EP 47: Experimenting Licensing as an NFT: EDBK Case Study

$EDBK, that means Economics Design Book. A very innovative name,
I know.  


The general idea is to:  


Limit publishing rights of physical books to specific
geographical regions  


Price publishing rights in accordance to the perceived risks
 


Use the token to account for distribution of additional income
 


The main fear by publishing houses is to know the market demand
for the book. Thus, $EDBK signals the demand to decrease
information asymmetry. Since $EDBK is an NFT that represents the
right to resell and publish the book, the only difference is in
the details. For example, how long they have the rights for, the
geographical area and quantity of books.  


The price of the $EDBK is determined by a bonding curve. The
earlier a publisher purchases the token, the cheaper it is. That
means, they take on the risk to be the first mover and in return,
pay a cheaper fee as a publishing house. As market demand for the
book increases, this encourages other publishers to get the
rights. Now, the publishers are certain about the market demand
of the book and there is less risk to publish this book. Thus,
they pay a higher fee to buy the rights to publish the same book.
 


The publisher pays royalties to the author, me, and keeps the
mark up. Part of the royalties will be added to the pool and
distributed to the $EDBK holders proportionally, including any
other sales by the self-publisher (me). These rules and
agreements will all be embedded into the bonding curve, via a
smart contract.  


Call out box: So, if you are a book distributor keen on
participating in this experiment, please reach out to
book@economicsdesign.com! Or if you are keen on distributing the
books, let me know too  


book.economicsdesign.com