After the Creator Economy

For most people publishing creative work online, there is a growing sense of anxiety. While we have more online tools than ever to help operationalize and monetize creative businesses, the available options often feel mismatched with how we naturally create. We want work to be financially valued without compromising our integrity. We want to make meaningful work that we’re proud of, not please an algorithm. We want to share work in ways that feel right to us, not compete for attention on a feed. We want to feel seen without our creativity and identities being exploited. The broad industry of sharing our creativity online has been generally defined as “the creator economy,” referring to the platforms, services and tools that enable the creation, distribution and monetization of content online. In this publication, we explore directions for an alternative creative ecosystem — one that looks and functions differently. We challenge the assumptions of the current model and suggest some of the cultural and technological shifts that can get us closer towards new solutions…