 25 Apr 2023 12:52:54 +0000

“Darkblock sounds cool, but if I want to give my community exclusive access to content, then why wouldn’t I just token gate it?”

This is a great question, and one I get often.

When talking about Darkblock, I avoid using the term “token gating” because the term has certain connotations that don’t align with how we go about enabling the delivery of exclusive content in a web3-native way (i.e., in a way that is decentralized, portable, and composable).

Darkblock enables creators to encrypt, permanently store, and immutably attach multimedia files to their NFTs, creating what we call token-bound content.

Binding files to an NFT has certain advantages over locking files in a walled garden and simply using an NFT as an access pass. In both cases, the goal is to provide access to exclusive content—the difference is in how that’s achieved.

Let’s dig in.

Token-Gated Content

If you’re “gating” access to something, that implies there’s a gate—and where there’s a gate, there’s a wall surrounding whatever it is the gatekeeper is trying to protect.

That is a centralized way of handling digital assets, and comes with all the well-known downsides of centralization—users are at the mercy of the platform, creators risk being de-platformed or losing access because the website disappears, gated content is susceptible to censorship, etc.

Let’s use ebooks as an example to further explore the token-gating model.

NFTs have been used successfully to sell digital art and music, but in those cases the actual content is not protected (i.e., the JPEG is right-click-savable and the MP3 is freely listenable). That’s because NFTs protect ownership, not the actual digital asset. So what’s a creator to do—an author in this example—if they recognize the value of selling their ebook as an NFT, but want to protect their IP so that only buyers can read it? In the past, token gating the ebook behind a website was the only option.

If they token gated their ebooks, the buyers of the NFT would need to connect their wallet and prove they own the NFT in order to access the ebook, which would likely be centrally stored, maybe in a Dropbox or Drive folder, Amazon S3 bucket, or even IPFS.

An NFT may represent ownership in an ebook, but if that ebook is token gated, that ownership is illusory.

In this scenario, the NFT is nothing but an access pass—no different than a ticket to get through the gate at a concert. An NFT may represent ownership in an ebook, but if that ebook is token gated, that ownership is illusory.

If this model sounds familiar, it’s because it is!

Token gating recreates Kindle’s business model of locking ebooks in its walled garden and gating access, though with a username and password rather than an NFT. In fact, this is the same model all web2 content platforms use: Audible, Apple Movies, Spotify, etc. In our existing web2 world, ownership in the digital content we “buy” is illusory. You don’t own that movie you “bought” on Apple Movies, or the audiobook you “bought” on Audible, or the album you downloaded onto your phone from Spotify. Rather, you’re paying a licensing fee to access and consume the content—one that could be revoked at any time if the platform decides to remove the content.

Whoever controls the walled garden—whether it’s gated by a username or NFT—controls the ebook, including the ability to revise or censor the file at any time, or delete it outright. Even if there’s no ill intent, what if the file is accidentally moved to a different Dropbox folder or the author forgets to pay their hosting fees? A future buyer of that NFT Book would quickly discover that they don’t really own anything but the underlying token.

Amazon recently received flak for censoring ebooks by well-known authors like Roald Dahl, Agatha Christie, and R.L. Stine. People who had bought those ebooks years ago woke up one day to discover the books had been edited in various ways. In other cases, Amazon has deleted entire ebooks from peoples’ Kindle libraries for various reasons.

If you haven’t already realized, it all comes down to centralization. If digital content is controlled by a centralized platform, it’s always at risk of being censored or removed without warning. And it’s never truly owned.

The alternative is to use blockchain tech’s capabilities to introduce decentralization into the Creator Economy and how people interact with digital content—the same way it’s being used to decentralize finance and social media.

Decentralized content means users hold the keys to the content and choose where to consume it, not the platforms… which brings us to token-bound content.

Token-Bound Content

So if you want to provide exclusive digital content, but don’t want to lock the files in a centralized walled garden and gate access to them, what’s the alternative?

Store them in the open—just encrypt them first.

Darkblock’s solution—token-bound content—takes advantage of blockchain technology and a cryptographic technique known as proxy re-encryption to create a decentralized, trustless way of delivering—and monetizing—exclusive content.

Darkblock’s app, which is built atop the protocol, lets creators encrypt and immutably attach multimedia files to their NFTs, creating token-bound content that is decentralized (i.e., not tied to any one platform), portable, composable, and capable of being truly owned by the NFT’s owner via decentralized storage and access.

Token-bound files are portable

By binding encrypted files to the NFT, that token-bound content can now be fetched and unlocked from any app or marketplace that integrates the protocol. We also make it simple for a creator to embed the Darkblock Viewer (i.e., an interface with the protocol where NFT owners can unlock and consume their content) via a simple iframe embed. We even have a Chrome extension you can use to unlock your token-bound assets right on OpenSea. Decentralized access means the files are accessible regardless of the status of any single, centralized website or platform.

