Building the Middle Class of the Creator Economy

-Create passive (or almost-passive) income opportunities for creators: While there is significant revenue concentration, for all creators, the sales represent passive income (after products are initially created), allowing creators to scale earnings without scaling time.

But while some have been propelled to massive stardom, examples of a wide swath of the population achieving financial security from these platforms are few and far between. The current creator landscape more closely resembles an economy in which wealth is concentrated at the top. On Patreon, only 2% of creators made the federal minimum wage of $1,1... See more

10 strategies for fostering the creator middle class:

But for content platforms, the move to digital content hasn’t been correlated with a burgeoning long tail: the top creators are massively successful, while long-tail creators are barely getting by.

-Serve heterogeneity in user preferences & empower niche

Societies and platforms flourish when there is a path for everyone to have upward mobility, achieve financial security, and learn and grow. The beautiful thing is, in the real world as well as in the digital world, it’s up to us to build this path.

-Focus on content types with lower replay value

-Recommend content algorithmically with an element of randomness: when algorithms do the searching for users, there are more opportunities for niches to thrive.

-Provide capital investment to up-and-coming creators. Platforms that enhance the predictability of income and provide upfront financing to creators are building on this precedent.

What is certainly true is this: Creator platforms flourish when they provide opportunity for anyone to grow and succeed.