Module 1: Introduction to the creator economy and how to power your career with crypto
How web3 can create wealth for creators 🏆
Welcome to An Introduction to the Creator and Passion Economy and how to power your career with crypto. This course was created by Faces of Web3.
In this module, we discuss The Creator and Passion economy.
At the end of this course, you will be able to:
Define the creator economy
Identify the difference between web2 and web3
Understand how to monetize as a creator in web3
Before 1993, it was illegal to carry out transactions via the internet in some parts of the world, while some other parts of the world didn’t even have access to the internet.
In 2022, things have changed, the world is becoming increasingly digital and you can now buy everything from meals to houses via the internet. How did we get here and what does the future hold?
In the beginning, there was Web 1.
Web 1 vs Web 2
The first version of the internet was called “the read only web” for a reason, because it lacked the interactivity we know and use in web 2 today. You could only search for and read information on the internet but you couldn’t write back or share your own thoughts which made the experience incredibly limited.
Web 2 was called the read/write web because it introduced innovation in the way we used the internet. People began to write to each other and have conversations from anywhere in the world. Web 2 also democratized many of the activities we had assumed were only meant for certain kinds of people employed in traditional media organizations–publishers, record labels, and movie studios. Instead of just waiting until you could publish a book, one could just create a page on Facebook, Twitter or wordpress blog to tell your stories. You could also upload your videos to YouTube, and your songs on Spotify and other music platforms.
You also didn’t need to be a professional photographer to take pictures. You could document your day to day life and upload them on the internet. Anyone with a smartphone could make short films if they wished to. Anyone could set up podcasts equipment in their home and start a podcast. It was amazing because no matter what you made or were interested in, you could find other people who loved and were into the same things.
The rise of these user-generated content gave birth to what we now call the creator economy. The creator economy refers to a community of independent content creators or curators who utilize digital platforms to share their work and earn a living. Companies which have been established to cater to these content creators are also part of the creator economy, companies like Instagram, YouTube, Twitter, TikTok, Clubhouse, Patreon, Spotify etc. The platform, the creators and the fans all work together to create value. The platform brings value for the creator by giving people from all over the world the opportunity to find the creator; the creator, by publishing their content on the platform, makes people stay on the platform.
But it seems only one of these people continues to enjoy value.
How creators earn money today
The current creator economy structure is imperfect, as a creator, you are extremely limited, you either have to make money selling merchandise, wait for corporate sponsors or receive creator royalties from platforms in order to earn a living. And even then, the platforms are too busy solving for their most popular creators to worry about new/smaller creators.
Creator earnings on web2 platforms
0.33% of YouTube creators earn a full-time income
94% of Medium writers earn under $100 a month
Of the top-earning Medium writers, the majority spent years to earn that much
0.3% of Patreon creators have over 2,000 patrons
96.3% of freelancers on Fiverr make less than $500 a month
70% on Fiverr make less than $100 a month
Only the top 1% of authors on Amazon earn $1,000 in a single month
Creators also have to earn money by receiving support from their fans via patreon or cashapp.
Today, the job of sustaining a creator takes a digital village, we can make supporting creators a lifelong and profitable endeavor by integrating with web3 tools and platforms.
How to power your career with crypto
The ownership economy, web3 is a combination of products and services that turn users into owners and active consumers instead of passive consumers.
It’s the realization that to create resilient, sustainable and innovative platforms, ownership has to be distributed amongst the people who play, transact and socialize via the web.
The ownership economy strengthens the bond between creators and their community, which means when creators receive donations, sell merchandise and enable subscription fees, they can reward their fans. When communities support creators in web3, they get something in return.
Types of ownership in web3
DeFi/Tokens - creators can create a native currency for their mission. This can be used to create financial incentives for their communities.
DAOs - create an inclusive organization that empowers anyone who believes in the mission to participate. Creators can form clubs around those who support them for example, a creator forming a club to launch a new album could start a DAO instead.
NFTs - turn any digital item into something that can be stored, collected, and traded.
How to use web3
Web3 enables creators to build & co-own with their fans and directly monetize without any third-party interference, here are the ways that creators can utilize web3.
Create an exclusive creator club: The most engaging fans love receiving exclusive content from their favorite creators. The creator can choose how he wants to leverage these premium clubs to make the most of it and enable tokens or NFT unlock.
Allow fans to be part of a global community: Community is the currency of the Web 3 world. Not only do these communities make an NFT collection a success, but they decide the price of the work.
Revenue share: In Web 2, creators didn’t have the chance to share their success with the fans who supported them throughout their journey. But in Web 3, creators can choose to reward people holding their NFTs and being a genuine part of their community.
Allow collectors to access discounts: Digital products are still the most sought-after way to make money for digital creators. NFT artists can offer an additional discount to all their collectors
Voting rights and influence: Especially for small creators, when they give voting rights and influence to trusted members of the community through decentralized organizations (DAOs), creators get investors who genuinely care about their success.
In the next module, we explore decentralised Finance, what is it and how it can benefit content creators.