Many creators have built large followings and revenue streams from the TikTok’s wide distribution and usage, and the sudden shift in availability can tip that all on its head. Their heads are swarming with questions like:

• Which platform should they switch to – YouTube, Instagram, some other site?
• Will their audience find and follow them on the next platform?
• Can they continue to monetize their content (effectively) on another site?
• Do they need to change their format or posting schedule to best fit with another platform?
• Should they even continue on their creator journey?
• What if TikTok stays around? Should they get started on another site to hedge their bets moving forward?
• Will this happen again?

Unfortunately, this isn’t the first time creators have had to deal with the headache of social platforms coming, thriving, and dying in the social media graveyard. Large follower counts and life-changing viral memes can be erased in an instant. I’m sure you remember sites like Vine, MySpace, and Byte, just to name just a few. Some creators were able to survive the switch (ie. Lele Pons, King Bach, and Logan Paul). Many others did not.

Looking specifically at this new, emerging cohort of video creators specializing in music discovery via curation, I’m most intrigued as to why Spotify hasn’t yet stepped in for the win. Let me explain.

The New Music Discovery Problem

As a devout music fan intent on discovering new music and artists (and desperate to avoid the pitfall of not discovering new music past your 30s), I’m constantly in search of new music discovery streams to feed my appetite. 

I use Spotify religiously, with over 10 years of streaming history on the platform (my first playlisted song dates back to summer 2011). My favorite songs are saved and playlisted and my top artists followed. It’s a full complement to my daily life – soundtracking my work day, workouts and runs, long drives in the car, and everyday life. I imagine the data tracked from my listening activity has some of the most detailed insights as to what I want to listen to, and exactly when I want to hear it.

Spotify’s additions of the weekly personalized music playlists have been helpful in uncovering songs I may have otherwise missed. Release Radar is a great way to keep track of new music from artists I already love and listen to, while Discover Weekly is an often hit-or-miss attempt at introducing me to songs the algorithm thinks I’ll like (some Mondays I feel like none of the suggestions even make sense based on my listening habits).

I’ve gone down the music discovery rabbit hole of using Song Radio to find more songs that match a particular vibe, or shuffling through my Recommended Stations, but I find that these evolving playlists often just recommend and play songs and artists I’ve already listened to, liked, and playlisted. I experience the same issue with the Daily Mixes. They’re a great way to play a mix of songs within a particular vibe, but 99% of the time, it plays songs I already know and love, rarely introducing me to something new.

I know Spotify offers an extensive range of both editorial and user-generated playlists, but I’ve yet to find ones that perfectly align with my music taste or are updated frequently enough to keep up with my listening habits. A few new songs added every few weeks just isn’t enough to satisfy my appetite for new music discovery – it feels like fruitlessly searching for a rare gem in an endless sea of options.

Otherwise, my new song recommendations come from listening to friends’ playlists, soundtracks of videos I watch (from TV, movies, or social media videos), or pure random luck. Otherwise, it can become quite the struggle and I find myself drifting back to just shuffling my ever-growing soundtracking this life playlist (so much for discovering new music).

Thankfully, an emerging category of TikTok music curators has emerged to help solve my (and many others’) music discovery problem.

TikTok Music Curators are solving new music discovery challenges

TikTok music curators have become some of the most popular creators on the app, with their frequent song, artist, and playlist recommendations driving new music discovery across all genres and niches of music.

Creators like Kaseys.Playlist, Fuegostine, and OccupiedLiving (among many others) have built substantial followings on TikTok specific to their personal music aesthetic, essentially acting as a new radio station model for introducing likeminded listeners to songs that should be on their radar.

I’ve followed both Kaseys.Playlist and Fuegostine personally for the past few years, and can attest to the fact that their music recommendations are like having your own personal music DJ right at your fingertips – they consistently introduce me to new artists. In fact, I’m pretty sure I came across one of my favorite artists of late, Holly Humberstone, through Kaseys.Playlist’s videos sometime in the midst of lockdown. Since then, Holly’s graced my top 5 played artists on Spotify Wrapped for the past few years.

Their recommendations have become critical to my music discovery pipeline. Each Friday I anxiously await the update to Kaseys.Playlist’s new this week Spotify playlist, which I listen through right after Release Radar. She also calls out the top new songs to check out in an accompanying TikTok video, which is a great appetizer highlight of what to expect.

In weeks where I open Spotify to find that nothing new has been added (I guess music curators deserve time-off, too), I slightly panic at losing this small delight I’d been quite looking forward to all week.

Essentially, the impact these music curators have had on my personal new music discovery is significant. They’re shaping my weekly music listening habits, powering longer (and more enjoyable) listening sessions, and unlocking new music discovery, while at the same time, making me a new fan of otherwise undiscovered music artists. 

Music promotion challenges for independent music artists

From a music artist perspective, the music discovery and promotion hurdles in getting their music out there and discovered by new listeners are immense.

Every day, over 120,000 songs are uploaded to Spotify and other streaming platforms. Of that massive catalog, independently distributed music – comprising “Artist Direct” releases and non-major label tracks – accounts for an impressive 34.2%.

Narrowing it down further, 5.9% of distributed music comes from ‘Artists Direct’ – independent artists distributing through platforms like DistroKid and TuneCore. This DIY segment of the music industry contributes an estimated 7,000 new songs daily to Spotify and other streaming platforms.

For context, these are primarily artists doing everything themselves – from writing and recording to distributing and marketing their music. Some may have managers or small teams, but overall, this independent artist segment is largely trying to figure it all out themselves with little to no promotional budgets.

For these artists, unlocking budget friendly, yet effective methods of music promotion and new fan discovery can be incredibly challenging. If you’re familiar with the music industry at all, I’m sure you heard about the scammy pay-to-play playlist promotions or seen artists spamming video comments and Discord communities with their latest releases, all with little-to-no impact. Add to that the recent limitations implemented by Spotify on minimum stream counts to earn revenue, and it’s a wonder that people try to make it as a new artist at all.

That being said, there are new and powerful tools emerging for music artists, democratizing the otherwise very expensive music marketing and promotion rollout.

In fact, it’s part of the work we’re doing at Thematic, where we connect video content creators and music artists in a one-to-one value exchange. Music artists are able to get their latest song drops featured in creator videos in exchange for song promotion. 

As a result of this creative collaboration, viewers around the world are able to discover new songs and artists based on the YouTube and social media videos they watch. And it works. 

To date, artists using Thematic have had their music featured in 1.6M+ YouTube videos across an audience reach of 2B+ subscribers. This has resulted in 80.5M+ new fans for these music artists, and opened up opportunities for radio play, publishing contracts, and major label deals. Perhaps you’ve heard that song “Sunroof” by Nicky Youre, or listened to bangers by EVAN GIIA, JP Saxe, or Paul Russell? Yep, all of these artists launched song campaigns on Thematic, giving them a groundswell of new fan interest through the 1,000s of creator videos across social media soundtracked with their music.

The organic influencer marketing and song promotion we provide artists at Thematic is just one piece of any artist’s music marketing rollout. Another key driver of music promotion for independent artists are these coveted placements on a music curator’s videos and playlists.

The opportunity for Spotify to become the home for video curators

All of this is to say that I believe Spotify has a massive opportunity on its doorstep to take the reigns as a leader in new music discovery via these video-first music curators. It has long struggled to develop its video arm, as it is by-and-large considered primarily an audio platform.

And I get it. From a personal perspective, the amount of time I’m actually looking at the Spotify interface is incredibly slim. I often select my playlist or album, click play, and then just have it running in the background. The song Canvas visualizers are a “nice-to-have” in regards to establishing an artist’s branding, but to-be-honest, I never look at them. Music videos as a whole are, unfortunately, somewhat of a dying medium as attention spans diminish and costs can be prohibitive (especially for independent music artists). And video podcasts are just a totally different ballgame, as they’re not exclusively centered in the music space.

