Understanding The Rise Of The Creator Economy

The creator economy is a growing field of people who make money by leveraging their creative talents, typically using digital platforms to connect with their audiences.

About 50 million people, including artists, gaming streamers, video creators, podcasters, musicians, and social-media influencers, now consider themselves part of the creator economy, according to venture capital firm SignalFire, which calls this space “the fastest-growing type of small business.”

The size of the creator economy is hotly debated, along with who “counts” as part of this ecosystem. But there’s no debate that it’s big, and growing quickly: Some peg the worth of the creator economy at $104.2 billion as of mid-2022, according to Insider Intelligence. The National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Bureau of Economic Analysis says it’s even bigger—estimating that arts and creative-culture jobs contribute more than $763.6 billion to the U.S. economy, more than agriculture or transportation.

If you’re making original content—and, typically, distributing it online—you’re a creator. While some see their content as a hobby, many others aim to monetize content and get paid through ad revenue, brand partnerships, and other revenue streams. A few of the most well-known creator categories are video creators/streamers; social media influencers; podcasters; and visual, musical and other artists.

The creator economy is growing at a rapid clip

As we know, the creator economy is growing at a rapid clip. Several technology, economy, and generational trends have contributed to its rise.

Technology

The Internet is democratizing creative industries once gatekept by a select few. Music labels, book publishers, production studios, and other media titans once exerted significant control over not only which creators broke through, but how much they were paid. Now technologies like creator marketplaces, social media, content-creation tools, payment processors, and more have allowed creators to connect directly with their communities on their own terms—financial and otherwise. The biggest hassle for many creators is getting paid on time for their work, creating an opportunity for companies that provide instant payouts to stand out in this creator economy.

Economy

Economic crises like 2008’s Great Recession and the COVID slowdown have led to mass layoffs and a fundamental change in the workforce. Some people who faced layoffs became part of the gig economy, taking on project-based or short-term work as independent contractors until they found a new full-time job; others continued with gigs as their main source of income.

Whether they were forced into it or chose it, these independent workers have changed the concept of what a job can be—and how much control a worker can have over their own day-to-day and their own income. In fact, some experts predict freelancers will comprise half the workforce by 2030. And creators are a huge part of that trend.

Generational

Millennials, Generation Z, and the up-and-coming Gen Alpha have embraced the shift toward self-employment and entrepreneurship. In 2022, 43% of Gen-Z professionals and 46% of Millennial workers performed at least some freelance work, according to Upwork.

Some see the creator economy as a way to build not only personal income but entire businesses around their work. They’re also digital natives who possess a high degree of comfort with the tools and platforms that fuel the creator economy.

These generations tend to prefer connections with personalities rather than general publisher brands. The current social and cultural landscape reflects their desire for and valuing of diverse, unique, and personalized content.

The benefits of being a part of the creator economy are fairly obvious. Increased autonomy and freedom over working hours; the opportunity to build a community with other creators; the ability to set up multiple revenue streams, etc.

However, it’s not all roses.

In fact, one of the biggest frustrations for creators, especially freelancers, is getting paid. Most money in the U.S. –– about $62 trillion a year in 2020 alone –– is moved via the Automated Clearing House (ACH) Network. Invoice payments and payroll are common use cases for sending funds via ACH, which can take three to five days to arrive in a bank account. Waiting for the money to show up is a major problem for creatives and freelancers, many of whom live paycheck to paycheck.

Other downsides include unpredictable income; intellectual property theft; reliance on third party platforms to distribute content; and a changing regulatory environment.

That being said, there’s nothing slowing down the creator economy in the near future. The creative economy in the U.S. is already bigger than agriculture or transportation and it’s still growing. As more creators contribute to this space, we can expect to see even more innovation, and disruption of traditional industries. That’s in addition to the emergence of new platforms, technologies, and business models that further enable creators to monetize their work and connect with audiences around the world.

Source: Stephany Kirkpatrick, Founder and CEO at Orum, on Quora

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