This week we picked up a bounty on a DAO!
A bounty is a task shared in the DAO community which helps the DAO/community grow. Community members are rewarded in tokens/crypto for completing and winning the bounty.
Solana is a public blockchain platform, similar to Ethereum, built on smart contracts. Solana has the benefit of being faster and cheaper than Ethereum, at least for now! :-)
I have been following and learning from SuperTeam DAO and will keep sharing as I learn more about this space and how it can help the Creator Economy.
Sharing below the article we submitted for the bounty. Enjoy!
You can read the article here as well: bit.ly/curio-revelio-30CqlO9
Duration: 10 min read
Creator Economy Tools on Solana
This article talks about Creator Economy Tools on Solana.
We will cover the following:
Who is a Creator?
Current Challenges faced by Creators?
Why should creators adopt blockchain enabled tools!?
Creator Economy Tools on Solana
Conclusion: Start Adopting Now
Who is a Creator?
The term "Creator" was coined in YouTube in 2011 to describe anyone who "could write, edit, produce, do community management, and were entrepreneurs.”
The scope has expanded many fold since then and represents independent content creators, curators, community builders, social media influencers, bloggers, and videographers, and even tool developers.
This snapshot by VC Cafe captures it perfectly
Source: Publir
Current Challenges faced by Creators?
The Really Really Long Tail
Web2 has helped kick-start the creator journey for many folks, but it still rewards only a select few.
Roughly, the top 1% creators of any Web2 platform bring in 90+% of the revenue, this leaves a long tail of creators with little or no revenue.
Bloomberg determined that over 96% of YouTubers earn below the U.S. poverty line.
How can Creators make a living off their passion? Or should the question be, can they ever make a living as a Creator?
Add subscription fatigue to the play and many creators might never generate a single dollar from their content.
Centralized Platforms
Every platform takes a cut from the creator, rightfully so. But how much is the right amount? Are platform shares stopping creators from going fulltime into the Creator economy?
It is estimated that to earn $1 in revenue a creator has to generate $2 of revenue - rest goes into platform fees, content creation, taxes, ads, etc.
But without these platforms content distribution and discovery is next to impossible. Not only are creators at the mercy of platform algorithms for distribution, they don't even have the option to take their business somewhere else if they want to (Substack being an exception to the fact)
Free Content = Free to Use?
Intellectual Property rights are all but negligible in the social media space today. Anyone can copy your content and pass it off as their own, even LinkedIn is not spared where people copy "personal life changing experiences" word-to-word in the hunt for going "viral".
IP rights is a problem untouched in the creator economy.
Why should creators adopt blockchain-enabled tools!?
Blockchain powered tools are the best bet right now to solve the above challenges faced by Creators today.
Here are some ways that can be done:
Control: NFTs give Creators full control on your content, removes the rent-seeking intermediaries, and provides verified blockchain-based ownership
New Revenue Streams: Granular pricing allows Creators to generate revenue from all tiers of fans, hence allowing them capture more area under curve, i.e. more revenue.
Community: Community has been the driving force behind growth and adoption of NFTs and Crypto. This power can be leveraged by Creators to build their own army of hard core fans who are also part owners of the business (Read DAOs, NFTs). Not only will this reduce dependency on centralized platforms but also create a completely independent acquisition channel for Creators. Tokenized communities not only let the fans buy-in/invest in the Creators but also help Creators get funding for validated content/business ideas from their existing fan base.
Creator Economy Tools:
We are focusing only on tools that enable creators to solve the above challenges.
Note: New projects submitted on IGNITION Hackathon are highlighted as New Projects
Revenue Generation:
Solanatip is a Chrome extension which allows for Twitter content creators to be rewarded with $SOL. Using Solana's Twitter-specific Name Service, they check if the user to receive the tip has an associated wallet and proceed to make the transaction using the Phantom or Sollet wallet.
Source: Solana.com
SolTip AI is the fastest on-chain tip bot allows users to send tip through their favorite social media. Reduce the risk of delivery errors and make it easier for fans to send tips by simply mentioning or replying to someone's message. SolTip AI are now available on Discord. Long term, SolTip AI aims to build bots on Twitter and Telegram.