For example, I can unlock and read my Omega Runner comic book by connecting my wallet to the project’s website, our app, or even on OpenSea via our Chrome extension.

Token-bound files are composable

Any app or game that incorporates the Darkblock protocol can integrate an owner’s token-bound files into its product. Remember how much hype Loot Project received for its simple text-based NFTs that included various weapons and magical armor as traits? People touted it as an example of how NFTs can be composable and how a disparate network of games, marketplaces, and other apps could now be developed that integrated a person’s Loot NFTs and their loot. Darkblock enables entire digital files to be composable rather than just traits.

For example, a developer built an app called Web3 Music Vault that scans a person’s wallet for token-bound MP3s attached via the Darkblock Protocol, decrypts them on the fly and then plays them on the user’s Alexa device! “Hey, Alexa. Play my NFT music.”

Other examples of composability could be a game or metaverse that uploads a user’s token-bound 3D assets at runtime or a digital ebook or comic reader that pulls in all token-bound PDFs and EPUBs.

Token-bound files are truly owned (almost)

To shift from the platform-centric content model ubiquitous in web2 to a web3 content model that empowers creators and users alike, decentralization is necessary. The Darkblock Protocol will accomplish this by removing centralized authority from three areas: storage, access and encryption.

Storage — Darkblock Protocol stores encrypted files on Arweave (aka the “permaweb”)

Access — By binding files to the NFT, the token-bound content travels with the NFT. This means the owner decides where they access those files, which brings us back to the portability we enable (see above).

Encryption — The beta version of the Darkblock Protocol still requires some centralization when it comes to the creation and storage of encryption keys. But we’re progressively decentralizing and V2 of the protocol will be fully decentralized (i.e., a decentralized network of nodes that are incentivized to create and store encryption keys in their computer’s trusted execution environments)

Our ultimate mission is for a person to be able to unlock and access their NFT’s unlockable content, whether a film or ebook, from anywhere they interact with their NFTs, whether that’s their wallet or a marketplace. The Darkblock Protocol can make that a reality.

Conclusion

While token gating may be a familiar and convenient way to provide access to exclusive content, it ultimately falls short when it comes to decentralization, flexibility, censorship-resistance, and providing true ownership over digital content. It’s also short-sighted.

If an author relies on token gating to sell an ebook, someone who mints one tomorrow can be confident the ebook will be accessible to them. But what about someone who wants to buy that ebook NFT 10 years from now? Can they be confident that if they buy the NFT it will get them access to an ebook as opposed to running into a 404 message or broken Dropbox link? No, they can’t. But if the ebook is decentralized token-bond content, they can have confidence it’ll stick around.

If we believe NFTs provide the delivery and ownership technology of the future, then we need to be thinking in decades—not days. That’s what Darkblock is doing.

For a Digital Goods Economy to flourish, it will need to not only leverage blockchain technology to track ownership and provenance, but be built atop a decentralized protocol that enables digital assets to be permanently accessible, censorship-resistant, and not right click savable. That’s the Darkblock Protocol.

As Marc Andreesen always reminds us, “Buy physical copies of any book you plan to read in the future. Do it now.”

Hopefully, if he reads this, he’ll feel confident adding in the future: “…or ebooks protected by the Darkblock Protocol.”

How to attach decentralized unlockable content to your NFT

Creators can use the Darkblock app, built atop the Darkblock Protocol, to easily attach any type of multimedia content to their NFTs as decentralized unlockable content. The steps are simple:

Visit app.darkblock.io and connect a wallet
Navigate to the individual NFT being upgraded or use the collection-upgrade tool to attach content to an entire collection (or to NFTs with certain traits within a collection)
Upload multimedia content and let the Darkblock Protocol do the rest
The protocol encrypts the content
The protocol stores the newly encrypted content on Arweave, a decentralized blockchain-like storage protocol
The protocol immutably attaches the darkblock to the NFT or the collection via metadata
Creators can then sell their exclusive content by selling the NFT or let their existing collectors know they have new exclusive content waiting for them

Metaversal Integrates Darkblock to Power Unlockables for its Omega RUNNER Franchise

Whit Richardson — Tue, 20 Dec 2022 07:42:53 +0000

Today we’re excited to announce a major new partnership with Metaversal, Clubhouse Pictures, and their joint Omega RUNNER project.

The first result of the partnership is that the RUNNER project has integrated the Darkblock Protocol for decentralized unlockable content as a way to engage with their community and reward holders of its initial NFT collection.

