Faq

GAIAR is a French company working on the registration of artworks and their contracts in the Blockchain, it operates internationally.

GAIAR was born from the consideration of the authors’ situation, who undergo the conditions imposed by production, edition and distribution intermediaries.

GAIAR reverses the established patterns, starting from the author : he alone chooses to evolve either on his own, in contact with his audiences, or to surround himself with collaborators that he then chooses to pay.

GAIAR provides the author and his right-holders with all the tools for the deployment of the artworks, their interoperability (capacity of the artworks to connect with each other and to associate all the actors) and economic models of monetization.

GAIAR is not an umpteenth vertical platform, but a horizontal, open, free, transparent, reliable and fair environment.

GAIAR uses blockchain technology, which inscribes all transactions in a large and tamper-proof register. This technology allows the certification of intellectual property and especially the literary and artistic ones.

In order to ensure this, when uploading your master file, a “hash” is inscribed in the blockchain (a kind of digital fingerprint which is scrupulously linked to this file).

You can also identfy yourself by uploading a form of ID on your account. Thus, GAIAR will combine both your artworks and your ID “hashes” and it will strenghen your intellectual property rights even more.

To date, this is the most formal proof of artwork deposit, of international dimension.

You then publish a Smart Contract (SC), it is a contract that uses a computer protocol that facilitates and verifies the negotiation, then executes this contract. You can associate as many participants as you want.

Once the SC of the artwork is activated, you will receive a proof of deposit together with the source file.

Keep these documents safe indefinitely, they are your proof of deposit.

Blockchain is a technology for validating and storing transactions and information that is secure, transparent and works without a central review body.

It appeared in 2008. Specifically, it is a digital register that contains information, data or transactions that are grouped into blocks. Hence the term “blockchain”.

This register has a particularity: it is not stored by a single organization or in a central computer, but in a multitude of synchronized computers. The register is therefore duplicated and stored in a large number of computers known as the nodes of the network. If one of the computers stops working, all the others keep on storing the register.

Blockchain is a real revolution that allows to exchange value peer to peer, without any intermediary or any duplication model.

This is a new technology intended to last and developed as such. The hacking actions observed until today only concern poorly written Smart Contracts. GAIAR’s ones have been meticulously developed, without useless functions, making them unforgeable and indestructible.

Legally, it is compulsory for an author / a creator to prove the anteriority of his creation. Proof by blockchain is a mathematic proof. Data integrity and history are guaranteed by cryptographic algorithms and decentralization.

Article 1366 of the Civil Code : “An electronic document has the same probative force than a hard-copy written document, as long as the person it emanates from can be duly identified and that it is established and saved in conditions that can guarantee its integrity.”

Regulation (EC) No 460/2004 : “data integrity”means the confirmation that data which have been sent, received, or stored are complete and unchanged.” 

Blockchain’s digital proof is thus undeniable.

On GAIAR, you can upload any kind of artwork, even audiovisual work.
GAIAR invoices 1 euro (tax included) for an artwork deposit and its Smart Contract, allowing you to exploit it on any network.

Smart Contract also gives you the possibility to associate other authors, producers or any other actor that you would like to share interests with on the exploitation of the artwork.

Your artworks are protected on the blockchain Ethereum, deemed tamper-proof and durable.

And if this blockchain came up against problems, GAIAR would ensure the continuity of services.

In French law, the duration of the copyright lasts for 70 years after the author’s death.

For most countries, this period ranges from 50 to 70 years.

Your moral right is eternal.

A team of 4 men and 3 women from several cultural sectors has been built up through meetings and professional experiences. Each of the founding members of GAIAR has lived in contact with artists (music, cinema, publishing, performing art, etc.) and knows the difficulty to enforce copyright.

We think that :

• each artwork has its audience,
• audiences are eager for a greater diversity of artworks, and a closer link to the authors,
• that once incomes are better distributed, an author can live decently from his productions,
• that a community binding together authors, cultural professionals and audiences can generate its own economic ecosystem, connect it to all networks and broadcasters, and even create its own.

GAIAR player directly integrates functions for artworks broadcasting and monetization. Depending on whether the artworks are offered for free consultation or for a minimum fee, viewers can freely pay them from 0.01 €, and without any banking fees.

You can choose between :

• free pricing : you let the viewers pay the amount they wish, the artwork consultation is free,
• minimum price : it is a set price allowing the artwork consultation. Viewers can increase this price on their own initiative. You define how long the artwork will be available for consultation.

Later, GAIAR will offer you several additional modes of monetization related to the use of your artwork, its reinterpretation, its integration into other Smart Contracts or its broadcasting by other channels (television, radio, cinemas… ).

You will also be able to use monetization tools for general access to all your content (author or curator channel).

You can associate as many authors as you want in a Smart Contract.

If they are not registered on GAIAR yet, you can enter their e-mail address and a message will encourage them to create their account so they can validate their participation.

In a Smart Contract, you define for each author or rights-holder the percentages of the distribution of the incomes generated by the artwork that must be returned to him.

GAIAR player is exportable anywhere on the internet, and on networks blocking its reading, like Facebook, a sharing system allows you anyway to have a stylized banner that redirects to the player and the artwork, directly on your author channel.