With the looming aforementioned TikTok ban perpetually haunting creators’ minds, it’s almost too obvious that Spotify should at least try to become the new de facto platform to host this type of content. Here’s why I think it could work for all parties:

Video music curators specialize in new music discovery – introducing new songs and music artists to their followers, often centralized around a specific music niche. Music artists persistently crave new ways to get their music discovered by new fans and music lovers, who want quality and often human recommendations of songs that match their taste. And I’m assuming Spotify wants more usage of their platform (more streams, engagement, quality content, etc.).

By making a place for music curators to share their video content directly on Spotify, all of the above needs could essentially be met, streamlining the new music discovery experience for all.

For example, right now, in order to get a TikTok music curator’s latest artist recommendations, you need to open TikTok, hopefully be recommended their content in your feed, watch their video, leave TikTok and open Spotify to look up the artist, and etc, etc… You see how easily you can lose someone’s attention and interest in this flow.

Wouldn’t it be that much more effective to see this video directly within Spotify and then simply click to play the artist’s music immediately? Wouldn’t it be interesting to jump into playlists of albums or artists, and not just songs (ie ‘The Top 5 Artists You’ll Like if You’re A Fan Of…’ or ‘My Top 10 Albums Released in January’)? Right now these simply don’t exist within the Spotify UI.

And in the case that these TikTok music curators are left without their current “home” of TikTok, how does that impact the top of funnel streams from a Spotify perspective? Wouldn’t it be better to have more control over this flow of engaged listeners?

Yes, these curators are usually already active on Spotify and update and create playlists regularly. But from a listener’s perspective, it’s absolutely impossible to know which playlists were recently updated or what’s new that I should check out. That summer playlist from last year will be relevant again in just a few months time, but it’s not intuitive to find in the current UI. 

Introducing video capabilities would enable curators to breathe new life into older playlists by adding fresh song finds and sharing them directly with their followers. These types of short-form videos could make music recommendations and playlists more engaging, keeping them top-of-mind and effortlessly linkable for music fans.

In regards to making it a compelling home for these video curators, there’s obviously the challenge of how to incentivize them in regards to monetization. Currently, these curators exist on social platforms because that’s how they can earn money from their content. Their earnings are derived from the views and ads shown around their videos, and then split based on viewership or watch time share. This is similar to how Spotify pays out artists from a total revenue pool based on the songs receiving the most streams.

A monetization model for video curators on Spotify could match this existing ad share model. Or perhaps there’s an opportunity to pay out curators based on the streams they drive for music artists from their content. It could be considered the next iteration of an affiliate model that both solves a curation problem and reduces the amount of niche curators the platform needs to hire directly. That’s for the bigger minds at Spotify to figure out, but you get the idea.

Looking ahead at music promotion and discovery opportunities

At the end of the day, I’m simply excited about the evolving opportunities and challenges in the creator-music-tech ecosystem. It’s an area I’m personally very invested in, both as a music listener and fan and co-founder of Thematic. It’s always been a passion of mine to discover and support the music artists I love, and I’m looking forward to what’s ahead.

If you’re interested in nerding out about new music discovery, want to talk about a partnership with Thematic, or simply want to send some new songs my way, feel free to reach out via email.

And, as always, if you’re an independent music artist who is looking for effective and free music promotion for your songs through influencers and social video content, please submit your music at hellothematic.com/artists.

I’d be amiss to not drop in my latest new music discoveries after the entirety of the above thought piece. You can find all of my currently on rotation and recent faves in my currently listening to playlist on Spotify ✌️

This article on TikTok Curators & Music Discovery: An Big Opportunity for Spotify is brought to you by Thematic Co-Founder & COO Audrey Marshall

With a background in entertainment PR (via Chapman University), Audrey has led digital strategy for music artists, content creators, and brands. From brand campaigns for Macy’s, American Cancer Society, and the L’Oréal luxe family of brands, to music-driven influencer marketing campaigns for Interscope Records, Warner Music, AWAL, and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas (featuring creators such as Lexy Panterra, Blogilates, Mandy Jiroux, Matt Steffanina, and Seán Garnier), she is an expert in navigating the influencer marketing space. Audrey has also developed and managed some of the leading beauty, lifestyle, and dance channels on YouTube.

Certified across the board with YouTube, Audrey has a specific focus on digital rights management for music assets, running multiple SRAV-enabled CMS. She is passionate about working with other builders in the space for a more transparent digital rights ecosystem.

At Thematic, Audrey leads the product team and oversees operations. She has driven partnerships with leading talent and music companies, including Songtrust, Kobalt/AWAL, Select Management, BBTV, ipsy, and Black Box, and has helped the platform grow to a thriving community of 1M+ content creators who have posted 1.6M+ videos using the platform, driving 60B+ music streams and $120M+ in earned media value for independent music artists.

The internet has given rise to a new kind of entrepreneur: the creator-founder, often called a creatorpreneur. These are content creators who have transformed their digital influence into scalable businesses, building tools, products, and communities that shape the creator economy itself.

This article explores how we got here, why creators are becoming founders, and what this shift means for the future of work, media, and entrepreneurship. Along the way, we’ll highlight the journeys of influential creator-founders like Jack Conte (Patreon), John & Hank Green (VidCon, Study Hall), and Michelle Phan (Ipsy, EM Cosmetics, Thematic), while answering the key questions today’s aspiring creators are asking.

Table of Contents

• What is a Creator-Founder (Creatorpreneur)?
• A Brief History of Creator-Founders
• From a One-Person Show to a Scalable Business
• The Evolution of the Creator Economy
• The Rise of Creator-Founders
  • Jack Conte: Patreon
  • John and Hank Green: VidCon, Study Hall
  • Michelle Phan: Ipsy, EM Cosmetics, Thematic
• The Future of Creatorpreneurs
• FAQs about Creator-Founders

What is a Creator-Founder (Creatorpreneur)?

A creator-founder (or creatorpreneur) is a content creator who expands beyond making videos, podcasts, or posts and builds a business around their influence. This could mean launching a brand, starting a tech platform, developing digital products, or creating services that support other creators.

Why it matters:

• More creators are shifting from “influencer-for-hire” to entrepreneurs with ownership of their audience, tools, and revenue streams.
• The creator economy is projected to surpass $480 billion by 2027 (Goldman Sachs).
• Over 50% of Gen Z consumers say they’ve purchased from a brand started by a creator-founder (Morning Consult).

A Brief History of Creator-Founders

To understand how creators became founders, we have to go back to YouTube’s early days.

In 2005, the first YouTube video (“Me at the zoo”) felt more like a quirky home movie than the start of a media revolution. The platform quickly became known for viral moments: Keyboard Cat, Chocolate Rain, David After Dentist. It was entertainment, but it wasn’t yet an industry.

But for marginalized communities, YouTube offered something traditional media didn’t: representation. Asian American creators like Wong Fu Productions, Michelle Phan, NigaHiga, KevJumba, Kina Grannis, and David Choi built massive followings by telling stories absent from mainstream channels.

In 2007, YouTube’s Partner Program changed everything by letting creators share ad revenue. Suddenly, creating online wasn’t just a hobby – it could be a career. By the early 2010s, figures like Gary Vee, Bo Burnham, John & Hank Green, Michelle Phan, and even Justin Bieber leveraged YouTube not just for fame, but as a launchpad for entrepreneurial ventures.

This was the birth of the creator-founder movement.

From a One-Person Show to a Scalable Business

Most creators begin as one-person teams: scripting, filming, editing, uploading, engaging. Like early-stage founders, they do it all.

But the creator economy has shifted expectations. Being a creator isn’t just a passion project anymore – it’s a business model.

To succeed long-term, creators need to:

• Build teams (editors, managers, strategists).
• Develop systems (content calendars, monetization strategies).
• Diversify income streams (ads, merch, memberships, courses, brand deals).