Source: Solana.com
SolPayments is a payment processing platform for crypto-currencies which allows individuals and businesses of all sizes to accept payments online.
Source: SolPayments
New Project
PocketFuel.io: Creatives can now earn royalties by designing and tokenizing brand assets on Solana. They offer brand illustration and design paired with content and NFT marketing strategy to drive conversions.
Source: DevPost
New Project Buy Me Crypto A platform for Creators to get sponsored by their fans using SOL tokens with one time and subscription based payments.
Source: DevPost
New Project
Neftify Lend gaming NFTs to players and earn interest on play-to-earn rewards.
Source: DevPost
Community
SolStar is a platform for creating and organizing token-powered communities, powered by Solana. Source: Solana
Block Asset is a verified NFT ecosystem connecting fans to athletes. Theye leverage strategic relationships with athletes, agencies, and clubs and connect them to fans using our proprietary NFT marketplace, blockchain NFT ticketing, and blockchain NFT gaming. Source: Solana
Circlepod Protocol supports the use of blockchain to interact between Podcast channel and audience. Fans can gain energy by supporting the channel, and podcasters can also receive support from the audience. Source: CirclePod
New Project Sollinky allows Creators to create their own community token, connect it to Discord, and give token-holders exclusive access to Discord channels, content, and anything else gated behind the token. Community builders can create tokens priced on a custom bonding curve.
Source: DevPost
Nina Launching on 19th Nov '21 On Nina, artists pay a nominal fee per upload that covers the permanent storage of their work. That’s all it takes to host their music and attach a payment mechanism to it. Their releases are made available for public streaming and purchase as tokenized assets with quantities and prices of the artists’ own choosing. Artists receive 100% of primary sales through Nina, and a % of their choosing from secondary-market sales. Source: Medium
NFT Marketplaces
Ukratrax is a virtual NFT stuff where users can buy and sell NFT items at the auction for cryptocurrency. Ukratrax presents a space where everyone can find merch created by musicians and artists. Collect, buy and sell NFT items at auction with other users. Source: Solana
OddKey is the premiere NFT marketplace for creators, collectors, and aficionados of original sci-fi, fantasy, and comic inspired digital art and music. OddKey is aiming to provide a solution for comic artists to freely showcase and sell their original digital artwork. Source: OddKey
Metaplex empowers creators and brands to build direct relationships with their audiences. NFTs powered by Metaplex engage and provide utilities to decentralized communities everywhere.
Source: Metaplex
Only1 is an NFT-powered social engagement platform built on Solana. Buy and sell NFTs from their favorite content creators, earn crypto through interactions, or mint their own NFTs and start earning rewards today. Powered by Solana.
Source: Solana
Solanart is the first NFT marketplace on Solana. Get quick, easy access to digital collectibles, and explore, buy, and sell NFTs from different collections and artists.
Source: Solana
New Project
Releap A decentralized social and exchange platform tailored for musical NFTs, with a mission to empower artists through a new way of interacting with their fans
Source: DevPost
Content/NFT Creation
New Project TIEXO - Their goal is to build a generative NFT art toolbox to help artists launch large collections by offering a new set of tools and simplified processes to make the generative NFT art a few clicks away. Source: DevPost
Audius is creating a fully decentralized community of artists, developers, and listeners collaborating to share and defend the world's music. Using Audius, creators can generate immutable and time-stamped records for creative works and register assets to the Audius network, because the network is decentralized and secured by blockchain. Source: Solana
New Project
SoCool is a DAO developing a set of tools and smart contracts intended to build a truly decentralized ecosystem where creators and their fans will be rewarded for their engagement and contributions. SoCool combines financial and social interactions with high-quality DeFi and NFT services to build a truly unique and long-lasting CREATE-TO-EARN ECOSYSTEM. Source: DevPost
New Project
Qwestive: Users can find someone they are interested in and asked them a question. Place a bid on the question to signal how much they value their answer. Upon answering, the funds are released to their account. If a user finds value in someone else's question, they can contribute funds to it. Qwestive share's it's revenue with users based on the value their questions bring to the platform. Source: DevPost
New Project
Sapien.News News reporting platform with a decentralized governance model. News articles are published and sold as NFTs, reframing the economics of news reporting to better reporting standards. Source: DevPost
