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Netflix Bids Farewell to DVDs: Could a DAO-Based Rental Model Take Its Place?
1 point by tke248 8 months ago | hide | past | favorite | 13 comments
Creating a decentralized autonomous organization (DAO) to operate a DVD rental service could be an innovative way to revitalize this model while embracing blockchain technology. Here's a plan outline:

1. Formation of DAO: - Establish a DAO with a clear governance structure. - Create a token (e.g., MovieToken) to represent membership and voting rights within the DAO.

2. Fundraising: - Launch a token sale to raise funds for purchasing the initial inventory of 100,000 titles.

3. Acquisition of Titles: - Use the funds to acquire the necessary DVD titles.

4. Development of Platform: - Develop a platform where users can browse available titles, make rental requests, and manage their accounts. - Implement smart contracts to automate the rental process, handle disputes, and manage other operational aspects.

5. Operational Model: - Instead of a centralized distribution model, create a peer-to-peer rental system where customers mail DVDs directly to the next renter. - Utilize smart contracts to manage the mailing process, ensuring that the next renter's address is provided to the current renter once the DVD is ready to be sent out. - The mailing costs could be covered by the DAO's funds, which could be replenished through rental fees or other mechanisms.

6. Membership and Rental Process: - Members of the DAO (token holders) have the right to rent DVDs. - Rentals could be paid for in fiat currency or by using the DAO's tokens.

7. Community Engagement: - Encourage community engagement through a reward system, where members can earn additional tokens for writing reviews, referring new members, or other beneficial actions.

8. Continuous Improvement: - Establish a proposal system where members can suggest and vote on ways to improve the service, expand the title selection, or adjust the operational model.

9. Compliance and Legal Considerations: - Ensure compliance with relevant laws and regulations, particularly around data privacy and postal services. - Set up a dispute resolution mechanism to handle issues between renters.

10. Marketing and Expansion: - Promote the DAO to attract new members and grow the rental service. - Over time, consider expanding the service to include streaming, purchase options, or other related services as dictated by member demand and technological advancements.

This plan attempts to blend the nostalgic appeal of DVD rentals with modern blockchain technology, enabling a community-driven, decentralized rental service.




Why not just start a normal company like everyone else... you can do all this without blockchain. also this smells like chatgpt


It's not valuable enough to be a company but I would buy a token to get access to obscure movies every now and then.


This seems like a solution looking for a problem.


If they were making 150M in revenue and had a million subscribers some people derived value from the service. Not everyone has good internet connections and the selection was much larger.


The involvement of blockchain is totally unnecessary. Netflix was able to mail DVDs to people using the Post Office.


    create a peer-to-peer rental system where customers
    mail DVDs directly to the next renter
Beyond the glaringly-obvious privacy implications, how would the DAO actually enforce this? What's to stop Devious Dan from mailing an empty envelope to Bob and then claiming that Bob stole the DVD?


An Insurance Pool, funded by rental fees, covers losses from fraud, with smart contracts tracking transactions and managing claims.


Before I begin, I will say that I've been falling asleep listening to Ray Dalio's "Principles" on audiobook. I also have listened to recordings of quite a few of his speeches (including the recent one at All-In Summit)

My initial reaction was to reply, "I'm not paying for a service that charges me when other people lose their goods." But that's exactly what every company does, they just don't call it that.

Next, I wanted to say "I'm not paying for a service that blatantly charges me for that." But that's not right either.

I just...I don't understand this level of complexity. This may be the Dalio fever speaking, but is this what "radical transparency" means? The customer gets to know about every financial detail of the products they're casually using?

Most consumers don't want or need to know about everything that goes in the dog food. We know some of it's bad. We don't want to shop around various services for the best "insurance to profit" ratio or something. No one does that for health insurance, let alone video rental insurance.

The beauty of modern consumerism is that you see one number - a price. That can inform every decision the consumer makes. The informed consumer (i.e. the one with more free time) may dig into the details, but ultimately everyone has certain items when they really, really don't care about the company or the quality - they just want the best price.

This behavior allows the individual to shed a lot of cognitive load and stop thinking about things that they don't want to think about. It also represents a lot of what's wrong with consumerism today

You should really work on refining your idea. Consider this it's first exposure to oxygen. Maybe I'm 100% wrong too. Good luck.


The token pays for access to the network and funds the purchase of videos and lets you vote on what's purchased next, since it would be decentralized and you wouldn't be paying people the monthly costs would be limited to website upkeep and cost of postage.


The Reputation System tracks user behavior, automatically banning individuals like Devious Dan after several fraudulent actions such as sending empty envelopes.


I'm sure that Bullshitter Bob will be glad to know that the system believes his fake reports, and he'll enjoy the stolen DVDs too.


what if they change wallets or keys?


I envision a system where the token covers the cost of your initial contribution, equivalent to the price of two DVDs, approximately $40. This not only funds the DVDs but also grants you access to our network. With the upfront cost accounted for, we can then set a more affordable monthly charge, leveraging the reduced overhead costs. Importantly, the reputation is tied to the token itself, not the wallet. So even if a user changes wallets, any fraudulent activity or complaints associated with the token will persist. After a set number of infractions or complaints, the token will be revoked. To regain access to the network, the user would need to purchase a new token.




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