The transition from creator to creatorpreneur often happens when creators realize that audience attention is leverage. With the right infrastructure, that leverage can scale into companies, products, or platforms, just like a startup.

The Evolution of the Creator Economy

Not long ago, it was unthinkable that a teenager with a smartphone could build a global brand. Today, it’s normal.

The rise of platforms like YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, and Twitch, combined with creator tools like Canva, smartphones, and editing software, has given anyone the ability to produce, distribute, and monetize content at scale.

This democratization has led to:

• Entirely new career paths (full-time YouTubers, Twitch streamers, Substack writers).
• New business models (subscriptions, direct fan funding, digital products).
• Global cultural impact (influencer-driven trends, viral moments, new communities).

Take the story of AroundMeBD, a YouTube channel from Bangladesh. What began as simple videos of villagers cooking together turned into a thriving business. Ad revenue now funds food costs, pays community members, and even builds local infrastructure like parks.

This is the power of the creator economy: turning storytelling into sustainable impact.

The Rise of Creator-Founders

As the creator economy matured, some creators stopped waiting for tech companies or brands to solve their problems. Instead, they became founders themselves, building companies that reflect the creator perspective.

Jack Conte: Patreon

As one-half of the band Pomplamoose, Jack Conte knew firsthand how hard it was to earn a living from YouTube’s ad model. His solution? Patreon, a membership platform that lets fans directly support creators.

Today, Patreon supports over 250,000 creators, powering sustainable income for musicians, podcasters, artists, and more

John and Hank Green: VidCon, Study Hall

The Vlogbrothers, John and Hank Green, didn’t just build YouTube audiences – they built infrastructure for the community.

• VidCon (founded in 2010) gave creators and fans a place to connect IRL. It grew so large it was acquired by Viacom.
• In 2023, the brothers partnered with ASU and YouTube to launch Study Hall, a program helping students navigate higher education with approachable, low-cost resources.

This is what creator-founders do: identify gaps in culture, education, and community, then build solutions.

Michelle Phan: Ipsy, EM Cosmetics, Thematic

Few creators embody the creatorpreneur mindset like Michelle Phan.

After building one of YouTube’s most successful beauty channels, she co-founded Ipsy (a subscription beauty brand now valued over $1 billion) and EM Cosmetics.

But her most personal venture was Thematic, a peer-to-peer music licensing platform. The idea came after she faced a copyright lawsuit over music she thought was cleared. Instead of accepting broken industry systems, Michelle built a community-driven solution that helps creators use copyright-safe music while supporting artists.

The Future of Creatorpreneurs

The trajectory is clear: the next generation of startups won’t just come from Silicon Valley – they’ll come from YouTube, TikTok, and Instagram.

We’re entering a future where:

• Creators build the tools they wish they had.
• Audiences fund products directly, bypassing gatekeepers.
• Communities drive innovation, not corporations.

As more creators shift from influencers to entrepreneurs, the creator-founder model will redefine industries, from education and finance to fashion and entertainment.

FAQs About Creator-Founders

As the line between content creators and entrepreneurs continues to blur, many people have questions about what it really means to become a “creatorpreneur.” Below are some of the most common questions (and detailed answers) to help clarify how creators are founding businesses and shaping the future of the creator economy.

What is a creatorpreneur?

A creatorpreneur is a content creator who builds a business around their audience, influence, and creative work.

Instead of relying solely on brand deals or ad revenue, a creatorpreneur develops products, services, or companies that provide long-term sustainability. This could mean launching a brand (like a clothing line, beauty product, or digital course), starting a tech platform, or creating agencies and production companies.

The key distinction is that creatorpreneurs treat their creative influence as the foundation of a scalable business, much like traditional founders, but with a direct-to-community advantage.

How is a creatorpreneur different from a founder?

In many ways, they are the same – both are entrepreneurs building something from the ground up. The main difference is the starting point: a founder often begins with an idea, prototype, or problem to solve, while a creatorpreneur starts with an audience and leverages that influence to fuel their business.

For example, a traditional founder might build a SaaS company to solve workflow inefficiencies, while a creatorpreneur might launch a productivity app because their followers consistently ask how they manage their creative schedule.

Increasingly, the two paths overlap, with many creatorpreneurs transitioning into “traditional” founders and vice versa.

What are some examples of successful creatorpreneurs?

Some well-known creatorpreneurs include:

• Emma Chamberlain, who transformed her YouTube success into Chamberlain Coffee, a direct-to-consumer lifestyle brand.
• MrBeast (Jimmy Donaldson), who expanded beyond YouTube into Beast Burger and Feastables, creating scalable companies rooted in his massive online community.
• Michelle Phan, an early YouTube beauty pioneer who went on to co-found Ipsy, one of the biggest beauty subscription services.
• Ali Abdaal, who leveraged his educational YouTube channel to build a multimillion-dollar online course business.

These examples show the wide range of possibilities – from physical products to media companies to tech platforms.

Why are creators becoming founders now?

The timing comes down to three major shifts:

• Diversification needs – Relying solely on platforms like YouTube or TikTok is risky. By creating their own businesses, creators build sustainable income and control their future.
• Mature creator economy infrastructure – Tools for monetization, distribution, and commerce make it easier than ever for creators to build businesses.
• Audience-driven trust – Consumers trust creators more than traditional brands, which gives creators a built-in competitive edge.

How can a creator become a founder?

The transition usually happens in steps:

1. Identify audience needs – What questions do followers constantly ask? What problems keep coming up in your community?
2. Test small products or services – Launch a digital download, paid newsletter, or small merch drop to gauge demand.
3. Scale into a full business – Once demand is proven, invest in building a brand, securing partners, or even raising funding.
4. Think beyond content – While content remains the marketing engine, true creatorpreneurs develop teams, systems, and business models that can grow independently of daily posting.

What industries are creatorpreneurs moving into?

Creator-founders are expanding into nearly every industry, but some of the most common include:

• Beauty and fashion (cosmetics, apparel, accessories)
• Food and beverage (coffee brands, snack companies, restaurants)
• Education (online courses, coaching, digital products)
• Media & entertainment (production companies, streaming content, podcasts)
• Technology (apps, SaaS tools, creator economy startups)

Each industry reflects how creators are leveraging their personal expertise and audience trust to disrupt traditional business models.

Join Thematic’s Creator Community

At Thematic, we believe in creators supporting creators. Our platform helps you access copyright-safe music for your videos while empowering artists to reach new audiences.

👉 Get started for free today and join a global community of creatorpreneurs building the future of the creator economy.

We’re excited to see what you create.

Looking for more creator tools and resources? Visit Thematic’s Creator Toolkit for additional resources on creating content – including starting a YouTube channel, thumbnail and channel art templates, best practices, and of course, great royalty free songs to use in your videos for free with Thematic.

This article on the rise of Creator-Founders is brought to you by Thematic Co-Founder & COO Audrey Marshall

With a background in entertainment PR (via Chapman University), Audrey has led digital strategy for music artists, content creators, and brands. From brand campaigns for Macy’s, American Cancer Society, and the L’Oréal luxe family of brands, to music-driven influencer marketing campaigns for Interscope Records, Warner Music, AWAL, and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas (featuring creators such as Lexy Panterra, Blogilates, Mandy Jiroux, Matt Steffanina, and Seán Garnier), she is an expert in navigating the influencer marketing space. Audrey has also developed and managed some of the leading beauty, lifestyle, and dance channels on YouTube.

Certified across the board with YouTube, Audrey has a specific focus on digital rights management for music assets, running multiple SRAV-enabled CMS. She is passionate about working with other builders in the space for a more transparent digital rights ecosystem.

At Thematic, Audrey leads the product team and oversees operations. She has driven partnerships with leading talent and music companies, including Songtrust, Kobalt/AWAL, Select Management, BBTV, ipsy, and Black Box, and has helped the platform grow to a thriving community of 1M+ content creators who have posted 1.6M+ videos using the platform, driving 60B+ music streams and $120M+ in earned media value for independent music artists.