The Omega RUNNER team includes veterans of Hollywood and the comic book industry and is dedicated to reimagining how the world tells stories. They are building a web3 media franchise based in a world known as Omega, where it’s not the strongest who survive—it’s the fastest. The project released a comic book last year that introduces the world of Omega and sold out its initial NFT collection, which was limited to 1,000 tokens. Holders received a physical copy of the comic, but the team was looking for an innovative way to also deliver the digital comic to their holders.

That’s when they heard about Darkblock… The RUNNER team immediately saw not just how Darkblock would enable them to deliver the comic book in a web3-native way, but also the game-changing potential for how they could leverage decentralized unlockable content to tell more engaging and interactive stories, engage their community in co-creating the Omega world, and explore new monetization opportunities like giving holders the ability to rent access to the unlockable content.

By integrating Darkblock, the RUNNER team has created a Comic Vault on its website where its NFT holders can connect their wallet and unlock the digital comic book to read without leaving the website. What’s happening under the hood is that via the Darkblock Protocol, the RUNNER team was able to encrypt the comic book, which was then permanently stored on Arweave and immutably attached to each NFT in the collection. Because Darkblock permanently stores content in a decentralized way, holders have forever-access to the comic book without the risk of losing access to it—a risk that’s inherent with existing, centralized token-gating options for providing exclusive access to content.

The nice thing about a decentralized protocol like Darkblock is that these NFT collectors can access the comic book on any other platform, marketplace, native app, wallet or website that integrates the protocol. While that’s not an extensive list at the moment, we are confident that as more high-profile projects like Omega RUNNER integrate the Darkblock Protocol, more platforms will see the benefit in integrating with us and we will become an integral piece of the web3 tech stack.

Below is the announcement from Metaversal, which is a web3 venture studio leading the project. If you have an NFT project and see the value in integrating decentralized unlockable content as a way to reward holders or explore new monetization opportunities, don’t hesitate to reach out at info@darkblock.io or join our Discord.

Metaversal integrates Darkblock to power unlockables for its Omega RUNNER franchise

Omega RUNNER opens the door to a new era of interactive entertainment, driven by unlockable content pathways that immerse fans in the canon and empower fans to contribute to the lore with their own unique storylines.

NEW YORK, NY – Omega RUNNER, the franchise from Clubhouse Pictures (Kate, Birds of Prey) and venture studio Metaversal, launches its new Comic Vault, a token-gated portal to the Omega RUNNER comic universe that will evolve into a new layer of interactive entertainment.

The integration is the first touchpoint enabled by Darkblock, an encryption protocol that enables anyone to lock multimedia content, metaverse assets or other digital goods inside NFTs so that the assets are only accessible to owners of those specific NFTs. For instance, holders of an NFT with a trait based on a specific storyline could access an entirely different backstory than someone with a different NFT.

“We call it decentralized unlockable content, but what we offer is essentially a web3-native way to token gate any type of digital asset,” says Darkblock CEO Chris Seline. “These RUNNER comics — and any additional multimedia content the team (or fans) add in the future — will be immutably attached to these First Edition NFTs. Holders will be able to unlock and read this content on any marketplace, wallet or website that integrates the Darkblock Protocol.”

Future iterations of the Darkblock Protocol will allow NFT owners to create their own lore—whether in the form of written stories, videos and animations, or audio—and encrypt and immutably attach them to their individual character NFTs. By layering that lore into their character NFTs, they can not only contribute creatively to the project but add value to their NFT, which can eventually be rented to others who want to dive deeper.

And, thanks to blockchain functionality, these storylines can be embedded immutably within the backstory of individual character NFTs — potentially as their own unlockables that individuals create as part of their contribution to the lore.

“Fans have always been the lifeblood of Hollywood,” says Blaise Hemingway, writer of the RUNNER comic series. “With these types of tools, storytellers can now encourage fans to pen backstories that could become part of the official canon. That process from lore to canon is one of the most exciting aspects of unlockables, as it gives us new pathways to co-creation with our fans.”

As Omega RUNNER helps drive this evolution of interactive entertainment with NFTs and unlockable content, Darkblock will also provide new monetization models that benefit both the project and the community. These models include enabling community members to rent access to their NFT’s multimedia content, including any character backstories they might write or record, or potentially even creating entirely new experiences based on specific facets of a story.

“These versatile digital content controls allow project creators to provide more interactive experiences to their communities and choose the best content distribution and monetization models that work for them,” says Darkblock CEO Chris Seline.

With control over distribution and storytelling mechanics, creators can transform themselves into a niche Netflix of sorts. They distribute their own content that goes deep into a specific storyline, with a variety of different content types and experiences for fans to enjoy.

