a16z Podcast: The New Fan Club—Creators, Fans, and the Power of Markets (& Crypto) | Andreessen Horowitz

Crypto, and specifically NFTs (non-fungible tokens), can accelerate the trend of creators monetizing directly with their fans. Social platforms will continue to be useful for building audiences (although these too should probably be replaced with superior decentralized alternatives), but creators can increasingly rely on other methods including NFT... See more

Today, top creators are rewarded with inefficient virtual currencies (e.g., likes/follows) and cash from a centralized platform. In the future, creators will build a new form of status through these community-driven NFTs which they own through their private key and can directly redeem for money.

For fans, the possibility of profit amplifies their incentive to support a creator. Interestingly, it also introduces an entirely new segment into the creator’s orbit that had never existed before in web2: speculators. Importantly, all of these users—by virtue of becoming owners of an asset that is aligned with the creator’s success—have an incenti... See more

I wonder if there are two angles to use crypto in “financing” for creators and communities. One is the traditional financing angle: people need money to create things. The second is that it’s actually all about distribution. Creators or communities often don’t need the money. For example, how much does it cost for Charli D’Amelio, the most popular ... See more

As a result, we’re now at a turning point, where fans and creators are trying to figure out how they can grow together and create more unique, interactive experiences. This is where crypto and creator coins come in. Fans get to be literal holders of a token demonstrating their superfandom of a creator or artist and can use that token as an access p... See more