Constant pressure on creators to tailor their content to appease advertisers and ensure steady revenue streams has evoked the need for platforms having a “no-fees” environment, where donations, either one-time or recurring, can be made directly by fans.
A report titled “From dependence to independence” prepared by the Nonfiction Research and Bodacious Strategy Studio, which covered 1,624 creators, states that 65 percent of the creators feel overworked and/or underpaid and only 35 percent of the surveyed said that “they’re earning a reasonable income and putting in an acceptable amount of time and effort”.
Raj Kapoor, Founder of India Blockchain Alliance and Chief Growth Officer at Chainsense Ltd says popular platforms require 30 to 40 percent of the user-donated funds to maintain the platform operational. “What is needed is a platform trying to solve these real problems. A platform that understands the pitfalls that content-creators face with current platforms, and it wants to provide a friendly alternative that would ease their lives. Lace this with a reward incentive through a tokenised process, secured on the blockchain. Now that would be something to look forward to,” said Kapoor.
Aliasgar Merchant, Developer Relations Engineer at Tendermint said an alternative to mainstream content channels, that can bridge the gap between the audience and content creators is the need of the hour. “Currently, most platforms charge exorbitantly high fees that make the creation of quality rich content unviable. On top of this, content creators are literally at the mercy of algorithms that want consistency. When you look under the hood at a creator’s business, the foundation is shaky,” said Merchant.
Zachary Bys, Co-Founder of ad-free entertainment ecosystem Vodra said, “Blockchain technology has allowed us to build an ecosystem in which all users are fairly rewarded for their participation so that creators benefit directly from the growth of the platform.” He added that, unlike other models, Vodra’s primary users are its foremost stakeholders, which ensures that the platform serves their interests rather than faceless shareholders.
Additionally, Vodra makes it easy for creators to earn without having to leverage third-party and sometimes manipulative advertising models. Instead, creators have control over their content and are driven by a direct creator to audience relationship rather than creator to an advertiser to the audience, he said.
“Creators are constantly under pressure to tailor their content in an effort to appease advertisers and keep their content monetised,” said Conner Romanov, Co-founder of Vodra. “Vodra allows creators to monetise their passions without sacrificing creativity as they would have to while contending with the existing advertising-based model. Our decentralised platform is shifting online entertainment compensation towards a direct creator-to-audience participation model; this brings the interests of both creators and audiences to the forefront.”
Creator profiles are designed to be linked to existing entertainment platforms such as in a video description, creator bio, Livestream panel, or pop-up. Alternatively, audiences can browse through popular creators and projects directly on the Vodra Platform. Creators will also have the option to showcase leaderboards with their top fans and designate certain rewards for their primary supporters. These options encourage a direct, fee-free connection between audience members and creators, which is mutually beneficial.