“We’re excited to build the next wave of Hollywood-style storytelling, using the power of NFTs to unlock entirely new storytelling opportunities,” says Metaversal co-founder Yossi Hasson. “We’re equally eager to own the distribution and create an interface for collectors and fans alike to experience the Omega RUNNER story. The Comic Vault is just the first step towards this vision of a more engaging, deeply creative story experience.”

Holders of the Omega RUNNER First Edition NFT will be first to experience the new Comic Vault, which includes both Issue #1 and the next issue in the saga, Issue #2. First Editions are available on the secondary market here.

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About Omega RUNNER

Omega RUNNER is building a Hollywood IP brand and franchise led by Clubhouse Pictures’ Bryan Unkeless (Co-Producer of The Hunger Games), Bryce Anderson (Creative Development for Mad Max: Fury Road), Blaise Hemingway (Lead Writer from the Disney Animation Story Trust), Cedric Nicolas-Troyan (Director KATE and The Huntsman: Winter’s War), and co-founder Metaversal. Omega RUNNER focuses on creating a web3 interactive storytelling experience for holders in the world of Omega and IRL. As we expand our brand, we will co-create new virtual worlds alongside our community, with RUNNER characters at the center of this universe. First launched as a limited-run comic book, the project expands to a complete character collection in early 2023.

About Metaversal

Metaversal partners with brands, creators, content holders, and IP owners to identify, execute, and underwrite evocative NFT projects. Backed by CoinFund, DCG, Galaxy and other leading investors, the Metaversal team is uniquely positioned to identify the requirements for success in the web3 ecosystem and remains platform and blockchain agnostic.

About Darkblock
Darkblock, a web3 pioneer in adding utility to NFTs, enables creators to use NFTs to control the distribution, accessibility, and monetization of their content without making it right-click-savable. By repurposing NFTs into tokenized vaults for digital content (e.g., music, videos, podcasts, films, comics, ebooks, 3D metaverse or gaming assets, or even HTML files), Darkblock provides the encryption infrastructure creators need to harness the power of web3 technology, unlock new storytelling and community-building tools, explore new business models and ultimately build a new creator economy free from platform control.

Royalties on sales are not enough: Four new revenue streams for creators

Whit Richardson — Thu, 03 Nov 2022 17:35:26 +0000

When Magic Eden decided to make it optional for NFT buyers to pay royalties, it created a firestorm of protests. The NFT marketplace, the largest on Solana, quickly announced it would host a hackathon aimed at developing new royalty-protecting tools and alternative monetization opportunities for creators. The hackathon, which kicked off this week, has a prize pool of $250,000.

The silver lining to Magic Eden making royalties optional, and the resulting debate over whether marketplaces should be enforcing something that can’t be enforced on the smart-contract level, is that it will lead to innovation that will spawn new blockchain-enabled business models for creators.

Royalties on sales were never the be-all, end-all business model. Our collective approach to how creators monetize their work and make a living in web3 is incredibly narrow compared to the endless opportunities enabled by blockchain technology.

NFTs aren’t the business model—they are a key that unlocks a multitude of business models.

This, by the way, is why we’re building Darkblock, which is an encryption protocol that enables creators to control the distribution, access to, and monetization of their multimedia content using NFTs with unlockable content. Our mission is to empower creators to harness the power of blockchain technology and develop a new creator economy free from platform control.

Magic Eden has asked the Darkblock team to lead a workshop on Nov. 9 as part of its Creator Monetization Hackathon, which we’re happy to do. We’re confident participants who build on the Darkblock Protocol will come up with some novel new monetization opportunities for creators.

To kickstart the ideation, here are four revenue models possible to develop using the Darkblock Protocol.

1. Content Subscriptions

With Darkblock, creators can encrypt and immutably attach an unlimited amount of multimedia content to their NFTs (even after they’re minted or sold). This turns NFTs into delivery channels for content and means creators can use the Darkblock Protocol to deliver new content to their audiences ad infinitum. See the possibilities?

A comic book creator could sell an NFT to her fans, then attach a new issue each month as unlockable content. An author could do the same with their ebook, or an animator with their weekly video series, or a model with daily NSFW content. The ability to turn on a subscription fee and create the web3 versions of Patreon, Substack or OnlyFans is entirely doable.

And because Darkblock makes integration into a website easy, these creators could give their holders an excuse to return to their website on a regular basis to connect their wallet, interact with the Darkblock Protocol to authenticate ownership of the NFT, then decrypt and consume the content without leaving.

2. Content Rental & Royalties on Consumption

One lever creators can pull when it comes to the access controls the Darkblock Protocol provides is giving NFT owners the ability to rent out the unlockable content. Making this possible turns a creator’s collectors into a distribution network for their content.