The right holder who controls the exploitation of the artwork (by default, its author) gets 85 % excluding tax of the income generated by the artworks.

GAIAR receives 15 % excluding tax of the income.

If so, the right holder will have to get in touch with his tax administration, his insuring or social protection organisations to make his tax return himself.

GAIAR edits incomes for its Smart Contracts and for its commission, at a current rate of 20 % VAT.

French professionals, auto-entrepreneurs, companies or associations can thus collect their VAT back.

In Europe, if the company has an intra-community VAT number, the amounts to pay will be without tax.

GAIAR charges 2,5 % of the amount transferred to your bank account for general expenses (billing, management, backup, banking and blockchain).
In cases where the royalties are paid in an other currency than Euro, they will be calculated according to the exchange rate in effect on that date, the eventual commission costs being at the expense of the right-holder.

There is no limit.

Today, you can choose between two possible ways of pricing : “pay what you want” pricing or a fixed pricing for the viewing length you decide. It is up to you to set your own price according to the market value and how much your work is worth to you. You can change the price whenever you want, to do some promotional activities, for example.

However, remember to take VAT into account, if you are subjeted to it ; if it is the case, remember to include it in the price you are about to set.

Yes, if your contract is not exclusive and leaves you free to use your own channels.

You can also offer your partners to join and log in on GAIAR, to transpose your contractual terms.

Otherwise, wait for the end of your existing contract to switch to GAIAR… 🙂

NO.

The fact that you have mandated an other society, such as a collective copyright management society, and that you have registered your work with this society does not prevent you from registering that word on GAIAR.

The registration on GAIAR presents another advantage because it provides a definite date to the work, thank to the Blockchain, which is inviolable. Furthermore, the registration of a work will be for an indefinite period and will represent a proof, that can be used anytime, and as many times as needed.

Above all, a registration on GAIAR allows to certify the work content in its integrality, undeniably and indefinitely.

GAIAR gives an equal and fair visibility to all the users and proposes some tools to develop the notoriety of your artworks :

• The player is exportable and integrable everywhere.
• Paid sharing : You can automatically pay any person or company that shares/distributes your artwork and generates revenue.
• The search engine optimizer (SEO) of the platform will help your audience to find you.
• The interoperability of Smart Contracts : you will soon be able to associate cultural marketing professionals, or give the opportunity to actors to connect your artwork to other exploitation Smart Contracts.

We will provide with the upcoming developments new innovative functions of navigation through the artworks, intended in particular to open up those which lack visibility.

At GAIAR, every artwork has its audience.

GAIAR uses the Euro.
Viewers and users can credit their GAIAR Wallet the amount they wish, with either their credit card or their Paypal account.
Thus, they can pay for artworks and/or reward the artists they are consulting, from 0.01€, and without any banking fees.

The whole or part of the amount you wish to collect will be paid to you back by bank transfer in euros, at the end of the month following your request.

Example : you have 1000 € in your GAIAR wallet and on March 18th, you decide to collect 500 €. Your bank account will be credited by April 30th the latest.

NO.

Overall, GAIAR does not imply any exclusivity of use for its users. You are free to use GAIAR as you wish and free to do what you want with your artworks elsewhere.

GAIAR is an ecosystem where you can evolve alone in command, or surround yourself with actors who you think associating with could be useful (producers, e-agents, curators, etc.).

You can either engage with a label that would also work with a GAIAR account, or ask him to let you work with GAIAR, if the action of the label is complementary to GAIAR services.

But GAIAR is above all an interoperable system, aimed at facilitating and certifying commitments between cultural and artistic actors. If you want to engage with a label, you can do it together as part of GAIAR.

At the moment, only the holder of the account who made the deposit of the artwork can interrupt its broadcasting or delete the Smart Contract to create a new one.

However, your initial deposit will still be valid as time-stamped proof of copyright.

No, you could be exposed to legal action by the rightful owners.

Yes, if you are the depositor.

However, your initial deposit will still be valid as time-stamped proof of copyright.

GAIAR provides you with multiple solutions to :

• produce production and distribution contracts in an open and interoperable environment,
• distribute and broadcast artworks on all digital channels,
• monetize in several ways, collect the incomes and distribute them to your beneficiaries,
• sync your business activity with the platform,
• work with several people on the same account and software package for management, production, scheduling, etc.
• discover new talents,
• collaborate with other actors and expand your network.

Yes.

Western countries and Europe in particular have decided to let blockchains deply. GAIAR is therefore perfectly legal.

These new environments will probably be the subject of future regulations.

GAIAR platform is designed to adapt to current and future laws.

The public has access to your artworks via the GAIAR player, which can be integrated anywhere on the web and on your GAIAR author channel.

GAIAR is taking the gamble on offering free access to the platform and charging for the creation of a Smart Contract only 1 euro including tax.

GAIAR offers a free access to the platform and gets 15 % before tax of the income generated by artworks from all activity sectors combined.

• We have multiple expenses related to the exploitation of the artworks :
• the bandwidth required to consult the artworks,
• servers to store and support this ecosystem,
• the costs of running Smart Contracts,
• maintenance costs, after-sales service, …

NO and NO.

We invite you to ask your question at the following address :
questions@gaiar.com