Other Use Cases
IP Protection SOLATI project boosts the amateur music market and supports artists to create better work. By owning SOLATI NFT, not only the artwork but also the copyright of the music can be obtained later on. Part of the paid amount goes to the artists. Source: Solana
Sitcoms 169 Pixel Gang is an adult animated gangster sitcom 100% funded by fans. Holders of Season 1 NFTs will get daily token drops they will be able to use to buy items from the show shop like – tickets to meet the writers, live screenings, merch and more. Allows creative directors to build and distribute their sitcom without waiting for Netflix or a big production house give it permission to do so! Source: Solana | 169 Pixel
Marketing: New Project Sideman has created a mechanism that embeds the deliverables and other aspects of a traditional legal contract into a smart contract. They utilize various API’s to social networks in order to provide automatic verification algorithms that tell the smart contract when to execute distribution of payment to the influencer. The influencer can write to the contract with their deliverable link once the post is made, and our contract will do the rest. Source: Devpost
Betting: New Project Divvy aims to shape the future of gaming by pioneering into DeFi betting and creating an ecosystem that promotes transparency, efficiency, fairness, and trust. Source: Devpost
Live Events Booking: New Project Gigco connects together artists, venues and users who likes live music and give ability to arrange, find and perform gigs. Source: Devpost
Financing: New Project eNIFTY aims to provide a place where people can efficiently use the NFTs owned by them in various ways like trading and using them as collateral for loans. Source: Devpost
Gaming
Afflarium is a massively multiplayer online metaverse, playable on VR, Desktop, and Mobile. In Afflarium the transactions, as well as the owner of any digital assets, are reliably protected by blockchain technology. Assets are virtually tangible through the VR experience, each having its own use and purpose ingame. Source: Solana
Cryptomafia is reimagining the world's favorite party game, Mafia, on blockchain by utilizing smart contracts to enable real-money wagered games and tournaments. Invite and play with friends, or test deductive skills on our ranked ELO ladder to win individual table pots and massive tournament prize pools. Source: Solana
Eizper Chain is a blockchain action online multiplayer role-playing game that celebrates adventure and arena battle. In the adventure, part players roam the fast world of Eizper following an epic story full of twists and turns. While in arena battle, players may compete against each other in battle events for a chance at rewards and recognition. Source: Solana
King Of Oceans is an NFT-powered RPG game built natively on the Solana blockchain. Gamers will battle and win NFT characters and NFT gears that can be converted to SOL at the marketplace. Source: Solana
Solcery is a decentralized games hub on Solana, where users can create, publish, and play blockchain games. Users can also onboard any NFTs on Solana into the Solcery Ecosystem and make it a unique Metaplex-compatible game asset supported by all Solcery games. Source: Solana
Phantasia is the first of its kind. It's a Fantasy Sports Platform that leverages blockchain technology, bringing the benefits of blockchain to the end users. The application allows users to play their favorite fantasy sports games while betting against their friends. Source: Phantasia
New Project
DarleyGo The first mythical-based NFT horse racing game on Solana. Source: Devpost
New Project
HypeX First Blockchain Game for Sneaker Lovers. The project aims to build a metaverse game ecosystem to connect the real world and digital world to let users play&earn across multiple revenue streams. Source: Devpost
Note: Gaming is large space in Solana, this list not exhaustive. This tweet by Greg Isenberg explains why gamers are quick to adopt Web3
Fitness
New Project
StepN by Find Satoshi Lab StepN is a move2earn mobile game. It aims to attract million of non-crypto runners to the crypto realm through playing the game, whilst some game's profit goes to carbon offsetting. Source: Devpost
New Project
Genopets Genopets is the world's first Move-to-Earn NFT game that incentivizes players to stay active and earn for free. Source: Devpost
Conclusion:
The Solana ecosystem is developing fast!
Even though creators currently need to keep leveraging Web2 tools for content creation and distribution, Web3 tools on Solana are covering the gaps in Web2.
Gaming and NFTs are dominating the space right now and will pave the way for community building & engagement along with monetization for Creators.
Creators who adopt these tools early on will have the advantage when Web3 tools scale up and make Creators owners in the Creator Economy.