Here’s how it would work: Imagine a popular filmmaker releases a short film and attaches it to a collection of 2,000 NFTs, selling each for .2 ETH—at current ETH prices, a cool $628,000. Existing fans might not be able to afford the NFT, but they might be willing to pay .01 ETH (about $15) to watch the film (using the Darkblock TV app, of course). Or, maybe this filmmaker becomes super famous and the price of these 2,000 NFTs increases to 2 ETH while demand to view this short film also increases.

In either scenario, if the filmmaker gave holders the option to rent the film, holders would be able to rent it out and collect a rental fee. The holder would pocket a portion of the proceeds, a reward for their early support, while a pre-determined percentage would flow back to the filmmaker in the form of a royalty on consumption.

We envision this being done by creating special access NFTs with temporary darkblocks containing the rented content.

3. Asset Purchases & Upgrades

Another opportunity using the Darkblock Protocol is for creators to sell additional content or assets to existing NFT holders.

Let’s use game and metaverse assets for this example. Using Darkblock’s existing Unity plug-in, creators and developers can encrypt and attach game and metaverse assets to NFTs, which subsequent owners could upload to Unity-based games and metaverses at runtime.

Pretty cool. Let’s say someone buys an NFT that contains a special avatar for a specific metaverse. Later, the NFT’s owner wants to buy an upgrade and/or acquire some new wearables or metaverse fashion for the avatar. The original creator collects a small fee and attaches the additional darkblock to the existing NFT so the new asset is uploaded with the avatar at runtime.

You may ask why a creator would want to add content to an existing NFT rather than sell a new NFT. One answer is that they want value to accrue to their existing collectors. If a holder has invested over a long period of time in upgrades and extra stuff, then that NFT is chock-full of unlockable content and will fetch a higher price on the secondary market.

Here’s another possibility to get the juices flowing.

A creator-educator can use the Darkblock Protocol to attach course material to NFTs (e.g., lectures, worksheets, resources, etc.) and then provide them to each student.

That alone is a great use case. But maybe they want to sell add-ons—certain high-value templates or custom design files or even special links a student could use to redeem IRL items or schedule one-on-one coaching sessions. All of those things could be sold and then attached to that specific student’s NFT as unlockable content.

4. Gamified NFTs & Raffles

What if you want to introduce an element of gamification to your NFT project? Using Darkblock, you could.

You can use Darkblock to encrypt and attach any file type you want to an NFT—even an HTML file. So, we’ve been playing around with custom integrations that recreate the experience of redeeming a scratch-off ticket contained in a darkblock. Even to the point where your cursor becomes a little hand holding a coin…

Why would you want to do this? Maybe you want to hold a legit raffle for holders, who can buy as many raffle tickets as they want—each contained in their own darkblock—for 0.3 SOL each (about $10 at current prices). Using our NPM packages, a NFT project could integrate our protocol and the Darkblock Viewer into their website, where holders can then unlock their darkblocks and scratch off their tickets for a chance to win whatever prize you have in mind.

Going back to what’s possible with the Unity plug-in, maybe you’re a developer of a Unity-based dungeon-raiding RPG and you want to introduce some fun into a player’s experience when they find a chest or want to pay for a chance to win a special weapon or magical item. Rather than a basic reveal, the player receives a darkblock, which they can decrypt and then interact with to reveal what they’ve won.

Conclusion

These are just four ideas for monetization opportunities we believe could be built atop a protocol that gives creators control of the distribution, access to, and monetization of their content. Use your imagination and I’m sure you could come up with additional ways creators could use Darkblock and their NFTs, unlockable content, subscriptions, content rental, our Unity plug-in, microtransactions, etc., to generate additional revenue streams.

At the end of the day, creators should not place the future of their income in the hands of centralized marketplaces that can change their minds on a whim. Creators need to protect themselves and diversify their business model.

Darkblock is building the infrastructure necessary to explore new revenue streams. I hope you join us on our mission to empower creators to leverage the promise of web3 and develop a new creator economy free from platform control!

Join our Discord to take part in the revolution: https://discord.darkblock.io

Darkblock Creator Spotlight: MegaRetro

Gillian — Fri, 28 Oct 2022 15:27:51 +0000

Welcome back to our series, ‘Darkblock Creator Spotlight,’ where we highlight creators using Darkblock to add utility to their NFTs!

Our mission at Darkblock is to enable creators to harness the power of web3 and realize a new creator economy free from platform control. This series allows us to not only highlight and share the talented work of our community, but gain a better understanding of what tools we need to benefit all of us!

And on that note, it is our pleasure to introduce MegaRetro.

Where are you located?

