Uma arquitetura computacional baseada em tecnologia blockchain para habilitar a transparência dos serviços de audiência e pagamentos em plataformas de streaming

Abstract

Blockchain technology enables secure recording and sharing of information without a central authority, using encryption across a distributed network of computers. Widely used in the software industry, it offers authenticity and security features in online transactions. Streaming platforms, such as YouTube and Spotify, among others, are examples of systems that deal with the transmission of data of different types, such as videos, music, and podcasts, and that need to offer transparency, traceability, and security features when handling this data in software systems. In the digital entertainment industry, a research gap was identified in the state of the art concerning the application of Blockchain technology to enable transparency in audience services and payments on streaming. This work proposes inserting a Blockchain layer into the existing operational infrastructure of streaming platforms available on the market. This layer manages individual content information and verifies and audits transactions associated with each digital media. Furthermore, it allows the transfer of monetary resources through the Blockchain network. A software architecture was created to achieve the proposed objective containing the components, interfaces, relationships, and constraints of the functional requirements representing this application domain. In this process, an architecture specification model, the C4 model, was adopted due to its understandable documentation characteristic for both technical and non-technical audiences. After specifying the architecture, the fundamental components for testing and operating the solution proposed in this research were implemented. In this way, middleware was developed to capture and manage the audience mechanisms for each piece of content individually. This occurs through an automatic smart contract generation service executed when content is available and consumed on streaming platforms. Subsequently, a web application was developed that simulates the operations of a streaming platform to integrate with the middleware developed, allowing tests to be carried out, both financial and functional. The tests were conducted on three different Blockchain networks, revealing the technical feasibility of the proposed solution. This was achieved through the interception and automatic management of audience and payment information using smart contracts. Furthermore, the financial viability of the implementation was analyzed, resulting in an average cost of US$0.000518 on one of the Blockchain networks. Additionally, the research involved content creators with monetized channels and software developers specializing in Blockchain. The objective of consulting these professionals was to evaluate and obtain feedback on the new software architecture and the feasibility of the proposed solution. Thus, the results included feedback that validated the implementation of the computational solution, confirming the platform’s operationalization by content creators on streaming platforms.