Why creators will rule in the decentralized economies of the future
The internet today, or Web2, is limited to how the creators interact with their audience. YoutTube, Vimeo, Spotify, Twitch, among others, have created many success stories. Yet they have limited the revenue outlets for a selected few, considering the vastness of the available content.
Too much content, but too little revenue. Still, the biggest beneficiaries here are the big media conglomerates. They may provide a platform to the creator but still benefit more than them. These limitations are a big hindrance to the growth of an artist, a creator. It restricts the art that should reach the audience, lessens the output, and shrinks economic progress.
Web3 will alter the internet in a manner that the economic opportunities will be abundant from a creator’s point of view and expand the creator’s economy.
Evolution of Creators Economy on the internet :
If we go back a few years, the world of content was quite small. What we saw, what we heard, what we said were influenced by what we read in the newspapers, saw on the TV, or heard on the radio.
The Creator economy started with digital media, the most popular of which was platforms connected through the internet. People began creating content that created a certain kind of value and that made them gain influence online. People liked this content and got connected through them. Creator economy is the process and system by which such people can get better financial value for the content they are producing.
In the Creator’s economy, creators are recognized for the value they contribute to all the platforms they are on. There is a new range of monetization mechanisms they are exploring, and this has been an evolutionary process.
Social networks and user-generated content (UGC) platforms have exploded in popularity in the creative industry. Anyone who created content was given a creator tag, but we gradually saw internet users gravitating toward more influential users who continued to post about themselves. People wanted to get connected and know what was going on all across the world in the early days of new technologies. For example, Myspace and early Facebook.
As a result, a handful of massively influential beings rose to prominence over time. They were able to build a community and successfully impact their image by acting as conduits for other firms to advertise their brands, whether they were products or services. For example, Instagram and YouTube.
When creators began to build a brand reputation for themselves, they recognised that they could become businesses and that they didn’t have to offer someone else’s product, such as monetization products like Patreon, Substack, and others.
Most people refer to these influencers or artists as such because they were able to do one thing: become approachable and connect with their audience.
They are not merely attempting to establish a business, sell a product, or maintain a one-way relationship with their audience. They’re attempting to blur the barrier between audience and creator by establishing micro-economies, thereby contributing to a more complex ecology than a one-dimensional model. Consider the recent emergence of cryptocurrency creator platforms.
Twitch, Substack, and Patreon, for example, are already working on ways to enable a creator-led economy. As a result, producers have a legitimate platform on which to focus completely on their work. This is the common denominator in each of these platforms. It enables the content creators to “own their audience.”
This also implies that brands that understand the value in “owning an audience” in the same manner that individual producers do have a significant potential. Micro-creators and influencers are attracting attention away from commercial and professional firms. The main reason for this is that they are more accessible and engaging, and the audience can relate to the artist.
While the attention economy aided the growth of micro producers, the winds have changed, and the fans’ attention has shifted as well. This is why large corporate brands must adapt and build stronger relationships with their target audiences. Audience integration becomes simple thanks to platforms run by fans, and they flock towards your brand.
The Attention Economy :
Twitch, Substack, and Patreon, for example, are already working on ways to enable a creator-led economy. As a result, producers have a legitimate platform on which to focus completely on their work. This is the common denominator in each of these platforms. It enables the content creators to “own their audience.”
This also implies that brands that understand the value in “owning an audience” in the same manner that individual producers do have a significant potential. Micro-creators and influencers are attracting attention away from commercial and professional firms. The main reason for this is that they are more accessible and engaging, and the audience can relate to the artist.
While the attention economy aided the growth of micro producers, the winds have changed, and the fans’ attention has shifted as well. This is why large corporate brands must adapt and build stronger relationships with their target audiences. Audience integration becomes simple thanks to platforms run by fans, and they flock towards your brand.