Denver, Colorado

Website / Social:

https://potentpotionsworld.com

@MegaRetroNFT @PotentPotions_

What medium/tools do you use to create your work?

Many. Procreate, Photoshop, After Effects, Visual Studio Code, Thirdweb, Darkblock!

Do you operate in web2, web3, or both? Why?

Both, to create multiple avenues to build an audience.

What blockchain(s) do you operate on, Why?

Polygon: eco-friendly, mass adoption, fast transactions, low gas fees, layer 2 blockchain

Tell us how you are using Darkblock.

We are using Darkblock to distribute and control access to our comic books in a web3 native way. Anyone can flip through the comic, but the story content pages will be blurred out using Darkblock’s protocol.

What tools/features are most important to you as a creator?

Darkblock! Controlling access to our comic books and animations is critical…It is also important for us to have a platform that works like a storefront for our content, or that has the ability to embed into my website.

Anything coming up? Drops? Events? Twitter Spaces?

We will be releasing our ‘Comic 1’ (using darkblocks!) Q4 2022. We are going through beta-testing and bug-fixing currently with @PrizemArtNFT to ensure the final product on the blockchain is solid for the foreseeable future. We will start advertising the Comic 1 release to Series 2 @PotentPotions_ holders about 3-4 weeks before it’s available. It’s essentially an expensive airdrop for holders of our NFTs. The Comics will also have NFT cover art with many trait possibilities creating rarities within even the cover artwork on the comics. This is cutting edge technology and we are so happy to integrate Darkblock!

Thank you to MegaRetro for taking the time to fill out our survey. Comic books are a passionate use case of ours, and we love seeing how you are integrating and monetizing your work with our protocol.

You can find MegaRetro’s work for sale on OpenSea here! To stay up to date on future drops, subscribe to his ‘secrets’ newsletter, follow his twitter accounts (@MegaRetroNFT, @PotentPotions_), and join his discord!

Using Darkblock or know a creator who is? Access our Google form here for a chance to be featured on our socials and maybe even collaborate with the Darkblock team!

Darkblock Creator Spotlight: Songs of Eden

Gillian — Fri, 21 Oct 2022 12:45:41 +0000

Welcome back to our series, ‘Darkblock Creator Spotlight,’ where we highlight creators using Darkblock to add utility to their NFTs!

And on that note, it is our pleasure to introduce Songs of Eden.

Where are you located?

Sweden

Website / Social:

www.songsofedenmusic.com

@songsofeden

What medium/tools do you use to create your work?

Logic, DaVinci Resolve

Do you operate in web2, web3, or both? Why?

Both! I have a 250k web2 audience that I am trying to onboard into web3.

What blockchain(s) do you operate on, Why?

Eth. It’s the biggest and everybody is familiar with it.

What tools/features are most important to you as a creator?

TV app and getting straight into Spatial via Darkblock.

Tell us how you are using Darkblock.

I use Darkblock for the ability to add utility post mint.

Anything coming up? Drops? Events? Twitter Spaces?

A lot….:)

Thank you to Songs of Eden for taking the time to fill out our survey and for always spreading the word about Darkblock in your community!

To stay up to date on Songs of Eden’s work, subscribe to his music wherever you listen and follow him on social! (Instagram and Twitter)

Using Darkblock or know a creator who is? Access our Google form here for a chance to be featured on our socials and maybe even collaborate with the Darkblock team!

Darkblock Creator Spotlight: Prizem

Gillian — Fri, 14 Oct 2022 13:22:38 +0000

Welcome back to our series, ‘Darkblock Creator Spotlight,’ where we highlight creators using Darkblock to add utility to their NFTs!

And on that note, it is our pleasure to introduce Prizem.

Where are you located?

San Francisco Bay Area, California

Website / Social:

spatial.io/@prizemartnft

@PrizemArtNFT

What medium/tools do you use to create your work?

Code

Do you operate in web2, web3, or both? Why?

Web3, digital art focus

What blockchain(s) do you operate on? , Why?

Solana, super low transaction fees (no gas wars), credit card like crypto experience.

What tools/features are most important to you as a creator?

Tools to help create and connect with my community

Tell us how you are using Darkblock.

I use Darkblock as a way to give back to Prizem holders and projects I partner with. Darkblock also has great documentation and team members. I collaborate often with SongsOfEden and PotentPotions. SongsOfEden provides concert videos for NFT holders and using Darkblock for those videos instead of OpenSea’s shared contract just made sense. Potent Potions is launching a comic book that I helped develop a flippable NFT book for. We used Darkblock so only NFT holders can unlock the locked pages.

What are you most excited about in web3?

Freedom! My local environment is too small for me. I feel the need to spread my work/feelings around the world. Web3 opens the doors of the world to my art. All it needs is patrons!