In the late summer and early fall of 2020, the phrase took root in popular culture with the debut of SignalFire’s Creator Economy Report. Their findings revealed that 50 million people identify as “creators” around the world. They defined the creator economy as:

“the class of businesses built by over 50 million independent content creators, curators, and community builders including social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, plus the software and finance tools designed to help them with growth and monetization.”

SignalFire’s Creator Economy Report

This article covers Thematic’s perspective on the Creator Economy and its fundamentals – what it is, when did it begin, and where the creator economy is headed. We’ve included table of contents below to allow you to jump easily to a specific section.

1. The history of the Creator Economy
2. What is the Creator Economy?
   • The size of the Creator Economy
3. How does the Creator Economy work?
   • It’s all about the content
   • Content Creators
   • Creator Tools & Platforms
4. Opinions on the Creator Economy, from Creators themselves
   • Michelle Phan (ipsy, EM Cosmetics, Thematic, Summer School)
   • Jack Conte (Patreon)
   • Hank Green (VidCon)
5. The Good and Bad of the Creator Economy
   • What are the benefits of the Creator Economy?
     • It’s easier than ever to create
     • New career paths
     • The rise of the Creator Middle Class
   • What are the problems of the Creator Economy?
     • (Lack Of) Monetization
     • Competitive Market
     • Creator Burnout
     • Audience without Business
     • Too Much Too Fast
6. The Community

The history of the Creator Economy

2020 is not when the creator economy began. It’s simply when people started to take real notice at the massive impact driven by digital-first creators on an economic level.

Let’s rewind to 2005 with the launch of YouTube. What started as a simple video sharing platform to store archived footage and share your favorite cat videos, would become in the years to follow a cultural sparking point for the burgeoning creator economy.

As niche communities took to the platform to share their stories and media platforms embraced its widespread distribution opportunities, it slowly transformed from a “viral video platform” into a viable option for cultivating thriving communities, starting careers, and even launching businesses.

Today, these success stories are everyday news, but the idea that a beauty vlogger could launch a $1 billion company from her online YouTube community (read about our co-founder Michelle Phan’s story about starting ipsy on Inc. here) or that an independent musician could develop a $4 billion startup to support creators like him (see Jack Conte’s story about developing Patreon on CNBC) was unheard of only 10 years ago.

In 2007 YouTube launched the first-of-its-kind Partner Program, enabling creators to participate in the ad revenue generated from their videos. This move validated the idea that individuals could follow their creative pursuits, monetize their audience, and build businesses from their digital audience. 

Then, by the mid-2010s, a new layer of creator monetization took hold. Enter influencer marketing (watch its rise in worldwide popularity here). Brands began to embrace the idea of influencers (and reaching their consumer-rich communities) as a new means of brand awareness and marketing, and the creators on the receiving end of these deals were infused with a new way to monetize their personal brand and audience. 

Both of the moments were game-changing cultural shifts that helped lay the foundation for the creator economy as we know it today.

That being said, the creator economy is not just a trend. It is a foundational shift in entrepreneurship that started almost 20 years and is continuing to expand.

In simple words, the Creator Economy empowers creatives to:

👉 Follow their creative passions,
👉 Cultivate community,
👉 And monetize their creations and audiences

Through new tools and platforms that enable content creation, distribution, and monetization.

And it’s massive. 

How big is the Creator Economy?

Most creator economy reports mention a market size of over 50 million creators that is worth over $100 billion.

Depending on which industry report you’re reading, the numbers are undeniable. Take Adobe’s “Future of Creativity” study which stated that “more than 165 million creators joined the global creator economy in the last two years.” Or read Goldman Sachs’ latest intelligence briefing that states that “the creator economy could approach half-a-trillion dollars by 2027.”

No matter which report or stat you read, the key takeaways are the same:

• The creator economy is undeniable and only continuing to scale
• Most creators are intrinsically motivated by the desire to create (not money)
• New ways of monetization are emerging and underpin the conversations behind Web3

How does the Creator Economy work?

The creator economy works through the coming together of creators and platforms and tools to enable the creation, distribution, and monetization of new content.

Original Creative Content

We call them content creators for a reason. At their core, creators provide value through the distribution of their original content.

Content’s value can be felt in a multitude of ways, ranging from knowledge-sharing to entertainment (and the values can be shared within one piece of content). We’ve identified some the most common values produced by content:

Content Creators: the power of the person

Creator-driven content works because it is humanized and viewer-selected. It is person-to-person and not force-fed by larger companies. With creators, viewers choose to lean-in to the content and creator of their choice, and are no longer left wanting with whoever is starring in the latest TV sitcom.

The plethora of content (and creators) available allows all interests to thrive in their own niche communities – there’s content to please practically everybody. From PlantTok on TikTok to BookTube on YouTube, and the endless amount of Discord servers and Reddit communities to browse through, the interest-driven communities have taken hold of today’s social culture.

Viewers can find and follow that particular person who shares the same values, looks like them, and is interested in the same topics. And if for some reason they can’t, the opportunity to be that person for that community exists – anyone can be a creator.

Creator Tools & Platforms

The dissemination and democratization of content and its value is enabled by the wide-scale distribution platforms we typically call social media platforms. YouTube, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter, and the rest are essentially means of distribution (and sometimes monetization) for the content produced by creators.

The platforms themselves are not the “business” of creators. Rather, they are the enablers for the business of creators. They are the means by which creators can get their content to audiences in order to cultivate community and create marketing and distribution channels (for bigger business opportunities).

And at the end of the day, the platforms come and go. You’ve seen the Vine’s, Musical.ly’s and Google+s come and go, launch, rise, and die (or be acquired), but the creators keep on creating.

The fluctuating (and frustrating) changing of platforms and chasing of algorithms to stay relevant has proved an uphill and winding road for creators over the years. As such, the calls for creator-owned communities, ones un-reliant on a platform’s algorithm or rules, continue to increase (enter the newest creator-centric buzzword: web3). 

We’re sure to see more platforms and tools launched in the coming years to solve these problems and enable even more functionality and monetization for creators. The future is bright in the creator economy.

Opinions on The Creator Economy, From Creators Themselves

As we’ve mentioned above, the topic of the creator economy seems to be on everyone’s minds (and LinkedIn posts) these days. Many traditional companies are looking for ways to enter the space and participate in this new cultural moment, and many startups are being thought into existence with the hope of extracting value from the monetizable opportunity of “the creator economy.”

As with any emerging industry, we trust first and foremost the people at the center of the economy itself. In this case, the creators.

Let’s hear below from some of the leaders who both pioneered the creator space and who are leading the charge of building creator-first tools and companies.

Michelle Phan (Founder of ipsy, EM Cosmetics, Thematic, Summer School)

“The creator economy is so much more than being famous online. It’s an entire ecosystem made up of creatives and problem solvers behind every piece of content you see online. Imagine the person behind the camera: the writer, curator, designer, editor, producer, and so much more involved behind the scenes. It’s a world of storytellers, designers, and innovators, just like you, who are utilizing their passions to create a new vision of their future.⁠

I (@michellephan) was the first woman to reach a million subscribers on YouTube, created a business worth over a billion dollars, and it all started with these makeup tutorials. I was uploading on YouTube, and even though I was creating all this content for free, I knew how important it was to create from a place of passion and nurture my community.⁠

After investing all my time and energy into building my online brand identity, it finally paid off but… being a pioneer comes at a price. Because this space was so new, I had to pave my own way. Although I had a lot of wins, I also made a lot of mistakes. I wish I had a mentor back then, but now I can be that mentor for you.⁠”

Michelle Phan’s Summer School Instagram

Michelle is currently developing tools and resources to empower the next generation of creators. Her latest creator projects include her Summer School mentorship program and Thematic, a peer-to-peer marketplace where content creators and music artists can support each other through community-base music licensing.