Problems that creator economy will solve :
Giving people value and control over the material they generate is at the heart of the ownership economy. Today, we have tools provided by many platforms that assist in the creation of content. These platforms facilitate this process by bringing together creators and their target audiences on a single platform. Everything the audience needs to view will be available on a single platform.
Web 3 will be about creating platforms that people will create, administer, and own, giving them complete control over their work.
The three top trends in the creator economy:
- Creators now direct their fans off of social networks to their websites and apps, which helps them monetize from these platforms.
- Creators are becoming founders. They are building teams and assembling tools to help start businesses that focus on their art.
- Creators are gaining power in the media ecosystem as fans seek to connect with individual personalities rather than faceless publishers.
The ownership economy cannot be viewed solely in terms of money. It’s more about the art’s inventiveness and accessibility. It offers you personal joy to possess the art that you put so much effort into. You are more likely to generate more money in this economy than mediocre creators if you know that people connect with you and the information you create.
Workers’ rights are frequently revoked without the owner’s knowledge or consent. As a result, you can’t ignore the challenge that creators face in terms of their art failing to reach an audience or achieving the fame they deserve. This used to happen before the creator economy was integrated with technology.
We have too many examples around us where great artists are unable to sell their art, or not getting fame and their work rights being sold. This is now being taken care of. The creator economy is well based on the idea of creating your content and owning it.
So as a concept, the creator economy is driven by the passion for creativity, ownership, and direct engagement, and simultaneously, it helps creators make money for their art without a third party’s involvement. It will help creators become independent and focus on their passion without worrying about platforms taking away their autonomy.
Audience Curation
With more digital media using Web3 these days, the audience of Web3 will be much more connected to the creator than the current scenario. This will help them to turn more organic followers on these platforms.
The audience and the creator will together share their journey by enabling the audience to actively engage with the creator. This could also be by getting a stake in the creator’s company (world) and even socially by working with the creator via collaboration or a paid partnership. Such deep connections will help audiences become partners and fans will become your family.
Audience Monetisation :
The creator economy’s primary concept is independence from any central authority. There are no restrictions on the platforms. You have complete freedom to interact with your audience.
This type of solution generates direct audience involvement, which leads to income. On one side, we have Twitter and Facebook shutting down people, but on the other hand, we will have an audience-driven platform where your target audience will drive your content and platform, promoting peer-based governance rather than platform-based government.
Audience Monetisation via tools:
a. NFTs and social tokens
b. Courses and monetizing knowledge
c. Fashion marketplaces
d. Live shopping
e. Fan interactions
Features of the creators economy
Jesse Walden has called the creator’s economy an ownership economy. Creators create and own (not rent) the means of production. NFTs, DAOs, and DeFI are part of this system.
Earlier it used to be about ads and revenue share, branded and sponsored content, but recently there has been increasing adaptability to subscriptions, direct user payments.
We are all creators creating some kind of value, we are all making stuff and sharing stuff that is the nature of the medium and the reciprocation to that value has not been enough. But crypto will change that in a meaningful way.
With the entry of crypto, it will introduce a concept of digital ownership of media on the internet which never existed before. Different platforms are today trying to get to that element of digital scarcity, but they exist within walled garden ecosystems. Web3 is going to change that. It will bridge the gap between the audience and the creator in an authentic way.
Another intersection point is economic coordination and how to reward contributors and align economic incentives beyond just having fans engage with the creator.
Watch out
This transformation isn’t unique to the creator economy. Creators have gone through all means of changes for bringing their art to a wider audience. Consumers are the biggest asset for any business. All industries have to adapt to the creative industry to make people a part of their community. It’s the way to deal with human psychology. Web 3.0 went after finance first and became a more than $2 trillion industry. With platforms like Bitclout producing coins that allow creators to become equities that their audience can invest in, the movement has shifted to the creator economy.
As you watch the shift unfold in front of your eyes, build the Web 3.0 content you want. That’s how you make the most of this fantastic opportunity to be a creator, both now and in the future.