Anything coming up? Drops? Events? Twitter Spaces?

I co-host Twitter spaces every Metaverse Monday @ 12pm PST!

Thank you to Prizem for taking the time to fill out our survey and be such an integral member of the Darkblock community! We look forward to following your Darkblock journey.

To stay up to date on Prizem’s work, join his weekly Metaverse Mondays @ 12pm PST!

Using Darkblock or know a creator who is? Access our Google form here for a chance to be featured on our socials and maybe even collaborate with the Darkblock team!

Darkblock Introduces: Isabelle Gouget

Gillian — Fri, 07 Oct 2022 13:30:27 +0000

Welcome to our new series, ‘Darkblock Introduces,’ where we highlight creators using Darkblock!

Our mission at Darkblock is to enable creators to harness the power of web3. We want to build a new creator economy free from platform control. This series allows us to not only highlight and share the talented work of our community, but gain a better understanding of what tools we need to benefit all of us!

And on that note, it is our pleasure to introduce creator Isabelle Gouget.

Where are you located?

France

Website / Social:

https://isabelle-gouget.com/

https://linktr.ee/isabellegouget

What medium/tools do you use to create your work?

Pastel, Blender 3D and/or Photoshop

What blockchain(s) do you operate on?

Tezos

Tell us how you are using Darkblock.

Protecting my artwork is very important, that’s why I use Kalamint. On Kalamint.io, you cannot easily copy the image using right-click-save. I use Darkblock to provide a digital file that the buyer can print for their personal use. That way, the world can still benefit from my artwork, even outside of France, and I can live off my art.

What are you most excited about in web3?

Freedom! My local environment is too small for me. I feel the need to spread my work/feelings around the world. Web3 opens the doors of the world to my art. All it needs is patrons!

Anything coming up? Drops? Events? Twitter Spaces?

I have an Exhibition in France October 22-30th, 2022:

https://isabelle-gouget.com/25-salon-des-artistes-peintres-et-sculpteurs-de-pontivy/

It’s almost Christmas…think about me when looking for a gift

I am also preparing a puzzle game with NFTs. The goal is to bring together all the pieces of an image. The first to buy all the pieces in order wins a prize! Darkblock allows me to provide a model of the image (for reconstruction), a user manual, and the ability to download the purchased piece of image. The first puzzle piece is already listed here if you want to partake! https://kalamint.io/editions/6615

Thank you to Isabelle for being our first featured creator! We look forward to following your Darkblock journey! To stay up to date on Isabelle’s work by signing up for her newsletter here.

Using Darkblock or know a creator that is? Access our google form here for a chance to be featured on our socials and maybe even collaborate with the Darkblock team!

Darkblock Presents: Hosting in the Metaverse

Gillian — Sat, 20 Aug 2022 11:00:50 +0000

Last week we held our office hours in the Metaverse, complete with more than 20 attendees, a giant fish tank, and goodie bags! The Dubai spatial room where our workshop took place was created by @polycount.io for @next30years, and is currently owned by @j_hanL.

Attendees needed an NFT (which we airdropped to people who completed a form on our website) in order to enter the virtual space.

Following the event, a goodie bag of content—or as we call it, an “unlockable party pack” (UPP)—was attached to the NFTs that holders needed to access the event. The NFT owners could access the gifted digital assets by visiting app.darkblock.io, verifying their wallet, and then utilizing the Darkblock Viewer to display the goodies in their full glory. The UPP featured creations from @stixandjones, @WDSNFT, @j_hanL, @Polycount_io, and @Ragnar_Mari.

For a full recap, watch the live stream here. For our favorite moments and written instructions on creating an event in the Metaverse, keep reading!

The tour

“Alright, so, let’s go walk around. We’ve got the theater room. Got some Darkblock specific art on the walls courtesy of Jayhan setting this amazing space up. Our first installation is Jayhan’s. If you’ve ever been to his ISOblock (a customization of the ISO block virtual environment), it’s next level. The guy’s a phenomenal talent and an even better human.

Then we have WELLDRESSEDSOCIETY. They were kind enough to give us a model of some of the high end fashion that they’re building. One of the challenges in the metaverse is future proofing. As resolutions increase on our browsers, bandwidth increases, what looks good on a 4k TV won’t look good on the 8K TV. These guys are building fashion at such a high resolution that whatever NFT you buy from them in the future, it’ll last. Amazing work.

Head on over here to the deck, Angie Jones. If you haven’t watched the office hours a couple weeks ago (link) with Angie, she’s an artist, an animator, a genius, a goddess. Her work, it’s got whimsy, it’s got darkness, it’s at such a high level of execution. She’s been kind enough to let us have something for the goody bag today. She has a project launching in the fall, Beast Mob, amazing looking art pieces that we can all own.