Thematic was born from Michelle’s personal battle with a copyright infringement lawsuit with Ultra Records over music she thought was properly cleared. With Thematic, for the first time ever, creators can license assets from other creators in exchange for providing them with discovery and marketing opportunities.

Jack Conte (CEO of Patreon)

“The creator economy is this birth of, you know, now hundreds of millions of people who are taking advantage of these wonderful creation tools that are now available to so many people at a scale that I think we never have seen before, you know, in our history… it’s easier and cheaper and faster to make things than it’s ever been in human history, and there’s now hundreds of millions of people making things.

And then if you combine that with the fact that we’re all now connected because the last, you know, 20 years or so of the internet, you get people who are making things and then reaching others with the things that we make. We call those people “creators.”

Washington Post: The Path Forward: The Creator Economy with Jack Conte, CEO and Co-Founder, Patreon

Image via Brian J. Geiger

Known initially for being one-half of the band Pomplamoose and now most recognized as being the founder of Patreon, Jack Conte experienced first-hand the struggles of earning a sustainable income from his videos on YouTube. To solve his own problem (and the problems of creators and musicians like him), Jack developed Patreon to “make it easy for creators to get paid.” Today, Patreon supports 250,000+ creators in achieving more sustainable revenue income.

Hank Green (Founder of VidCon)

“The creator economy will only ever make sense when we stop imagining that it is primarily driven by money. Most creators are driven primarily by attention and achievement.“

Hank Green Twitter (May 2020)

Green says that over the next five to ten years, platforms need to figure out how to sustainably monetize short-form content in a way that benefits creators—and give those creators tools to establish and maintain deeper connections with their audiences.

“Otherwise there isn’t a creator economy here,” he says. “There is just people making stuff, burning out, audiences being temporarily satisfied with candy-like content, and then all of it coming eventually crashing down—one assumes. But maybe not. Because there’s always someone there to take the space of the person who burned out and say, ‘This is good. I like it.’ For six months. Until they burn out too.”

Tubefilter: Hank Green says “the curse of the swipe” is upon us

Image via Gage Skidmore

Aside from creating the most successful creator convention to date (VidCon), John and Hank Green have been giving back to the next generation of creatives by providing creators with grants “to help them get the equipment, help, or expertise they need” since 2014.

The above-mentioned creators are just some of the first generation of “creator-founders,” and we’re bound to see many more follow in their footsteps.

The Good and The Bad of the Creator Economy

While the creator economy as a whole unlocks growth, creativity, and new forms of business and monetization for the creative class, it is still a nascent space with room for improvement. Let’s dig in.

What are the benefits of the Creator Economy?

The benefits of the creator economy are astounding. Creators now have a monetizable option to follow their creative pursuits and make money. No longer limited to enjoying hobbies for fun in their non-working hours, creators can put their passions to work, enabling them to drive new income streams.

✅ It’s easier than ever to create

Anyone can become a creator today.

The rise in the number of creators can be partially attributed to the proliferation of creator tools that make it incredibly easy to create. As a result, creators see higher competition rates and an ever increasing struggle to ‘break through’ in finding an audience.

Take Canva, for example, which has enabled anyone to create and design. Or look at TikTok and its extremely easy-to-use video creation software. The barriers to entry for being a creator in today’s world are slim to none.

✅ New Career Paths

The creator economy has unlocked new paths to creating wealth and creative freedom. Creators can now make a living in the creator economy by pursuing the creative passions.

As a result, Millennials (who according to Adobe’s “Future of Creativity” study represent 42% of the Creator Economy), Gen Z (14%), and soon Gen Alpha, are finding ways to complement (or even replace) traditional career paths in favor of launching their own businesses. This is all enabled through the tools and platforms provided by the creator economy companies.

✅ The Rise of the Creator Middle Class

We are also seeing the growth of what is being called the creator middle class. These are creators who have been able to navigate the ever-changing creator space and unlock enough revenue streams through a combination of ad revenue, brand integrations, and self-created products to self-sustain solely as a creator.

This cohort of middle-class creators are past the point of part-time creation (in their off-work or school hours), but aren’t at the level of success or fame as the MrBeast’s of the world. Nevertheless, they are driving sustainable business and are making a living from their creative efforts.

Seeing this middle class’s emergence speaks to a long-term shift in the fabric of the creator economy. With wealth slowly shifting from the top 1% of creators to the masses or long-tail talent, a more sustainable ecosystem is emerging.

While there is definitely a need for more tools and resources to support this class of creators, we see great potential in what this can mean for the future.

What are the problems of the Creator Economy?

However, with all of the upward motion and positive strides forward, the industry of being a creator is still very new and constantly in development.

Some of the biggest problems of the Creator Economy are that creators constantly face the struggle of navigating platform shifts, chasing search and discovery algorithms, and finding ways to monetize their content and communities.

🌧 (Lack of) Monetization

As platforms test and iterate on new ways of creator monetization and revshares (the TikTok Creator Fund or new revenue splits on Twitch, for recent examples), the percentage allocated to creators always seems to fall a bit short (read Hank Green’s comments on TikTok monetization here or Twitch streamers’ reaction to their compensation here). Creators are often getting the short end of the stick when it comes to figuring the balance between platform and creator revshares, when it seems there’s just not enough money in the pot.

Couple this with copyright issues, demonetization, and other IP ownership legal battles, and it can turn into a creator nightmare.

The industry still has a lot to figure out in this regard, but there’s hope that the ideas championed behind web3, blockchain, and owning your community will help to change the narrative.

🌧 Competitive Market

The flip side of the ease of creation is that it has become increasingly difficult for creators to stand out.

With over 300 million people globally identifying as creators (per Meta’s Rise of the Creator Economy report), you can imagine how much work it can be to find an audience and grow it to a meaningful (and monetizable) level.

🌧 Creator Burnout

The creators who live and die by the algorithm in pursuit of more views and more subscribers, but fail to capitalize on their massive audience and distribution channels, struggle to build true, sustainable business from their content.

These creators are at the most risk of experiencing creator burnout. Creators are constantly encouraged to create more content to be promoted by the algorithm, or to be present on any and all discovery platforms at all times to remain relevant (start a podcast, tweet more, start a newsletter) – the demand never ends. 

Coupled with navigating a balance between traditional work/school/family life and creating endless streams of content in an effort to grow their audience and monetize, many creators simply burn out and give up. Their creator careers are cut short and they return to “normal” life.

🌧 Audience without Business

Unfortunately, many creators fail to realize that the audience is not the end-all-be-all. Their audience simply unlocks the opportunity for product discovery and distribution (from brand deals to wholly-owned products and services). Unless their goal is to become a media or production company, the content of YouTube videos, Instagram posts, and TikToks should ultimately be considered a marketing channel – one that enables community building, which eventually leads to more significant business opportunities

See how Michelle Phan has navigated her content platforms as a great case study. While her 8M+ subscriber strong YouTube channel was initially a means for her to share her favorite makeup looks and tutorials with her audience, Michelle has been able to grow beyond YouTube in building and investing in massive businesses (ipsy, Em Cosmetics, Thematic, to name a few). Her social media, while still active in support of her passions, now doubles as powerful marketing channels to support her entrepreneurial efforts. 

The same goes for MrBeast. Through his massive following across social media, he is able to power and drive awareness for his company portfolio – projects ranging from charity work (Team Trees, Team Seas), to food and snacks (Feastables, MrBeast Burger), mobile apps and products (Finger on the App, Backbone), and more. The brand is MrBeast, not just the YouTube channel (aka the marketing channel).

🌧 Too Much Too Fast – is the Creator Economy a bubble?

