Hollywood’s Howard Sapper and Eiichi Naito join WatchMyBit
New Bitcoin powered, pay-per-view streaming video solution provides faster, fairer global content royalties for artists.
Hollywood entertainment consultants and visionaries Howard Sapper and Eiichi Naito have joined the leadership team as co-owners of WatchMyBit, a new ad-free, video content delivery service that accepts the digital currency Bitcoin. WatchMyBit (WMB) allows artists and their management teams to distribute video content and, most importantly, collect and distribute content royalties anywhere in the world. Sapper is the founder of Extraordinaire Media and Naito is the founder and CEO of Domo Music Group.
Artists have been receiving fewer royalties and other payments because both legacy business models and modern technology route fan support away from creators.
“This is the first time content royalties can be collected in other countries because the Bitcoin network is borderless,” said Sapper.
“The reason musicians haven’t been getting paid is because their managers and publishing teams were unable to collect royalties from most online streaming services. With cross-border payment and ongoing disparities, billions in revenue goes uncollected.”
A recent Berklee College of Music study reported this month by Bloomberg suggests Bitcoin can bring fairness and transparency to the music industry.
“This is the first platform that is fully controlled by content creators. WatchMyBit provides multiple solutions to big problems the music industry has faced for years,” said Sapper.
Newer players such as Tidal, Vessel and Patreon valiantly try to work with existing institutions but are still trapped by the costs and inflexible nature of centralized payment systems. In the meantime, others in the entertainment industry are radically re-thinking content monetization altogether.
Naito says WMB will turn the tables on ad-driven and subscription models, and can work closely with labels and reporting organizations to help everyone.
“The ability to instantly split incoming payments among artists, writers, management, distributors and even charities has never been possible before,” said Naito. “With WatchMyBit, the savings in payment processing, bookkeeping and legal fees alone are astonishing.”
Naito and Sapper chose to partner with WatchMyBit because of its evolutionary use of the newest world-wide payment system and clear vision of the future.
“We also want to help our artists to get paid again,” said Naito. “Borders and oceans are irrelevant to streaming video and music, so we believe rewarding creative teams should be just as fast and simple.”
Another big advantage over platforms such as YouTube or Vimeo include daily, instead of monthly, payouts.
WMB is not just for musicians and labels. Vloggers, Let’s Plays, web series and content creators anywhere can monetize their original videos.
Sapper and Naito will premier WatchMyBit at booth 627 at VidCon, the largest online video convention, July 23 - 25th at the Anaheim Convention Center in Orange County, California.
About WatchMyBit
Established in 2014, WatchMyBit LLC is the first, ad free, video content delivery service powered by Bitcoin. Headquartered in Minneapolis, Minn., WatchMyBit (www.watchmybit.com) creates a user-controlled, ad-free, pay-per-view model that thwarts piracy and allows for micropayments.
Eiichi Naito – Co-Owner
Naito is the founder and CEO of Los Angeles-based. Domo Music Group. Established in 1993, Domo is an independent record label with an impressive catalog of international talent. Domo has been recognized by Billboard Magazine as one of the industry’s most successful Adult Demographic labels. Its signees have won Golden Globe awards and multiple Grammy nominations.
Howard Sapper – Co-Owner
Sapper is the executive vice president of Domo Music Group and owner of Extraordinaire Media, a full-service entertainment consulting, management agency, whose past clients include Narada, Michael Walden and Rhino Records, and who currently represents Kitaro and the Olate Dogs. He is also the founder of Everybody is a Star, which helps special needs youth build confidence and achieve success by working with industry professionals to create recordings, videos and performances in which they are heard and seen as the true stars they are.
Doug Scribner – CEO, FounderScribner, an award-winning commercial writer, producer and animator, is the CEO WatchMyBit. He is a lifelong musician and 20-year veteran in the video production industry. He was the co-owner of The Third Wheel Group and owner of Sunburst Productions working in advertising, marketing, special events and sports video production.
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