The first step is for RIAA to adopt a centralized database/block chain. This would be similar to how HomeDepot uses IBMs prop blockchain to handle their inventory. I will use DB, for short.

The DB would allow current, and previous, copywriter holders to opt-in to the system. Ownership stake would be written into the smart contract with trenches of rights. Once you have a "movie" contract, that attributes X percent to Y people, based on rights, the contract can be easily reused for another project.

In most cases, music royalties are a fixed income business and the profits are easy to model. This was the foundation of the WB/Pershing Sq deal. Their prospectus is quite interesting.

Using the WB case for simplicity, the idea would be to take the current licenses and create trenches of rights, which would be sold/minted (not sure of right work) with all the legal/operational stuff baked in. For a real world example:

- WB owns the rights to song X

- DMX (hospitality) licenses music from WB to play on their connected devices, which service the hospitality sector, primarily (restaurants/bars)

- DMX renews their license on annual basis.

- Copy write owners would receive royalties per non-exclusive, commercial, non-reproducible trench when their song is played.

With NFTs, the initial licensing and renewal could be performed from a user interface similar to Amazon vs the current paper process.

This is applicable to chains like Starbucks too, as they license songs, burn them on CDs that have specific DRM and play on a (what I would guess) is a specialized CD player. Those CDs cannot be played outside the store, from my understanding.

TL;DR - you encode different licenses in smart contracts and once you have a framework, it’s easy to grant similar rights without the overhead. Specialized licenses can be created quicker. This would be applicable to large copywrite holders and flow down to indie, with time.

Edit: spelling and formatting.