2022 and 2023 already have been years filled with a relentless stream of layoffs within the creator economy. From Patreon to Substack, Facebook to Twitter, Snap to Cameo, companies large and small are announcing massive layoffs amid talks of recession and the global markets. It’s an unfortunate side effect of the hiring boom that was catapulted from Covid and global lockdowns.

With the unprecedented global phenomenon of Covid accelerating the move to creator-ship across the world (see the above graph of creators year-over-year from Stripe’s Indexing the Creator Economy post), creator economy companies hired fiercely and quickly. Fast-forward a few years, and although the number of creators and the creator economy as a whole continue to grow, the monetization models to support this growth have not (see the section on Monetization above).

This sizing correction is being felt large-and-wide in the creator economy community and many have questioned if the creator economy is just a bubble ready to pop. However, these shifts will hopefully help to focus creator-centric companies in building more meaningful tools that drive sustainable value and monetization (and not just short-term growth).

The Community of Creators

The creator economy does not exist without community. Point blank.

Creators sit at the intersection of niche communities, content, and brands. Without their communities, they are simply content production engines, with no one listening on the other end. 

As such, the creator-community relationship is a delicate balance and reflection of the parasocial relationship. You’ve heard the stories of communities abandoning their favorite creators after scandals emerge (here’s one as a quick example). However, more often than not, you are reminded of the power of community in coming together and making change.

While viewer communities promote the growth of individual creators, it’s the collaboration and sharing between creators that is driving a supportive and sustainable creator ecosystem.

Take the efforts of MrBeast and Mark Rober noted above. While both have massive audience reach individually, in coming together on this project they were able to exponentially expand the total audience of their fundraising efforts. 

More and more we hear stories of creators coming together in collaboration and in support of the creator economy as a whole. From Jack Conte launching Patreon to unlock additional opportunities for creators to monetize their audience, to Michelle Phan building new tools and services to make the lives of aspiring creators easier, creators are building the resources they wish they had when they first started creating. It’s inspiring.

Join Thematic’s creator community

At Thematic, we are believers in the power of creators enabling creators to build a more collaborative and mutually supportive creator ecosystem. 

Our mission is to support the growth of independent creators by matching them with the tools, assets, and services that unlock their full potential. We make it easy for creators to join the creator economy.

If you’re interested in unlocking copyright-safe music for your videos and connecting with digital video creators and music artists, create a free Thematic account here.

We’re excited to see what you create.

Looking for more creator tools and resources? Visit Thematic’s Creator Toolkit for additional resources on creating content – including starting a YouTube channel, thumbnail and channel art templates, best practices, and of course, great royalty free songs to use in your videos for free with Thematic.

This analysis of the Creator Economy is brought to you by Thematic Co-Founder & COO Audrey Marshall

With a background in entertainment PR (via Chapman University), Audrey has led digital strategy for music artists, content creators, and brands. From brand campaigns for Macy’s, American Cancer Society, and the L’Oréal luxe family of brands, to music-driven influencer marketing campaigns for Interscope Records, Warner Music, AWAL, and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas (featuring creators such as Lexy Panterra, Blogilates, Mandy Jiroux, Matt Steffanina, and Seán Garnier), she is an expert in navigating the influencer marketing space. Audrey has also developed and managed some of the leading beauty, lifestyle, and dance channels on YouTube.

Certified across the board with YouTube, Audrey has a specific focus on digital rights management for music assets, running multiple SRAV-enabled CMS. She is passionate about working with other builders in the space for a more transparent digital rights ecosystem.

At Thematic, Audrey leads the product team and oversees operations. She has driven partnerships with leading talent and music companies, including Songtrust, Kobalt/AWAL, Select Management, BBTV, ipsy, and Black Box, and has helped the platform grow to a thriving community of 1M+ content creators who have posted 1.6M+ videos using the platform, driving 60B+ music streams and $120M+ in earned media value for independent music artists.

But where to begin and who to hire? Let’s answer some of the most common questions about how to find and hire the right YouTube team members to take your channel to the next level.

Table of Contents:

1. The DIY Creator
2. To hire or not to hire?
3. Your YouTube Team
   • Who to Hire
   • When to Hire
   • Where to Find Video Editors & Team Members
4. Additional Help and Creator Tools
   • Thematic Creator Community

The DIY Creator

Let’s face it, most creators start out doing everything by themselves. From coming up with channel and video ideas, to filming and editing videos, and uploading content and engaging with viewers, and doing it all over again, creators are often a one-person show when first getting started. They do everything.

And as video creators are aware, there are many elements involved in the content creation process. Below are just a few things that a YouTube video production involves:

• Content ideation and developing new video ideas
• Capturing and filming the content
• Video editing
• Graphic design (for social posts and thumbnail creation)
• Content management operations (from YouTube video optimization to programming schedules and community management)
• Social media promotion

As most full-time YouTube creators will tell you, consistency is key when it comes to building a successful YouTube channel and growing subscribers. 

According to VidIQ, it takes approximately 61 days (and about a video posted each week) to achieve the first 100 subscribers on a YouTube channel. And that’s just the beginning! Regular video uploads are required to keep a YouTube channel going and to grow your subscribers.

With that in mind, creators need to consider the amount of work involved in building a thriving YouTube channel – it’s never as easy as it seems.

Unfortunately, some creators realize this too late and end up getting creator burnout (and sometimes even just quit altogether). But you’re one step ahead, reading this post and already thinking about hiring for your YouTube channel. You’re on the right track!

To hire or not to hire?

The do-it-all-yourself approach can be sustainable for hobbyists and part-time creators who are creating just for fun or when they feel like it. If you don’t have any dreams of quitting your regular job to become a content creator full-time, hiring YouTube team members is probably not the right choice for you.

However, creators who are serious about turning their YouTube channel into their full-time career and who aspire to be professional creators, should definitely think about the long-term commitment it requires.

Both are good options depending on your personal goals and aspirations. But keep in mind that becoming a full-time creator will clearly require more effort, dedication, and planning than just being a part-time creator or occasional uploader. 

Before you make a decision on which path is right for you, let’s walk through some of the key considerations of hiring for a YouTube team.

Your YouTube Team

Who to Hire for your Team

Just like a founder of a new business, understanding all of the different elements that are needed to run ‘all of the things’ provides a great foundation for knowing your personal strengths and weaknesses as a creator. It also helps to provide insight as to which roles to hire for and who to bring on to your YouTube team to help streamline the content creation and video production workflow. 

For example, some creators thrive during the video creation process – from filming and recording their footage, to editing their video, and producing the finished product, but don’t enjoy the ‘business and marketing’ element that quickly follows. Others may find more excitement in engaging with their viewer community and promoting their video across social media than sifting through footage, figuring out the best new creator tools to use, and spending hours editing their video together. And some find out that they like the idea of being a creator more so than actually doing the work (it’s not as easy as the most successful creators make it seem).

The right team member to hire for your YouTube channel will be the person who can remove friction from your content creation flow and unlock time for you to focus on other areas of your creator business. They will add value to what you’re building (not detract from it).

The creator who can’t stand editing should probably look to hire a video editor. The creator who is a creation mastermind but hates keeping up on social media should probably look to bring on a social media manager to their team. It’s different for everyone, so again, look at the parts of the video production process that are most painful and start there.

Included below is a cheat sheet of some key hires to consider when hiring for your YouTube team:

• Video Editor to streamline and speed up your video editing flow.
• Channel Manager to handle all of the admin tasks for your YouTube channel. This can include: scheduling uploads, creating playlists, video optimization and SEO, engaging with viewer comments, organizing your channel, and monitoring your video analytics).
• Thumbnail Designer to create the most clickable thumbnails for your videos.
• Scriptwriter to come up with video ideas and make your filming and editing flow more efficient.
• Videographer to film your videos and capture new types of content (like drone footage).
• Production Assistant to coordinate everything you need for your video shoots (from sourcing props and scheduling to securing locations).
• Social Media Manager to help create and manage social media posts and graphics to promote your latest videos.