Heading on over to our candle area. Polycount guys, these talented designers and architects, I was lucky enough to visit their location. It’s in the future. I don’t know what century they live in, but it’s far away from where we are right now. They’re the creators of this beautiful penthouse that we’re standing in right now as well as some other high end luxury items. And they’ve gifted us something unique, one of a kind that, they haven’t done before for the UPP.”

The mission

“All of you had to have an NFT in your wallet to get into this room. I think part of the future for events is having a ticket, especially these metaverse events. The idea of NFT token gating, having people have an NFT in their wallet to allow access, not only kind of gives you the ability to check roll and know who attended/have some permanence there, but it also could be a money making opportunity. What I do for a living, I work at Darkblock. We are not an NFT creation company. We’re not a creative company per se. We’re a bunch of plumbers writing software for the future. We have a protocol and a ton of software that enables decentralized unlockables that are associated with NFTs. Our goal is to marry NFT access. I own an NFT, therefore I should be able to watch the Mandalorian, or any movie, or consume 3D content instead of renting everything. Rental and NFTs will be a thing, but today, I’ll have a sense of ownership where I own access to a given asset for hundreds of years instead of it being stored in a temporary space.”

How to host in the metaverse

“What we’re gonna do is break down how and what we did to make this event happen. The creation, the NFT, the distribution…all the steps we did to enable tokengating here in spatial. First, the NFT that you all have in your wallet, it was purchased for $18 on Videohive (Videohive or other template tools allow you to put up something very sexy very quickly). So I spent eighteen bucks, added our logo to the premier file, rendered it, and then used that Mp4 file as the asset when I generated the Open Sea NFT. I created NFT. Next step, NFT distribution. You all were sent a link. It was either socially via Discord/Twitter or via email (which all wound up in the spam folder…lesson learned). We used a site called linkdrop.io, where you create the NFT, log into their tool, connect your wallet, create a campaign, step through their process, and the output is a list of custom URLs that when a person clicks it connects their wallet, they’ll be able to claim. That’s on the ethereum polygon side. There are some other tools on the Solana side. Once you have your NFT created and you’ve figured out a way to distribute this NFT via links or you get somebody’s address and drop it in their wallet, the next step is creating your metaverse environment here in spatial. There are a number of hosting tools inside spatial. You will need a Spatial Pro account ($25/mo). You click hosting tools, set to token gated access, and then you add the contract ID to that contract address field. That’s pretty much it.

The next step is setting up your metaverse space. This is the easy part because you get professionals involved. Get yourself a high end NFT and then hire someone like @j_hanL. He’ll help you set up the space.

The last piece…let’s say you run your event. It’s in a high end, beautiful place. You’ve gotten people to attend the event via NFT token gating. What is the memory? What is the leave behind that you give your audience?…”

UPPs

“When you mint on Open Sea, you’ll see a little unlockable toggle and it’ll be just a URL. What I see a lot of 3D artists do is they provide a link to their Google drive and that’s where they store that 3D asset that I just spent $500 on. Our [Darkblock’s] goal is letting people have true unlockables with 200 years of storage associated with the NFT. Not right click save, a true kind of ownership. That is what Darkblock is all about.

Any of you right now, as an NFT creator, you can go to the ‘DAPP’ tab on app.darkblock.io, connect your wallet, and view any NFT you’ve created. You can also add unlockables to it. Right now, we [Darkblock] pay the bill to store it forever in Arweave. We allow multiple content types,

3D artists, movies, audio, JPEGs of various sizes, ping files, etc.. We don’t care what you put in the Darkblock, just that the only person who can open it is that NFT owner.”

Oprah moment

“So all of you have an NFT. So if you look under your [figurative] chair, this is my Oprah moment, you’ve got a goodie bag. Every NFT for this event has unlockables associated with it. Go to app.darkblock.io, connect with your wallet. All we’re doing there is verify that you are indeed the owner of this NFT. Then there are some goodie items from @stixandjones, @WDSNFT, @j_hanL, @Polycount_io, and @Ragnar_Mari. You have the ability to download any of these and see details about the art.”

Big thanks to all of our event attendees for being engaged, asking questions, and sharing their work! And a huge shout out to @stixandjones, @WDSNFT, @j_hanL, @Polycount_io, and @Ragnar_Mari for contributing to our UPPs! Go follow these amazing creators on their various socials and stay updated…you won’t want to miss their next drops…

Tune into our office hours every Thursday on Youtube Live and make sure to send us your questions, topics, and guest suggestions! As always, we are reachable on twitter and discord.