The best is yet to come: Envisioning the next phase of blockchain and the creator economy

After two years of stagnation, theaters, movies, comedy, music and sports around the world are returning to the public eye after many of the restrictions put in place due to the COVID-19 pandemic have finally been eased. It got us thinking about how the digital creative crowd that captures our eyeballs and entertains us, and the multibillion-dollar economy in which they operate, will shift when normal life grinds to a halt.

Now that the doors of festivals, fashion shows and concerts are open to the world again, will we remember the online platforms and artists we discovered during the pandemic? According to recent estimates, the creator economy market will exceed $100 billion this year. Is such a market strong enough to withstand the onslaught of people returning to real life?

I firmly believe it is. Government-imposed restrictions may have hastened the pace of change, but the shift to video streaming we've witnessed during the pandemic predated it and will continue regardless.

And, while not deeply trained in macroeconomics, as a technologist, I've spent the past few years working on one of the most transformative new technologies in decades: the blockchain. This is the technology that will revolutionize digital life and fuel the creator economy in the process.

performing on a digital stage

The forced economic slowdown has given many artists the time and motivation they need to experiment in the digital realm, find new audiences, and explore new ways to showcase their talents.

Even musicians who may have never seriously considered live concerts are taking to the digital stage. And, there is evidence that this will continue. Singer Dua Lipa, for example, broke the record for paid live streaming at the Studio 2054 concert in 2020. Initially, she was said to be reluctant, but after being forced to postpone an album tour, she decided to go live instead. It turned out to be a good decision: Her digital presence has attracted more than 5 million views worldwide.

Some 90% of musicians and 92% of fans believe that live streaming is Still an effective way to reach fans who are unwilling or unable to travel to venues in the post-COVID world. Providers take note: The study also found that audiences don't expect live music to be free, and aren't particularly averse to premium models.

The rise of the creative economy has also energized the developer community. New niche streaming platforms have emerged, fueled by the emergence of low-cost decentralized infrastructure. These infrastructures allow application builders to encode video, store data, and handle identity information without paying expensive fees to centralized cloud service providers.

More and more centralized providers will be constantly on the defensive. Two high-profile incidents in 2021 are enough to prove this point: hackers attacked Twitch and released private information about its code and users to the world. In addition, Facebook suffered a huge reputational damage from the prolonged outage. The whistleblower claims that Facebook's management has repeatedly chosen to put profit over safety.

What's next?

The way the world produces, consumes and consumes video content has fundamentally changed, accelerated by the woes of the tech giants and the restrictions caused by the new crown epidemic-changes that are likely to drive the creator economy for a long time to come. growing over time. Furthermore, given the increasing availability of low-cost decentralized blockchain infrastructure, these emerging players will have the opportunity to take on the serious challenge of FAANG-operated streaming providers.

Here are five ways blockchain can accelerate the growth of the creator economy and solidify blockchain’s position as a central force in global culture and entertainment:

Exclusivity: Non-Fungible Token (NFT) Gated Access and NFT Ticketing are two decentralized tools that improve the digital experience of event attendees: NFT Tickets can curb ticket scalping while giving viewers a unique memento that Card Gating enables unique experiences like access to private groups and private chats directly with creators.

Fan Ownership: The Web3 era is defined by the shift from extracting value from tenants to adding value to owners. Just as blockchain enables fans to directly engage with their favorite creators, it provides a path to asset ownership in the individual creator economy outside of traditional centralized platforms.

Low-Cost Streaming: Video streaming accounts for more than 80% of Web2 Internet traffic and counts. Developers are eager to capture a portion of the market without being overwhelmed by high costs. They are constantly looking for inexpensive blockchain-based infrastructure to support creator streams. With their new ability to reach global audiences anywhere using on-demand streaming technology, creators are turning to unique Web3 features like gratuities, pay-to-entry and on-site shopping to monetize content.

Immersive Interaction: The one-way nature of Web2 publishing has given way to immersive interaction that rewards user engagement. Because data can be permanently and securely recorded on the blockchain, creators can incentivize interaction without sacrificing privacy.

Niche: While Web2 was built to scale, Web3 was built to be niche. Blockchains are less costly, more secure, and more resistant to censorship, so small communities can be built to serve niche markets that are more economically viable than Web2. It’s a fundamental shift that not only puts creators in control, but also makes these communities less attractive to attention-seeking giants.

A thriving creator industry has paved the way, and those who are ready to embrace and participate will be assisted by a decentralized infrastructure.

Digital creatives have always recognized that they have to be smart to be successful. Now, there is a technology that will allow them and their analog counterparts to reach new audiences on their own terms, without having to cede power or profits to tech giants like Google and Amazon.

I am a firm believer in the ability of musicians, gamers, influencers and creators to adapt to and thrive in the new reality of the future — and now, my belief has never been stronger.

How will the creator economy develop? The clue is in the name.

Cointelegraph Chinese is a blockchain news information platform, and the information provided only represents the author's personal opinion, has nothing to do with the position of the Cointelegraph Chinese platform, and does not constitute any investment and financial advice. Readers are requested to establish correct currency concepts and investment concepts, and earnestly raise risk awareness.