When to Hire for your Team

Creators should look to start hiring for their YouTube team once they start to gain traction, build an audience, and produce steady revenue flow from their creative efforts. This can be when your YouTube AdSense revenue hits a certain milestone that allows you the flexibility to bring on someone part-time. Or it can be at the point when you receive a steady flow of brand deals and you have less time to manage your creation flow or keep up your regular video or content output.

It’s at these tipping points that creators typically realize that something needs to happen or they run the risk of burning out or hitting a plateau. Like with any scalable business, creators need a support system and team to grow their operation and reach their next level of success.

These pivotal moments can be the makers or breakers of success for creators. The creators who are able to scale and grow their operations into thriving businesses are the ones who are most positioned to capitalize on the economic opportunity at hand. These are the next generation of creator-founders who are at the heart of driving the new creator economy. 

Where to Find Video Editors and Team Members

Thankfully, today it’s easy than ever to higher these types of creative team members for a channel. Creators can find part-time help through content creator job boards or by networking with creator communities on Discord.

Below are a few resources you may want to use in your search for hiring YouTube video editors or other team members for your channel:

• Roster & YT Jobs – job marketplace sites specific to finding talented professionals to help with your YouTube channel
• UpWork & Fiverr – freelancer marketplaces with professionals specific to pretty much every type of work
• LinkedIn – a social network for professionals and businesses
• Creator Discord Channels & Forums – some of the best recommendations for video editors will come from other creators. Check out creator-specific groups (like the Discord communities from The Publish Press, VidIQ, or TubeBuddy, to name a few)

Additional Help and Creator Tools

Building out your video production team is just the first step in growing your creator career. Along your YouTube journey, you may consider adding on some of the following team members to make sure you are well-equipped for success:

• a manager or talent agent to assist with brand deals and business opportunities
• legal counsel to make sure your copyrights and business are handled properly
• an accountant or financial advisor to protect your earnings and assets

Does all this talk of hiring leave you feeling overwhelmed? Don’t worry! The first channel hire doesn’t need to be a full-time employee. Many creators are able to find and hire freelance and part-time workers to bring on to their YouTube team.

And rest assured that you’re not the first creator going through this growth process. Sometimes the best advice and help can come from fellow creators who have already hired for their team. They’ll have insights as to what worked (and what didn’t) and can give you tips on how to make it less stressful.

Finding and hiring people to help build your YouTube channel and creator business may seem scary at first, but thankfully there are plenty of resources and creator tools that help make it easy.

Join Thematic’s creator community

At Thematic, we’re here to help you on your creator journey, one video at a time. 

From providing you with copyright-safe music for your videos to connecting you with other creators for collabs or advice, Thematic is the premier creator community.

Our mission is to support the growth of independent creators by matching them with the tools, assets, and services that unlock their full potential.

If you’re interested in unlocking copyright-safe music for your videos and connecting with digital video creators and music artists, sign-up for a free Thematic account here.

We’re excited to see what you create.

Looking for more creator tools and resources? Visit Thematic’s Creator Toolkit for additional resources on creating content – including starting a YouTube channel, thumbnail and channel art templates, best practices, and of course, great royalty free songs to use in your videos for free with Thematic.

It’s disheartening the amount of abuse we uncover by bad actors in the YouTube Content ID asset management ecosystem, but I’m glad that it’s finally being brought to light.

Content ID and its Admins

For reference, Content ID is “YouTube’s automated content identification system, to easily identify and manage their copyright-protected content on YouTube.”

Because of the potential for abuse (with widespread consequence), it is understandable that YouTube limits the distribution of the Content ID tool (according to YouTube’s latest Copyright Transparency Report from 2021, approximately 9,000 partners have access). This leads to middle-man solutions, such as AdRev, Identifyy, and music distributors (like TuneCore, DistroKid, Create Music Group, CD Baby, and The Orchard, among numerous others) providing rights management on behalf of individual rights holders (such as music artists or independent labels).

Ultimately, these middle-men companies are reliant on the information provided to them (under rep & warrant) by the individual rights holders when administering the assets on platforms such as YouTube. No matter the partner, there is bound to be a situation where rights are mis-declared, either maliciously or ignorantly. And when looking at a companies who have achieved massive scale, where they are providing services to thousands, if not tens of thousands of rights holders, it’s fully conceivable that they would see a larger number of mis-representations based on the number of partners they service.

Content ID Abuse, Misuse, and Negligence

I can’t speak to any of the claims regarding Create Music Group or AdRev, but I’ve personally seen plenty of abuse & negligence from (too) many companies throughout my 11+ years of working with a YouTube CMS and Content ID.

At Thematic, we administer the rights of independent music artists in Content ID and facilitate influencer marketing campaigns across YouTube videos.

In a cursory look at our top 150 sound recording assets, we have found more than 25 instances of incorrect ownership of the composition rights due to bad data merges in the system.

In addition to bad data merges (intentional or not), the complete lack of communication in getting ownership conflicts resolved is appalling – some companies take weeks or months to respond, others have defunct email addresses, and some completely ignore any attempts at communication. It’s incredibly frustrating.

As someone who constantly champions protecting the rights of independent music artists, this is unacceptable. What is most alarming to me is that none of the music artists who this affects are even vaguely aware that their rights are being mismanaged in Content ID – there is no way for them to know this is happening.

Looking toward the future of rights management on YouTube

I would love to see a searchable database so that any rights holder can see who exactly is managing their rights on their behalf with the option to get in touch should something not align. This would reduce the risk that rights go misrepresented without knowledge, and provides the rights holders with at least a path to remedy. And providing additional knowledge and understanding of how copyright works on platforms such as YouTube would benefit the ecosystem as a whole.

Looking at partners who have CMS and/or Content ID access, I hope that more of this community respect the access they have been granted – take YouTube’s free certification training so that you understand the basics of the CMS infrastructure (in fact, I wholeheartedly believe this educational course should be a requirement for any person with access to the CMS or Content ID), keep your contact information up to date so that other partners can get in touch to resolve potential conflicts, respond to emails when you receive them, and regularly audit your assets to ensure you are not in violation of your rights. 

I fully believe that a more transparent ecosystem will benefit all players in the space – from preventing platforms from falling prey to malicious actors to better protecting the rights of the rights holders, ensuring their IP is protected and managed correctly.

A comment on the recent YouTube Content ID Abuse Issues is brought to you by Thematic Co-Founder & COO Audrey Marshall

With a background in entertainment PR (via Chapman University), Audrey has led digital strategy for music artists, content creators, and brands. From brand campaigns for Macy’s, American Cancer Society, and the L’Oréal luxe family of brands, to music-driven influencer marketing campaigns for Interscope Records, Warner Music, AWAL, and Taboo of the Black Eyed Peas (featuring creators such as Lexy Panterra, Blogilates, Mandy Jiroux, Matt Steffanina, and Seán Garnier), she is an expert in navigating the influencer marketing space. Audrey has also developed and managed some of the leading beauty, lifestyle, and dance channels on YouTube.

Certified across the board with YouTube, Audrey has a specific focus on digital rights management for music assets, running multiple SRAV-enabled CMS. She is passionate about working with other builders in the space for a more transparent digital rights ecosystem.

At Thematic, Audrey leads the product team and oversees operations. She has driven partnerships with leading talent and music companies, including Songtrust, Kobalt/AWAL, Select Management, BBTV, ipsy, and Black Box, and has helped the platform grow to a thriving community of 1M+ content creators who have posted 1.6M+ videos using the platform, driving 60B+ music streams and $120M+ in earned media value for independent music artists.

Why did we build Thematic? Let’s dive into the reasons why we created Thematic to support the creator economy as part of our mission to empower and connect creators.

Over the past 10 years I’ve worked closely with both creators and music artists as part of a boutique, music-focused multi-channel network and digital agency. I’ve seen the difficulties each creative has encountered in furthering their careers, whether it be in creating better video content or getting their music discovered.

Creators are barraged with an endless stream of emails from PR companies, brands, and platforms. Among these are emails from eager artists and artist representatives asking the creators to feature the artist’s music in their videos in exchange for credit in the video description. Below are just a few of the email subject lines that grace a creator’s inbox any given week:

“we want to provide music for your youtube channel”
“You can use my music in your videos!”
“free music for your videos”
“Copyright Free Music For your videos”

These are music artists who understand the value of featured placement in creator videos. Who are looking for the chance to be discovered by new audiences, to get their music heard. We often see managers and labels reach out asking to pay for these placements, even. The exposure the creators provide is valued that highly.

These artists use music as a loss-leader to garner more lucrative revenue streams — the value of an engaged fan who follows them on social media, adds songs to their playlists, buys merch, and attends shows. This is the next wave of free downloads and late show performances. These are opportunities to utilize exposure and user-generated content as a way to build traction in the marketplace and accumulate stories for press or tour promo.

But at the end of the day, for all the emails these emerging artists are blasting out to the thousands of creators whose emails they’ve mined, if the song doesn’t match the vibe or mood of the creator’s video, the song won’t make the cut.

So while these email blasts provide a great resource of music for creators, they tend to just pile up and become a messy, unsortable catalog of song options to use another day, in another video.

And then there’s the whole issue of creating actual licenses from these emails. Will the email permissions granted by the artist hold up legally if for whatever reason the creator runs into a claim issue, video takedown, or even worse, lawsuit from the copyright owner?

Most creators don’t know where to start when it comes to obtaining proper licenses for using songs in their videos.

The common logic is to reach out to the artist (or even just the uploader of the song on SoundCloud) for permission, who may say “go ahead, that’d be awesome! Just give me credit” even if that person doesn’t fully control the master recording or publishing for the song. Or perhaps the song contains a sample or is a remix or cover of another song. And then the artist giving permission doesn’t disclose that they don’t even have their own licenses for the materials in the song.

I’ve seen this happen a lot unfortunately, and it usually ends with the creator having to remove their video or lose monetization as a result of an audio claim.

This can lead to some creators trying to skirt the rules and beat the system. “Oh, I’ll just use 15 seconds of a popular song and it’ll be fair use.” Or “I’ll use the unauthorized remix of that Justin Bieber song and it’ll be ok because I heard it being used on another popular YouTube video.”

These creators may ‘beat the system’ (aka YouTube Content ID) for a few days. But in the end, they’re leaving themselves open for audio claims, loss of monetization, video takedowns, and even lawsuits with these “cheats” of the system. I’ve seen it happen to some high profile creators over the years. Unfortunately, it usually ends with the creator having to delete their videos. Or having to pay large sums of money to settle the issue with the artists, labels, and publishers holding the copyright.

Then there are creators who know they have to play by the rules and do their diligence in securing clearances for the audio used in their videos. They utilize some free resources like YouTube’s Audio Library. But these creators often spend way too much time tracking down the right song to complement the vibe of their video.

Or perhaps they turn to affordable stock or production music sites only to be presented with “beat #5” and “feel good tune #32.” They find songs that may work well as strictly background music, but don’t really add much color or quality to their finished video.

Then there are the library sites, which allow creators to use music from quality artists in their videos. They find songs that will actually enhance the production value of the creator’s video.

Sounds like the perfect solution, right? Well, perhaps if the creator doesn’t intend to monetize their video or include any brands in their video (no commercial usages) and they have some money to spend. While some of these licenses are an ‘affordable’ $20+ cost per license (that’s a one-time usage fee), some songs can cost creators at least a few hundred or thousand dollars (again, for one-time usages here). Not so creator-friendly.

On top of it all, it takes so much time for a creator to hunt down that one perfect song.

It usually costs the creator at least a couple hours of their time for each video they publish. Finding the song that highlights the best parts of their videos can take forever. They are often left sampling hundreds of songs. The creator listens to the songs delivered to their inboxes by up-and-coming artists. They listen to beat #5. And they listen to that pretty great, but really expensive song from a music library. They listen to a lot.

And on the other side, the music artists are often kept out of the loop. Say a creator decides to use that song she was emailed last year from the independent music artist looking to have his music featured. How will that artist know his song has been placed in the creator’s video? Or if the creator included the requested music credit? Or perhaps the creator decides to license a song from a production or music library. Is the artist aware of how and where their music is being discovered? Will she know that her music is resonating with the skateboarding community in Venice or the squishy community in Japan? (Trust me, it exists.) Probably not.

So where does that leave us? A complicated, misinformation-driven, and lengthy process for creators and a time-consuming, information-dry environment for artists.

That’s where Thematic comes in.

Thematic is a two-sided marketplace that services both the creators and the artists. Our mission at Thematic is to bring creatives together and empower them to achieve their full potential through a fair, safe and collaborative exchange.

For creators, Thematic is a music supervision and licensing platform that curates songs based on the content being created. So you’re creating a summer lookbook based in NYC? Here are the songs that would best fit your videos. All that’s required is the provided artist promotion credit, which we track and enforce using our proprietary scanning technology.

For artists, Thematic is a solution for getting their music discovered. It’s a new radio model utilizing creators’ videos as the points of music discovery and distribution (the radio stations). It is the missing ‘next step’ for an artist after they’ve distributed their songs to Spotify and Apple Music. We provide detailed insights on the song placements from our creator network. We ensure the artists are armed with performance data to better their marketing and fan engagement campaigns.

At the core, Thematic fosters a collaborative experience between these creatives. Thematic paved the way for a new model of collaboration between creatives in this new creator economy.

“But these artists should be paid for these placements!” We hear you, but we don’t agree.

Thematic is not the platform for Beyoncé or Taylor Swift or Ed Sheeran. It is not for the artists who can command large licensing fees for song usage because of their prominence in the industry.

Thematic is a platform for the next Beyoncé. It is for the girl in her bedroom singing in her hairbrush, learning Garageband, and wanting to be discovered as the next big thing. This girl, sure, she can ask for a licensing fee for her new song should someone want to use it in their video. But how would a creator find out about this song? Why would a creator want to license this song from her, specifically? They have a number of other free options or paid options with songs that are more well-known?

Therein lies the problem. The demand for usage of the song in videos is slim to none. Until, at least the song is more well-known. So how can she get her song heard to create demand? She’s released the song to Spotify and Apple Music, but the fans just aren’t there.

Thematic creates placement and discovery opportunities for up-and-coming artists that otherwise wouldn’t exist.

At Thematic we aim to support and promote this next generation of music artists by giving them a chance to be heard and take their career to the next level.

Thematic is not looking to become a repository of catalogue songs. We’re not looking to build out an immense library of stagnant songs that were trending last year. Thematic is a promotional platform. We have new songs coming in and rotating out after their promo period. It’s similar to the radio or Netflix models, to best align with the artist’s rollout. We’re all about giving the artist their best chance at making waves with their new release. We give it an opportunity to gain traction with new audiences.

So, why Thematic? Because at our core we’ve always been about supporting creators and artists — providing them tools and resources to make their lives simpler and further their careers.

Why Thematic? Because I’ve worked with creators, big and small, for the past 10 years clearing music for their videos in a manual capacity. Finding the perfect song for a creator’s video, acting as music supervisor, and making these creative connections between creator and artist always energized our team as we got to be a part of helping that creator improve their content, making more impactful videos.

Why Thematic? Because I am a music lover with a passion for supporting artists. I stream and download their new releases. I buy merch and seeing them perform live as much as possible. Shout out to my all-time faves Metric, who I’ve seen 15+ times in concert. I want these artists to be heard, to be discovered, to be shared with others.

Why Thematic? It’s something I strongly believe in, and I hope you will too.

Originally published on medium.com on April 30, 2018